Hunger
KeyLearnings
• Meanings, definitions
• Causes of hunger,malnutrition
• Impacts of hunger,malnutrition
• Possible suggestions
Facts
“The State of Food Insecurity in the World,2017”
Undernourished in India - 14.5%
Anemic women between 15 to 59 years - 51.4%
Stunting of children – 38.4%
Wasting of children– 21 %
Global Hunger Index 2017 - 100/119
Infant MortalityRate - 35
Gross Domestic Product has increased 4.5 times and per capita consumption has
increased 3 times
Food grain production has increasedalmost 2 times in past two decades
• FAOfood insecurity
• when all people, at all times, do not have physical and economic
access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary
needs and nutritious preferences for an active and healthy life
• “Hunger” the body's way of signaling that it is running short offood and
needs to eat something
• Hunger is potential consequences of food security
• An uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food
Related Terms
• Malnutrition is an abnormal physiological condition
• Caused by inadequate, unbalanced or excessive consumption of the
• Macronutrients that provide dietary energy (carbohydrates, protein and
fats)
• Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that are essential for physical and
cognitive growth and development.
• “Under nutrition” goes beyond calories and signifies deficiencies in any or all
of the following:
• energy, protein, or essential vitamins and minerals
Nutritional
Status
Availability
Food Health
Accessibility Intake Status
Stability
Utilization Food Insecurity
Nutritional Status
Chronic food Transitory food
and nutrition and nutrition
insecurity insecurity
Conceptual
Frameworkfor
Malnutrition
Image Source -[Link]
Causes
socio-cultural
Gender inequality Bio-medical
Poverty
Inadequate maternal health
Poor feeding practices
Poor food choices
Poor health
Household food insecurity
Large family size (more number of siblings) Poor utilization of nutrients due to infections or
other illnesses as diarrhea, pneumonia, malariaand
Unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation and hygiene HIV/AIDS
Uneven distribution of agricultural resource
Geneticdisorder
Taboos and superstition
Politico Institutional Environmental
Poor food system (include production, storage,
transportation and marketing) Unsustainable agriculture leads to decrease in
agricultural productivity
Wars (Food sometimes becomes a weapon, cutting
off the supply chain)
Increase in extreme events due to climate
Civil strife change pulls people at margin below the
poverty line
Ineffective policy
Natural disaster.
Dictatorial regimes (North Korea, Khmer regime in
Cambodia)
Erosion, Salination and Desertification.
Whimsical political decisions
Impacts
Biological Social
Poor performance inschool
Retard growth and development - wasting and underweight
Social unrest (foodriots)
Deficiencydiseases- Kwashiorkor and Marasmus (PEM)
High birth rate to compensate high IMR
Reduce physicalactivity
Gender inequality (in situation of scarcity, females are
Impairs resistance to infection and increases nutrient requirementsand
neglected)
further weakens the immunesystem
Delayed recoveringfrom disease High dependencyratio
Increased morbidity and disabilities Inferiority complex
Adversely affects pregnancy and lactation in women- low weight at birth Subject of ridicule among peers (esp. when overweight)
Nutrition disorders may arise, depending on which nutrients are under-
abundant in thediet
Lost productivity
Economic Additional burdens to the education
system and direct health care costs
WayAhead
FAO-Examples Image Source - [Link]
Suggestions(WHI)
Democratic Governance of National Food
• Must actively include in the policy-makingprocess the under-representedgroups
Systems
Broaden Participation in International • participationof people’s movements and civil society organization
Food-Policy Debates • productivedebates around paradigms of food systems
Guarantee Rights and Space for Civil • holding decision makers to account on their obligationto protect and ensure the Right to
Society Food
• Protect from the negative impacts of international trade and agricultureagreements
Protect Citizens and Ensure Standards in • Protect from actions of private firms that could endanger citizens’food sovereignty and
Business and Trade food and nutritionsecurity
• how hunger and malnutrition are distributed across the population
Analyze Power to Make BetterPolicies • how power inequalitiesaffect differentgroups in society - gender norms
Increase Support for Small-Scale Food • Governments should build the capacity of small-scale producers, particularlywomen
Producers
Advance Equality through Education and • must provide access to education and create social safety nets
Social Safety Nets
Hold Governments Accountable with • criticaldata gaps in relation to both hunger and inequality must be addressed
Timely Data • the collectionof disaggregated,independent, open, reliable, and timely data
Some other suggestions
Reduce fluctuations in
Minimize alienation of
Remove Infrastructure food grains production,
agricultural land for
constraints in caused primarily due to
non-agricultural
agriculture agro-climatic
purposes
uncertainties
Increase purchasing
Better management Efficiency and capacity of the
and distribution of food transparency of the households for
commodities system nutritious and quality
food.
Manage food inflation Increase India’s
better spending on health
SwaminathanCommittee
• Eliminate micronutrient deficiency - integrated food cum fortificationapproach.
• Reorganize the delivery of nutrition support programmes on a life-cycle basis
• Implement a universal public distributionsystem.
• Formulate a National Food GuaranteeAct
• Continuing the useful features of the Food for Work and Employment Guarantee
programmes.
• Organize a Rural Non-Farm LivelihoodInitiative.
• ‘Store Grain and Water everywhere’ - Community Food and Water Banks operated by
Women SHGs
• Improve the productivity, quality and profitability of farmenterprises
• Increased Consumption - Increase demand for foodgrains - agricultural progress
• Participation of Panchayats and localbodies