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Uzbekistan’s Progress in Eradicating Hunger

uzbekistan food security
This year, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) ranks Uzbekistan at 5.7 percent for its undernourished population from 2011 to 2013.

More than 800 million people suffer from hunger and the GHI examines 120 of the low-income countries that account for the vast majority of global undernourishment.

In the last 14 years, Uzbekistan has shown a steady improvement in eradicating hunger, with a decline from 3.6 million to 1.7 million of the country’s population facing food insecurity.

However, the country is still in need of renewed political commitment to achieving food security in order to continue making progress against hunger, which not only stunts physical, intellectual and even economic growth but can also lead to death.

Yuriko Shoji, the recently appointed Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Sub-regional Coordinator for Central Asia and country representative for Uzbekistan, spoke on the topic at a launch event at Tashkent State Agrarian University.

“Despite good progress made in the past two decades and an increasingly favorable environment, the full potential of agriculture – and food security for everyone – have yet to be achieved,” said Shoji. “With renewed political commitment, and good practice that can be shared with the world, food security of each and every household is within reach.”

Shoji highlighted the key requirements for overcoming the limitations to prioritize food security and nutrition issues. The event served as a platform for discussing global hunger and malnutrition.

Uzbekistan’s positive trend to combat malnutrition serves Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 of halving the proportion of undernourished people by next year. It’s a goal that is within reach if Uzbekistan and other developing countries continue making political efforts toward food security.

According to the FAO, 63 developing countries have reached the MDG target and six more are on track to reach it by 2015.

Though Uzbekistan has seen significant progress in hunger, the country must continue to set the path for others that remain chronically undernourished in order to meet next year’s MDG target.

– Chelsee Yee

Sources: The Guardian, UN, Data Wrapper
Photo: EurasiaNet

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Hunger in Kazakhstan

hunger_in_kazakhstan
The problem of hunger in Kazakhstan is no longer considered urgent. As of 2004, the country has successfully achieved the first target, within the framework of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) one: halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger. However, the larger issue remains that a majority of the proportion still suffers from poverty and lacks access to a balanced nutrition.

In Kazakhstan, four percent of children under five are underweight, while almost one percent are severely underweight. Another 13 percent are stunted for their age, illustrating measures of both acute and chronic malnutrition. Hidden hunger, or deficiencies of vital vitamins and minerals in a diet, is common among children in Kazakhstan and often leads to their morbidity and mortality.

In related news, women are likely to obtain iron-deficiency anemia, with almost 50 percent of reproductive age women suffering from the condition. High rates of anemia during pregnancy have led to large numbers of children in Kazakhstan suffering from slow brain development, stunted growth and a decrease of intellectual capacity. Mothers who suffer from iron deficiencies also create a greater chance of death for their child during pregnancy and childbirth.

Lack of Vitamin A for pregnant women has also caused concern in Kazakhstan, due to the fact that roughly 20 percent of children are born with depressed immune systems. Consequently, the children are more prone to infectious diseases without the capability of fighting it off.

Poverty, especially in rural areas, is to blame for the remaining starvation in the country. Levels of rural poverty are currently twice as high as urban poverty, leaving many children in remote villages with inadequate food intake. Children in West Kazakhstan are more likely to be underweight than any other children in the country. However, the percentage decreases depending on the level of education of their mothers.

Although hunger in Kazakhstan is well on its way in being eliminated, the country still has work that needs to be done. Kazakhstan is active on the regional and international arena in achieving development goals and objectives. Given Kazakhstan’s success within the framework of MDG 1, this bodes well for social service delivery in the future.

– Leeda Jewayni

Sources: UNDP, UNDG
Photo: Flickr

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What is Hunger?

What is Hunger
What is hunger? For some American high schoolers, waiting for the bell to go to lunch can be excruciating. Stomachs are growling, teenagers are getting cranky, but are they truly hungry?

To be hungry, or “malnourished,” means that, due to a lack of nutritional intake, energy is completely lacking. This often results in a severe inability to perform simple tasks or to concentrate on anything other than food.

Furthermore, the worries accompanying hunger lead to the idea of food insecurity. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization defines food insecurity as “a situation that exists when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life.”

In the 1970s, 30 percent of the people in our world suffered from hunger. Now we can proudly say that that percentage has been reduced to only 16 percent of the world, but this is still a staggering 925 million people.

The dangers of hunger extend past being temporarily without food. With a weakened body, malnourished people are much more prone to diseases like tuberculosis, dysentery and typhoid. The body also begins to feed on its own bone and muscle, creating a vicious cycle that typically ends with organs like the heart shutting down.

