The percentage of people starving in 29 countries is alarming, according to a new report published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). In 2009, hunger affected more than a billion people worldwide, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
As emphasized by the authors of the report, world leaders are unable to meet the goal set in 1990, which was to reduce the number of people starving by half by 2015. Malnutrition among children is of particular concern.
Malnutrition in early childhood causes poverty to persist in subsequent generations. Countries with high starvation rates must take action to ensure that babies are fed for the first XNUMX days after birth, says Marie Ruel of IFPRI. At the same time, she emphasizes that strategies should also include nutrition education programs for pregnant women.
The percentage of malnourished people decreased from 20 percent. in the years 1990 -1992 to 16 percent. in the years 2004-2006. The UN estimates that 925 million people are starving this year (last year it was over a billion).
World hunger has improved by 1990 percent compared to 24. However, progress varies greatly between regions and countries, notes Ruel.
To compare the situation in different countries, IFPRI is compiling the Global Hunger Index, which takes into account the percentage of malnourished people in the general population, the percentage of children under five who are under-weighted, and mortality in the under-five age group.
The ten countries with the highest percentage of people starving are: Congo, Burundi, Eritrea, Chad, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Comoros, Madagascar and the Central African Republic.
However, IFPRI representatives emphasize that due to insufficient data, some countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, were not included in the report (PAP).