Briefing Papers Number 22, September 2013 | Seite 4

Other nutrition indicators include those on the following list, which were
endorsed by the 2012 World Health Assembly. The targets can be achieved if
proven interventions are scaled up:

Agriculture-Led Growth

While economic growth has played an important role in reducing global poverty in the last
• 50 percent reduction in anemia among women of reproductive age
two decades, evidence suggests that economic
• 30 percent reduction in low birth weight births
growth alone is not sufficient to sustain the prog• No increase in childhood overweight
ress made in reducing hunger and malnutrition.
• At least 50 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six months
In fact, rural hunger and poverty cannot be
• Reduction in childhood wasting to less than 5 percent
reduced by relying entirely on economic growth
in urban areas. For example, rural poverty declined rapidly in
In the end, stunting is a tragedy for individuals and families
East and Southeast Asia between 1993 and 2002. More than
that also impedes a nation’s ability to develop economically.10
80 percent of the decline was attributable to better conditions
Among potential indicators of malnutrition, childhood
in rural areas, where agriculture was a source of livelihood
stunting has proven to be the most powerful, based on its
for 86 percent of the population,12 rather than to migration
ability to capture inequity; reveal chronic problems of poor to cities. On the other hand, in sub-Saharan Africa, which
health, diet, and child-rearing practices; and focus on the has been experiencing strong economic growth for the past
period when the effects of malnutrition are largely irrevers- decade, the number of hungry people is actually increasing
ible (the 1,000 Days from pregnancy through age 2).
at an alarming rate.
The post-2015, post-MDG agenda should include an
The 2007-2008 food price crisis was a wake-up call for
ambitious but achievable goal. In 2012, the World Health the international community, reigniting the discussion of
Assembly (WHA)11 endorsed a set of nutrition targets, the need for a much greater focus on agricultural developincluding a goal of reducing the number of stunted chil- ment. In July 2009, Group of 8 (G-8) leaders representing
dren by 40 percent by 2025. This will require a reduction in eight developed economies gathered in L’Aquila, Italy, where
stunting of nearly 4 percent each year. This rate of progress a U.S. proposal to invest significantly more resources in
has proven to be achievable by countries that have made sig- agriculture won support from other donors. In what became
nificant nutrition investments as well as nutrition-sensitive known as the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative, G-8 members
investments in agriculture, health, and sanitation. Country- committed to providing $22 billion in financing for agriculspecific targets for progress will be required to achieve the ture and food security over three years. More than four years
global stunting goal. The SUN Movement is supporting into the L’Aquila initiative, the United States has fulfilled
SUN countries in developing and implementing country- its pledge of $3.5 billion, but other donors are falling short.
The primary U.S. contribution is the Feed the Future initiaspecific strategies.
tive, which seeks to support
countries in establishing a
Figure 2  Countries with the Highest Burden of Malnutrition
complete agriculture value
chain.
The evidence is clear that
agriculture-led growth is far
more effective in reducing
hunger and poverty than
Afghanistan
Pakistan
growth driven by other secIraq
Chad
Nepal Bangladesh
Egypt
tors.13 Today, more than half
Niger
Myanmar
Sudan
Burkina Faso
of the world’s 870 million
Vietnam
India
Yemen
Mali
hungry and malnourished
Philippines
Ethiopia Nepal
Guatemala
Côte d’Ivoire
people live in rural areas
Kenya
Ghana
Uganda Rwanda
and depend on agriculture
Nigeria
DR Congo
Cameroon
Indonesia
Tanzania
for their livelihoods.14 Yet it
Angola
Madagascar
took the crisis of 2007-2008,
Zambia
Malawi
which drove more than 100
Mozambique
South Africa
million additional people
I High Burden Countries
into poverty, to galvanize
I Other Countries
national governments and
These 34 countries account for 90% of the global burden of malnutrition. Source: The Lancet, 2013.
their development partners
4  Briefing Paper, September 2013