Hunger can affect mental capabilites as well. Without adequate nourishment, people are unable to concentrate and thus unable to advance educationally and socially.

Some unpleasant statistics from the WFP about hunger include the following:

  • A lack of nutrition causes 45 percent of children deaths under the age of five.
  • Two-thirds of Asia’s population is hungry.
  • In the developing world, 66 million primary school-age children go to class hungry.

According to U.N. FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf, “Defeating hunger is a realistic goal for our time, as long as lasting political, economic, financial and technical solutions are adopted.”

Organizations like Action Against Hunger, Grocers Against Hunger, UNICEF and countless more are fighting everyday to raise money and collect food for these suffering people throughout the world. These types of initiatives will not only put food on someone’s plate, but will extend their life expectancy, and improve communities. Just as Diouf claimed, global hunger can be defeated.

– Kathleen Lee

Sources: WFP, United Nations

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Top Charities to Donate to for Hunger

donate to for hunger
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that around 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world –  that is, one in eight – were suffering from undernourishment between 2010 and 2012. Almost all the hungry people, 852 million to be exact, live in developing countries.

There are 16 million people undernourished in developed countries. Thankfully the number of undernourished people has decreased almost 30 percent in Asia and the Pacific, from 739 million to 563 million.

The decline in hungry people could be accredited to charities that make it their mission to end world hunger. One charity helping alleviate hunger for example treated 42,000 severely malnourished children in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012. This charity is called Action Against Hunger.

Action Against Hunger has 30 years of expertise in specific areas like conflict, natural disaster and chronic food insecurity. It runs life-saving programs in over 40 countries benefiting seven million people each year.

In America, the number one charity to donate to for hunger is Feeding America. Formerly known as America’s Second Harvest, it provides food assistance to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including more than nine million children and almost three million seniors. Feeding America services all 50 states with more than 200 food banks.

While considering which charity to donate to, a third charity to consider is the Bread for the World Institute. The Institute is a lot like The Borgen Project in that it aims to educate its advocacy network, opinion leaders, policy makers and the public about hunger in the United States and abroad. One of the primary goals of the Institute is to end hunger in the United States by 2030.

Thanks to donations and hardworking volunteers, world hunger has been cut in half; however, hunger still kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. For example, Asia currently has the most people on its continent that are hungry, making up about two thirds of the area. In order to stay on track and end hunger by 2030, donations are imperative and any of the charities listed above are rapidly working to make sure the money donated is used in the most efficient way.

– Brooke Smith

Sources: about.com, Bread for the World Institute, Action Against the World, WFP
Photo: flickr

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Malnutrition in Pakistan Today

In some regions of Pakistan, malnutrition is a major barrier to development.  Organizations are working against poverty and a lack of health education or infrastructure that contributes to malnutrition.

The Food and Agriculture Organization reports that 50 percent of Pakistani children under 5 years of age are affected by stunting.  In addition, 40 percent of children are underweight, and 9 percent are wasting.

The National Nutrition Survey from 2011 also states that around half of Pakistani mothers are also malnourished.

These numbers vary by region.  In Mithi, the district capital of the Sindh province, infant mortality is at 123 out of 1000 births.  Nationally, the rate is 75 out of 1000 births.

Each year, 396,000 infants die in Pakistan.  Those that survive commonly suffer from deficiencies in iodine, vitamin A, iron, folic acid and zinc.

There are many causes for these deficiencies and the resulting malnutrition.

Many mothers do not breastfeed, nor do they sufficiently space out their pregnancies.  The average fertility rate in Pakistan is 4.1 births per woman, and the population is growing at a rate of 1.95 percent each year.  This is the highest rate in South Asia.

Many mothers also do not start weaning their children at six months, which is recommended for proper growth.

After early childhood, there is also low consumption of fruit, vegetables, fish and meat.  The majority of people’s diets consist of cereals.

This diet is largely a result of what is available for the population; 60 million people in Pakistan live in poverty.  These people cannot afford balanced diets or multivitamins and iron supplements to counteract their lack of healthy foods.

There is also little access to health centers, and those that are available are underfunded. These health centers are unable to cope with the medical complications that arise from malnutrition.  Malnutrition lowers immunity and the effectiveness of certain vaccinations.  It also leads to an increased risk for diarrhea, pneumonia and measles.

The connection between health and poverty is a cyclical problem.  Stunted growth has been connected with up to a 46 percent decrease in salaries as adults.  These adults can then not afford the healthcare and nutrition to provide for their children.

There are organizations working to counteract this cycle.

The Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) project trains people to educate others on health and education.  CMAM is funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department, and run by UNICEF.

