Unlike last
year, this year Nepal performed poorly in the fight against hunger as its score
increased to 20.3 from last year's 19.9, according to the Global Hunger Index
2012.
The country still ranks among serious hunger affected, though it had managed to climb one category up from alarming situation last year.
The lower the score, the better the condition of hunger in the country, according to International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that calculates the GHI every year. Countries with extremely alarming have scores of over 30, whereas alarming situation has a score between 20 and 29.9, and serious falls in a score between 10 and 19.9 hunger situation. Similarly, countries with scores of under 10 are moderate and under five are ranked under low. It is based on three equally weighted indicators – the proportion of undernourished as percentage of the population, the prevalence of underweight in children under the age of five, and under five mortality rate.
The index that is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally, and by country and region, highlights successes and failures in hunger reduction and provides insights to the drivers of hunger. By raising awareness and understanding of regional and country differences in hunger, the GHI will, it is hoped, trigger actions to reduce hunger. But no one really knows how many people are malnourished. The statistic, most frequently cited, is that of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which measures 'undernutrition'.
The 2012 Index focuses in particular on the effects that land, water, and energy stress have on global food security, particularly for the world's poorest people. To feed nine billion people — the projected world population in 2050 — who will consume at the rate of 12 billion people if they follow the current consumption pattern of industrialised countries like the United States, it is clear that more food must be produced with fewer resources, and wasteful practices and policies must be eliminated.
The index lays out clear policy recommendations on how to use land, water, and energy for sustainable food security including improving governance of natural resources, scaling up technical approaches to food production and natural resource protection, and addressing the drivers of natural resource scarcity.
Similarly, South Asia has the highest regional 2012 GHI score at 22.5, making it the highest hunger levels of the regions covered in the index.
However, compared with the region’s 1990 GHI score, its 2012 GHI score is 26 per cent lower, indicating improvements in the region’s hunger situation.
Bangladesh, India, and Timor-Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight children under five – more than 40 per cent in each of the three countries, according to the report. "From 2005-2010, India ranked second to last on child underweight, below Ethiopia, Niger, Nepal, and Bangladesh."
China has even lower GHI scores than predicted as it lowered its levels of hunger and undernutrition through a strong commitment to poverty reduction, social security networks, nutrition and health interventions, and improved access to safe water, sanitation, and education.
The 2012 GHI report — the seventh in an annual series — presented a multidimensional measure of global, regional, and national hunger. It showed that progress in reducing the proportion of hungry people in the world has been tragically slow.
According to the index, hunger on a global scale remains 'serious'. The 2012 GHI report also focuses particularly on how to ensure sustainable food security under conditions of land, water, and energy stress. The stark reality is that the world needs to produce more food with fewer resources, while eliminating wasteful practices and policies.
The country still ranks among serious hunger affected, though it had managed to climb one category up from alarming situation last year.
The lower the score, the better the condition of hunger in the country, according to International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that calculates the GHI every year. Countries with extremely alarming have scores of over 30, whereas alarming situation has a score between 20 and 29.9, and serious falls in a score between 10 and 19.9 hunger situation. Similarly, countries with scores of under 10 are moderate and under five are ranked under low. It is based on three equally weighted indicators – the proportion of undernourished as percentage of the population, the prevalence of underweight in children under the age of five, and under five mortality rate.
The index that is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally, and by country and region, highlights successes and failures in hunger reduction and provides insights to the drivers of hunger. By raising awareness and understanding of regional and country differences in hunger, the GHI will, it is hoped, trigger actions to reduce hunger. But no one really knows how many people are malnourished. The statistic, most frequently cited, is that of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which measures 'undernutrition'.
The 2012 Index focuses in particular on the effects that land, water, and energy stress have on global food security, particularly for the world's poorest people. To feed nine billion people — the projected world population in 2050 — who will consume at the rate of 12 billion people if they follow the current consumption pattern of industrialised countries like the United States, it is clear that more food must be produced with fewer resources, and wasteful practices and policies must be eliminated.
The index lays out clear policy recommendations on how to use land, water, and energy for sustainable food security including improving governance of natural resources, scaling up technical approaches to food production and natural resource protection, and addressing the drivers of natural resource scarcity.
Similarly, South Asia has the highest regional 2012 GHI score at 22.5, making it the highest hunger levels of the regions covered in the index.
However, compared with the region’s 1990 GHI score, its 2012 GHI score is 26 per cent lower, indicating improvements in the region’s hunger situation.
Bangladesh, India, and Timor-Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight children under five – more than 40 per cent in each of the three countries, according to the report. "From 2005-2010, India ranked second to last on child underweight, below Ethiopia, Niger, Nepal, and Bangladesh."
China has even lower GHI scores than predicted as it lowered its levels of hunger and undernutrition through a strong commitment to poverty reduction, social security networks, nutrition and health interventions, and improved access to safe water, sanitation, and education.
The 2012 GHI report — the seventh in an annual series — presented a multidimensional measure of global, regional, and national hunger. It showed that progress in reducing the proportion of hungry people in the world has been tragically slow.
According to the index, hunger on a global scale remains 'serious'. The 2012 GHI report also focuses particularly on how to ensure sustainable food security under conditions of land, water, and energy stress. The stark reality is that the world needs to produce more food with fewer resources, while eliminating wasteful practices and policies.
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