UN Millennium Development Library: Halving Hunger

It Can Be Done

UN Millennium Project

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136550485
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Development Economics
• Index: Economics

The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, are the world's targets for dramatically reducing extreme poverty in its many dimensions by 2015 income poverty, hunger, disease, exclusion, lack of infrastructure and shelter while promoting gender equality, education, health and environmental sustainability. These bold goals can be met in all parts of the world if nations follow through on their commitments to work together to meet them. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals offers the prospect of a more secure, just, and prosperous world for all. The UN Millennium Project was commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop a practical plan of action to meet the Millennium Development Goals. As an independent advisory body directed by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, the UN Millennium Project submitted its recommendations to the UN Secretary General in January 2005. The core of the UN Millennium Project's work has been carried out by 10 thematic Task Forces comprising more than 250 experts from around the world, including scientists, development practitioners, parliamentarians, policymakers, and representatives from civil society, UN agencies, the World Bank, the IMF, and the private sector.This report lays out the recommendations of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger in seven major categories: political action; national policy reforms; increased agricultural productivity for food insecure farmers; improved nutrition for the chronically hungry; productive safety nets for the acutely hungry; improved rural incomes and markets; and restoration and conservation of natural resources essential for food security. The task force strongly endorses the Secretary General's call for a 21st Century African Green Revolution. These bold yet practical approaches will enable countries in every region of the world to halve world hunger by 2015.

Chapter 1

The imperatives for reducing hunger

Approximately 852 million people worldwide cannot obtain enough food to live healthy and productive lives (FAO 2004). Hunger has many impacts. It is reflected in high rates of disease and mortality, limited neurological development, and low productivity among current and future generations. It is also a major constraint to a country's ability to develop economically, socially, and politically. Women and children living in developing countries are most vulnerable to the broad and devastating effects of hunger. Hunger, poverty, and disease are interlinked, with each contributing to the presence and persistence of the other two (WHO 1997).

Recognizing the enormity of the problem, world leaders committed themselves to the Goal of reducing hunger by half by 2015. Achieving this Goal is possible. But it will require an integrated, multisectoral approach—and an unprecedented commitment of political action and resources from both developing and developed countries. The solutions to fight hunger must be holistic—incorporating the recommendations in this report in combination with those of the other task forces addressing poverty, economic development, education, gender equality, health and HIV/AIDS, environment, water and sanitation, slum dwellers, trade, and technology. This chapter defines the problem, highlights the underlying determinants, outlines its multiple costs, and restates the moral foundation for eradicating hunger.

Defining hunger

Any discussion of how to halve hunger in the world immediately runs into problems of definition. “Hunger” is a popular word that resonates strongly with all people, even those who have experienced it only briefly. In its common usage it describes the subjective feeling of discomfort that follows a period without eating. The term undernourishment defines insufficient food intake to continuously meet dietary energy requirements (FAO 2003). The term food insecurity relates to the condition that exists when people do not have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, and culturally acceptable food to meet their dietary needs and lead an active and healthy life (FAO 1996).

Both food insecurity and nutritional insecurity must be overcome

Within the definition of food insecurity is a distinction between chronic and acute food insecurity. Chronic food insecurity occurs when people are unable to access sufficient, safe, and nutritious food over long periods, such that it becomes their normal condition. Acute food insecurity exists when the lack of access to adequate food is more short-term, usually caused by shocks such as drought or war.

Hunger and food insecurity are often used interchangeably, since both focus on the availability of food. But it is human nutrition that determines whether a person thrives, falls ill, or dies. Nutrition deals with the way the body absorbs and uses food. Malnutrition leads to health problems, growth retardation, poor cognitive development, and in the worst cases death. It may result from deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in energy, protein, and other nutrients (FAO 2003). It is also caused by numerous factors ranging from the inadequate care received by a newborn baby, through the lack of essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) in the food consumed, to the diseases and conditions that prevent the body from properly absorbing and using nutrients (FAO 2003). In this report, we use the word hunger to encompass both food and nutritional insecurity.

The definitions are important. Both food insecurity and nutritional insecurity must be overcome—and both require equal attention in fighting hunger. But the actions to combat them may be different, if often complementary. Just as the causes of food insecurity are complex (including lack of production, market failures, the inability to afford food), so too are the causes of malnutrition (nutrient and micronutrient deficiencies, diseases, lack of hygiene). Unless decisionmakers understand the web of interconnected issues that underlies the Goal of halving hunger, there is a risk that their responses will be partial and inadequate. This report therefore seeks to disentangle the parts of hunger, as a prelude to identifying the most urgent and highest priority responses.

Determinants of hunger

Poverty, war, natural disasters, disease epidemics, political and economic shocks—all affect not only the basic determinants of hunger (physical, technological, economic, political, social, and cultural), but also the underlying determinants (household food security, care, and health environment). Several analyses show that conditions at the household level (the underlying determinants of malnutrition) are extremely important (Haddad, Webb, and Slack 1997; Webb 1998; Smith and Haddad 2000). The results also show that individuals who are malnourished have been failed by many different sectors: agriculture, health, education, social welfare, finance, and employment. To address hunger effectively requires understanding the many causes of malnutrition at the household, community, and regional levels. It also requires a multisectoral approach to develop solutions and design and implement policies specifically targeted at vulnerable populations.