The project trains Health and Nutrition Educators at its 27 Nutrition Centers.  These centers are in Pakistan’s Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, where a large percentage of the country’s malnourished live.

They teach a variety of subjects: hygiene, feeding for young children and infants, treating children and mothers and supplying food for malnourished children.

CMAM also takes in malnourished children and provides them with treatment.  It uses the educators to find these children in its own communities.

Malnutrition in Pakistan is identified by mid-upper arm circumference and the proportion of height to weight.

Since the inception of the program in 2011, over 560,000 people have benefited from this education and support.  The program would like to expand, treating more than just the severe cases of malnutrition.  It also wants to tackle peripheral issues related to malnutrition, like water and sanitation, hygiene, health care infrastructure and livelihoods support.

The World Food Program (WFP) also has a project in place called the Micronutrient Initiative.  This initiative is working to provide nutritional food and supplements, with support from UNICEF and Gain.

Read more about Malnutrition in Pakistan

The salt iodization program is the main focus, as the WFP has found that this is the only successful nutrition intervention program in the nation.

Because of these interventions, iodine deficiency in mothers has dropped from 57 percent to 18 percent.  In school-aged children, the number has dropped from 40 percent to 12 percent.

The Country Director of the Micronutrient Initiative, Dr. Tausif Akhtar Janjua, stated that he would like to see more access to clean water, nutrition education, access to nutritious food and increased food security, in addition to the work on supplementing nutrients.

He believes there needs to be a focus on women and children, then a focus on poverty reduction in order to keep fighting malnutrition in Pakistan.

– Monica Roth

Sources: IRIN News, UNICEF, FAO, Tribune, The News, The News 2
Photo: IRIN News

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Three Simple Ways We Can Help End Starvation

Nearly 25,000 people die every day from starvation. While in richer countries nutrition isn’t always a paramount problem, there are still 947 million people living in developing nations who are undernourished; we have the ability to help lower this number. Below are a list of ways you can help easily end starvation.

1. Raise Money

During the 2011 East African famine, relief organizations such as Save The Children and UNICEF launched campaigns to raise money for feeding starving children. By using clear and simple incentives (“just $10 can feed a child for seven days!”), smart organizations allowed even those halfway across the world to help those in need. Donating money is simple, easy and can usually be done online with just a click of a button.

2. Urge your Congressional Leaders to Support Crucial Legislation

Calling or emailing your congressional leaders is a simple and a sure way to increase their chances of supporting a bill which could save millions of lives. One such bill still waiting to be passed in the House of Representatives is the Global Food Security Act of 2013, which would improve nutrition and strengthen agriculture development in developing countries. Other similar legislation that could use your support includes the Food Aid Reform Act and Water for the World Act.

3. Limit Your Daily Intake

Over the past three decades, the average intake of dietary fats has dramatically increased in almost every country except Africa. With a recommended range from between 15 to 35 percent, we are seeing a stark contrast in dietary intake. In fact, many countries in North America and Western Europe exceeded this recommended daily intake, while countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia fell dramatically below.

Despite our growing intake, we are quickly running out of natural resources. In an overpopulated world, it is up to each of us to individually be cognizant of our daily intake. By limiting our intake in richer countries, we are ensuring that our world is capable of growing enough food in the first place for all of our global citizens.

By helping others who suffer from malnutrition, we are also helping ourselves in return. The most common causes of death around the world—including heart disease, obesity, cancer and chronic illness—can be a result of unhealthy eating habits.

By remaining aware that we have a much larger role in helping to end global hunger and poverty than we may believe, we can help put an end to millions of those going to sleep hungry at night.

– Nick Magnanti

Sources: CNN, Borgen Project, McCollum House, Food for the Poor, Green Facts, Green Facts 2
Photo: Action ContrelAfaim

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6 Ways Climate Change Causes World Hunger

Climate change causes poverty and hunger. Almost one out of seven people in the world suffers from food insecurity or chronic hunger. Agriculture and food systems traditionally have succeeded in producing and delivering food to ensure that the people of the world have enough food to lead healthy lives. Due to climate change, these food systems may not work for much longer.

 

6 ways climate change causes world hunger

 

1. Climate change leads to declining wildlife populations.

Preserving species is an important concern for human populations. Wildlife drives economies around the world. Around 15 percent of the world’s population is dependent on wildlife in order to survive. For the extremely poor, meat from animals is the main source of protein. When climate change disrupts wildlife, there is an overwhelming impact on those who rely on wildlife.

