GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX _ PART I
2.3 |
Regional features in monitoring GHI progress
Since 1990 the GHI score for Sub-Saharan Africa has dropped only marginally, in contrast to greater progress made in South Asia. Greater political stability and economic growth have proven favourable for South Asia. In comparing the GHI progress indicator across regions, it becomes apparent that only the Latin America and Caribbean region and the East Asia and Pacific region are on track with regard to reducing their Global Hunger Index scores. Those two regions have made considerable progress in decreasing undernourishment in the population, the child mortality rate, and child malnutrition. In East Asia, China is the driving force behind the positive trend: the poverty rate has fallen considerably in that country, and specific measures to eradicate malnutrition as well as investments in agriculture have contributed to reducing the GHI score.
If current trends remain unchanged, however, South Asia and the North Africa and Middle East region will not reach their targets. South Asia is lagging behind concerning the target of halving the proportion of people suffering from calorie deficiency, partly because of too little progress in India, which is home to three-quarters of South Asia’s population. Nonetheless, this region is better off with regard to its GHI-P than Sub-Saharan Africa, where development has been almost stagnant. There are in fact minor positive trends for all three GHI components, but particularly the reduction of child malnutrition and child mortality needs to take place at a much faster rate. As a matter of fact, the proportion of the ultra-poor—people who live on less than 50 cents a day—has hardly changed in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1990 (the figure has dropped minimally from 18% to 17%) 30. Household surveys show that “poverty traps” are a decisive factor: poor people are able to neither feed themselves adequately nor invest in their future. At the same time, the infrastructure in their countries is deficient and they lack access to services in the agricultural, education, and health sectors.
GHI progress evaluation by region Region GHI progress indicator (GHI-P)
Progress evaluation for GHI components Proportion of undernourished
Underweight Child mortality in children rate
Latin America & the Caribean
0.66
0.52
0.87
0.63
East Asia & Pacific 0.58 South Asia 0.47
0.52
0.61
0.59
0.35
0.51
0.50
Middle East & North Africa
0.39
-0.30
0.36
0.76
Sub-Saharan Africa
0.15
0.20
0.12
0.13
Note: Regions with a GHI-P of 0.5 and above are projected to meet the GHI target score derived from the MDGs by 2015 if progress continues at the present rate.
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