Parents’ education, especially mothers’ level of education, has significant impacts on child malnutrition

Poverty

Previous research suggests that, across countries, extreme poverty accounts for close to half the variability in overall malnutrition rates. Smith and Haddad (2002), in a cross-country study of the causes of malnutrition, found that, during 1970–95, per capita income in developing countries increased significantly, from $1,011 to $2,121. This large increase was found to have facilitated an estimated 7.4 percent reduction in child malnutrition. In a study of 42 developing countries, the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition (UN ACC/SCN 1994) found a statistically significant relationship between GDP per capita growth and changes in underweight prevalence, with a 1 percent annual increase in the growth rate of GDP per capita leading to a 0.24 percent decrease in underweight prevalence. A similar study of 18 Latin American countries by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2001 found that, in 34 percent of the cases analyzed, the percentage of people living on less than $1 a day was correlated with the percentage of the population underweight. In effect, 49 percent of the cross-country variability in the malnutrition rate (low weight-for-age) and 57 percent of the cross-country variability in moderate to serious chronic malnutrition (low height-for-age) could be attributed to differences in the percentage of people living in extreme poverty (ECLAC 2004).

Education

Data suggest that the level of parents’ education, especially mothers’ level of education, has significant impacts on child malnutrition. If the mother attended primary school, the child is less likely to be underweight. The correlation is even stronger if the mother also received secondary education. Smith and Haddad (2000) found that women's education is associated with almost 43 percent of the reduction in child malnutrition in developing countries from 1970 to 1995 (table 1.1). This contribution is the combined result of the strong effect of education and a fairly large increase in its supply over the period. In a similar study, the United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination/Sub-Committee on Nutrition (UN ACN/SCN 1993) found, especially in South Asia, that female enrollment in secondary school, and government expenditures on social services (health, education, and social security), are negatively and significantly associated with underweight prevalence.

Table 1.1
Factors contributing to reductions in child malnutrition
Percent

Factor	Contribution to reduction in child malnutrition, from 1970 to 1995
Women's education	43
Per capita food availability	26
Health environment improvements	19
Women's status relative to men's	12

Source: Smith and Haddad 2000.

Improved food availability has made a great contribution to reducing malnutrition

The reduction in child malnutrition due to women's education may be due in part to the fact that education and skills training better equip women to participate in activities that can improve their overall economic and social status within the household and the community. Research also shows that educating girls can delay their marriage age, reduce their future family size, increase their earning power, and improve the nutritional status of their future children. Moreover, agricultural productivity increases dramatically when women receive the same inputs as men, including education (Smith and Haddad 2000).

Food production and access

Improved food availability has made a great contribution to reducing malnutrition. Smith and Haddad (2000) found that per capita food availability contributed about 26 percent of the reduction of child malnutrition between 1970 and 1995. The contribution was substantial in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Food production in developing countries tripled over the past 30 years. The number of rural poor fell by half. The proportion of malnourished people declined from 30 percent to 18 percent. And the real prices of the main cereal crops fell by 76 percent. But the impact of an increase in food availability on malnutrition depends on the present level of availability and access to food. Where food is scarce, an increase in availability will have a strong impact. Where food is more plentiful, the effect of an increase in availability will be smaller (Smith and Haddad 2000).

Data show an inverse relationship between food shortages and underweight children: there are more underweight children in cereal-surplus countries than in cereal-deficit ones. On reflection this is not surprising. Asian countries such as India produce enough food to feed themselves, yet both the number and rate of underweight children are extremely high. Increased supplies did not translate into comparable increases in food consumption by the poor due to the lack of purchasing power, policy failures, and the growing use of cereals and other staples for animal feed to serve wealthier consumers (Scherr 2003).

Most of Latin America and Asia produce or import enough food to feed their populations. Under these circumstances, productivity growth in agriculture is not the most effective measure for reducing malnutrition. Instead, the key is to ensure that improvements in productivity are shared across a broad spectrum of resource-poor farming households. This requires equitable access to productive assets, especially land, and to improved technologies. It is also essential that markets function well enough to ensure that improvements in productivity result in lower consumer prices. The urban poor in these areas need to gain economic access to food.

Inadequate sanitation, poor health facilities, and unsafe water sources contribute significantly to malnutrition

In Africa, however, soil nutrient depletion and unreliable water supply are extreme. Depleted soils cannot provide sufficient mineral nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus) for crops to grow. This translates into low food productivity and supply. Therefore, for most African countries, the initial entry point to increasing food production and access may revolve around investments in soil health and water management to improve agricultural productivity.

Sanitation, health facilities, and water

Inadequate sanitation, po...