2. Climate change triggers conflicts.

Justin Brashares, associate professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at UC Berkeley, emphasizes that climate change causes unrest between people who are competing for food and resources. It can lead to groups such as Boko Haram, the Lord’s Resistance Army and Janjaweed, exploiting declining species through poaching. It can also lead to other conflicts such as piracy and illegal trade.

3. Production becomes less predictable.

Many farmers in developing countries depend on rainfall for their crops. In some areas of the world, rainfall has decreased due to climate change, and thus crops have failed. In other regions, climate change has caused the rainy season to change, which means farmers are planting their crops too early or too late and thus missing the most rainfall.

4. Supplies to markets may not be predictable.

As production levels decrease, the market supply also falls. This affects prices for crops and livestock that consume those crops.

5. There are greater risks to those less able to be sustainable

Women are often at risk because they tend to be the least educated, own fewer assets and are not as wealthy. When storms destroy livelihoods, crops and homes, people with a higher education and thus more assets and capabilities, can often cope more quickly with the devastating impact.

6. Traditional agriculture is dying out.

In many developing countries and regions, farmers depend entirely on their livestock for sustenance. Farmers are unfortunately losing their animals to droughts and diseases that have come about due to climate change. Unpredictable rainfall patterns also make it problematic. This way of life is becoming more difficult to sustain a living.

– Colleen Moore

Sources: Devex, Ee News
Photo: GB Times

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Famine in Africa

Despite the great strides, development programs have made in feeding hungry people in Africa, many of the continent’s regions have experienced famine. Famine can have disastrous humanitarian consequences; according to Mother Jones, the 2011 famine in the Horn of Africa killed 29,000 Somali children in its first three months. Even food crises that are not officially famines can cause significant loss of life. Aid agencies must understand famine’s causes to address potential future famines in Africa.

The U.N. defines a food crisis as famine when 20 percent of households have food shortages, 30 percent of people have acute malnutrition, and more than two people per 10,000 die per day from food-related causes. Since 2000, the U.N. has declared famines in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia. The ongoing food crisis in South Sudan, which has already caused suffering, could soon become a famine.

Africa also has many instances of food insecurity, making its countries more susceptible to future famines. In 2013, the World Food Program found that the East African nations of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zambia had undernourishment rates of over 35 percent, the highest in the world.

What has made famines and other food crises in Africa so common? Droughts play a role because they reduce crop production and kill livestock all over affected regions. In 2011, the Horn of Africa experienced abnormally low rainfall, leading to food shortages and an eventual famine. This year, Kenya’s Capital News Network reports similarly bad weather patterns across East Africa.

Droughts are not the only contributing factors to famine in Africa, however. Violence and political instability made it difficult for NGOs and aid agencies to distribute food in affected areas. Mother Jones reports that clashes between the Somali transitional government and the extremist al-Shabab militia prevented many groups from reaching people in the 2011 famine. Al-Shabab itself expelled aid agencies from Somalia, worsening the crisis. Capital News estimates that the famine killed 250,000.

Today, South Sudan shows similar signs of potential famine. Low rainfall combined with an ongoing civil conflict means that people, especially refugees, will have reduced access to food. Already, 3.5 million South Sudanese citizens struggle with dying crops and livestock, malnutrition and food shortages.

The food crisis in South Sudan is not yet a famine, but the lack of an official label may worsen existing conditions. According to The Guardian, studies on the Horn of Africa famine found that more people died from undernourishment before the crisis was declared a famine. Without the official famine designation, the media did not cover the crisis as much, there was less public outcry for support, and governments did not appropriately scale up funding.

Only when the Horn of Africa crisis became a famine did aid providers start to become more effective. To properly distribute food aid and prevent future deaths from the recent South Sudan shortage, the international community will need to act quickly and urgently. The threat of famine in Africa will continue, but with a strong early-reaction network the world can help prevent it. If the world can come together and get support for aid before crises become famines, millions could be saved.

–Ted Rappleye

Sources: United Nations, Mother Jones, World Food Programme, Capital News Network, The Guardian
Photo: Mother Jones

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10 Facts about Hunger in Asia

Hunger is a serious global issue that affects millions in developing countries, and hunger in Asia is particularly devastating. According to the World Food Programme, there are 842 million people suffering from hunger across the world, and 98 percent of that total amount lives in developing areas within Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

As the largest and most populous continent, Asia is home to approximately 4.427 billion people. Unfortunately, a large amount of that population suffers from hunger.

 

Top Facts about Hunger in Asia

 

1.  Asia has the largest number of hungry people, with more than 500 million suffering.

2. About 62.4 percent of global hunger exists in both Asia and the South Pacific.

3. More than 20 percent of Asian children are underweight, meaning they are too thin for their age, and more than 70 percent of malnourished children live in Asia.

