Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 164
The Final Stretch: The Global Hunger Target Within Reach
With just over two years left to the MDG deadline of December 2015, now is the time for
an intensive effort to reach the MDG hunger target of cutting in half the proportion of people
around the world who are undernourished, meaning “hungry.” In the developing world, the
hunger rate decreased from 23.2 percent in 1990–1992 to 14.3 percent in 2011–2013. This
puts the MDG hunger target within reach. The United States has led a global effort to invest
more in agriculture and nutrition in low-income countries. If
these efforts are maintained and intensified, we can achieve
the MDG hunger goal of cutting hunger in half between 1990
“Chronic malnutrition
and 2015.
is an enormous drain
Reducing all forms of malnutrition will help achieve many
on a country’s financial
of the MDGs by ending preventable child deaths and building
and human resources,
smart, strong, and resilient individuals, communities, and
translating into deficits
economies. Hunger is a form of malnutrition, resulting from
of several billion
an insufficient food intake and too little calories. There is
dollars a year.”
also another type of malnutrition, known as hidden hunger,
resulting from insufficient intake of vitamins and other micronutrients. Every dollar invested in nutrition generates as much as $138 in better health outcomes and increased productivity,9 and of the “10 best buys in development” identified by a
group of top economists, five are nutrition interventions.10
Chronic malnutrition is an enormous drain on a country’s financial and human resources,
translating into deficits of several billion dollars a year. In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated
41 percent of all children younger than 5 is malnourished.11 It is the only region in the world
Figure 5.1 Global Progress on Hunger to Date
Undernourishment in 2011-13, by region (millions)
Undernourishment in the developing world
Millions
Percentage undernourished
1000
900
40
939
995
893
800
35
863
23.6
18.8
500
15.5
16.7
30
822
700
600
14.3
400
WFS
Target
|
1999-2001
1990-92
— Number (left axis)
|
|
|
04-06 07-09 2010-12
Western Asia and Northern Africa 24
Latin America and the Caribbean 47
25
10
|0
2015
— Prevalence (right axis)
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation, The State of Food Insecurity in the World (2013)
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South-Eastern Asia 65
20
15
MDG Target
0 |
Oceania
1
Caucasus and Central Asia
6
Developed regions 16
Total = 842 million
Eastern Asia 167
sub-Saharan Africa 223
Southern Asia 295