2Billion people suffering from hidden hunger in #africa

Washington D.C. — A staggering 2 billion people get so
little essential vitamins and minerals from the foods they
eat that they remain undernourished, according to the 2014
Global Hunger Index (GHI) being released today by the
International Food Policy Research Institute,
Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide.
This "hidden hunger"--the focus of the report's main
essay--is often hard to detect, but is potentially
devastating. Hidden hunger weakens the immune system,
stunts physical and intellectual growth, and can lead to
death. It wreaks economic havoc as well, locking countries
into cycles of poor nutrition, lost productivity, poverty, and
reduced economic growth.
The 2014 GHI examines levels of hunger in 120 developing
countries and countries in transition and scores them based
on three equally weighted indicators: the proportion of
people who are undernourished, the proportion of children
under five who are underweight, and the mortality rate of
children under five.
While great strides have been made to feed the world, 805
million people are still chronically undernourished because
they don't get enough to eat. Yet even those who eat
enough calories can suffer from hidden hunger, a critical
aspect of hunger and nutrition that is often overlooked. To
combat it, we need to enable the production of diverse crops
and ensure the availability nutrient-rich foods, including
fruits and vegetables.
"Particularly in countries facing a high burden of
malnutrition, hidden hunger goes hand in hand with other
forms of malnutrition and cannot be addressed in isolation,"
said Welthungerhilfe president Bärbel Dieckmann. "In the
long-term, people cannot break out of the vicious cycle of
poverty and malnutrition without being granted the basic
right to nutritious food."
The good news in this year's GHI is that the number of
people going hungry has steadily decreased in most
developing countries. Since 1990, hunger in the developing
world has fallen by 39 percent, and 26 countries have
reduced their scores by 50 percent or more. Angola,
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chad, Ghana, Malawi, Niger,
Rwanda, Thailand, and Vietnam have seen the greatest
improvements in their scores between the 1990 GHI and the
2014 GHI. The bad news is that levels of hunger are still
"alarming" in 14 countries, and "extremely alarming" in two,
Burundi and Eritrea.
This year's GHI includes provisional data from India on
underweight in children under five, for the first time in eight
years. Improvements in this index indicator show the
prevalence of underweight in children fell by almost 13
percent between 2005-2006 and 2013-2014, contributing to
India's movement in the Index from the "alarming" category
to the "serious." Due to its sheer size, gains in India helped
South Asia improve its 2014 GHI score: Levels of hunger in
the region have fallen by 41 percent since 1990.
"We are excited to see that there are improvements in India
and also globally," said Shenggen Fan, IFPRI's director
general. "The GHI shows that hunger has been decreasing
since 1990, but there is much more to be done to address
hunger--including hidden hunger--to ensure food and
nutrition security for the most vulnerable."
Hidden hunger affects not only the well-being of the
individual. It also carries economic costs, cutting gross
domestic product in many developing countries. Yet the
benefits of action can be great: Research on the effects of
salt iodization suggests that every dollar invested in
iodization generates up to $81 in benefits.
"The great news is that we have clear evidence proving that
investing in nutrition is one of the smartest development
investments we can make," said Dominic MacSorley, CEO of
Concern Worldwide. "What is needed now is more practical
action on the ground, such as our RAIN project in Zambia
included in this year's GHI report, and more political action
at the international level to end all forms of malnutrition."
Preventing and treating hidden hunger requires action at all
levels. The global community must ensure that the
post-2015 framework includes a universal goal to end
hunger and malnutrition in all its forms and clear
mechanisms to ensure accountability.