4. The lack of essential vitamins and minerals in one’s diet is a leading cause of hunger and malnutrition. Both Asia and Africa are iodine deficient areas. Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) greatly impact the mental and cognitive development of children, and if pregnant women do not receive the proper amount of iodine, there is a greater chance the pregnancy will result in abortion, stillbirth and congenital abnormalities.

5. About 75 percent of all those suffering from hunger live in rural areas, and a large majority of them live in the villages of Asia and Africa.

6. Out of the 553 million malnourished people living in Asia, six out of ten live in South Asia and eight out of ten are malnourished children living in those areas.

7. The poor and hungry in Asia face difficulties as the demand for food increases while water and land resources decrease, causing food prices to rise. If these food prices did not rise during the 2000s, approximately 112 million people in Asia could have escaped poverty.

However, there is some good news and socio-economic progress in Asia:

8. The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI) score for South Asia decreased by 34 percent when compared to the 1990 score.

9. Although 553 million people are still hungry in Asia, this represents a 30 percent decrease from the previous 739 million hungry people. Malnourishment has also decreased from 23.7 to 13.9 percent.

10. The U.N. launched the Zero Hunger Challenge on April 29, 2013, which has led governments, scientists, businesses, civil societies, farmers and consumers to work together to end poverty and hunger in Asia and the Pacific. To achieve this goal, the Zero Hunger Challenge outlined five objectives: ensure everyone always has access to nutritious foods, end childhood stunting, develop sustainable food systems, increase the productivity and income of small farmers and prevent the loss and wasting of food.

As these facts reveal, too many people across the world still suffer from hunger. Like in any other country, hunger in Asia affects the development of entire societies and communities.

– Meghan Orner

Sources: World Food Programme, International Food Policy Research Institute, Asian Development Bank 1, Asian Development Bank 2, Hunger Notes, UN News Centre
Photo: WSJ

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Food Waste Contributing to Poverty

We all know that wasting food is wrong, but do we ever stop to think how this careless act directly impacts those who are less fortunate? The U.N.’s Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) recently revealed that almost one-third of all the food produced in the world is either lost or wasted in food production and consumption systems—food that could have fed the hungry.

According to the U.N., 842 million people suffer from the effects of hunger globally, and using the UNEP and WRI’s estimates, the one-third of the world’s food wasted could equal up to 1,520 calories for each hungry person in developing countries where malnourishment is widespread.

There is also a moral imperative involved in resolving this issue as the President of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim points out, “Millions of people around the world go to bed hungry every night, and yet millions of tons of food end up in trash cans or spoiled on the way to market. We have to tackle this problem in every country in order to improve food security and to end poverty.”

What people may not realize is that food waste unfortunately occurs in both industrialized and developing countries. In industrialized countries, food waste is typically caused by consumers buying too much food and being too concerned with the food’s appearance.

While the problem itself is the same in developing countries, food waste in these countries is caused by the lack of technology, harvesting techniques, post-harvest management and even marketing methods. Insect infestations and high temperatures also affect the quality of food products. For example, at least a quarter of the crops grown are wasted in Africa, where 65 percent of the labor force completes agricultural work.

The environment is also negatively affected by food waste as fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals are wasted while the rotting food creates more methane, a harmful greenhouse gas that is one of the greatest contributors to climate change.

Many are also fearful of the effect the growing population will have on the availability of food after the Pew Research Center revealed that 9.6 billion people are expected to populate the world in 2050, emphasizing the importance of future food security.

As a global issue, many campaigns such as Think.Eat.Save. are now focusing on ensuring food security and reducing the amount of food wasted. A campaign of the Save Food Initiative, Think.Eat.Save works to alleviate the negative humanitarian, environmental and financial effects food waste has on both developed and developing countries.

As the organization’s name suggests, we can all do our part in ensuring that we are not wasting food by following these three simple steps:

1. Think. Planning meals and creating a grocery list before shopping is a great way to ensure that you’re only buying what you will eat.

2. Eat. Be mindful of what you eat, and save time and money by eating food out of the fridge first.

3. Save. Freeze produce so it stays fresh longer and don’t forget to make the most of leftovers.

Food wasting is a serious global issue that affects millions, but through these simple steps we can all do our part in reducing our “foodprint.”

– Meghan Orner

Sources: World Bank, World Bank 2, U.N. Environment Programme, U.N. Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, United Nations, Pew Research Center, Global Issues, Society of St. Andrew, Think. Eat. Save
Photo: World Food Day USA