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An International Nutrition Index - Successes and Failures in Addressing Hunger and Malnutrition

Author

Listed:
  • Wiesmann, Doris
  • von Braun, Joachim
  • Feldbrügge, Torsten

Abstract

At international conferences in the 90s, the international community reconfirmed the elimination of hunger and malnutrition as high priority. The Nutrition Index (NI) presented in this paper has been designed to assess the effectiveness of actions taken towards achieving this goal. The Nutrition Index reflects complementary dimensions of a country’s nutrition situation by including the following indicators: 1) the percentage of undernourished in the population, 2) the prevalence of underweight in children under the age of five, and 3) the under-five-mortality rate, indicating the deadly synergy between inadequate food intake and unhealthy living conditions. After data refinement and several estimation procedures to supplement lacking data, data availability permits NI calculation for the vast majority of developing countries and at different points in time (1981, 1992 and 1997). The NI serves as a comprehensive measure to analyse performance and trends in combating hunger and malnutrition in single countries and in regions. In North Africa and the Near East, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean, a nearly satisfactory nutrition situation has been achieved. The nutrition situation is still bad in South Asia and no better than mixed in most of Southeast Asia, but very promising upward trends have been observed in this region since the beginning of the 80s. In large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the nutrition situation is bad or even extremely bad, and recent trends do not provide much scope for optimism either. In further analyses, significant correlations between NI values and the prevalence of micro-nutrient deficiencies are found, and the tight connection of macroeconomic performance and people’s ability to be free from hunger and malnutrition is demonstrated. In spite of this, the comparison of NI and GNP per capita also reveals that much economic scope for policies to relieve hunger and malnutrition still remains untapped in many countries. The Nutrition Index, in its function as an international monitoring tool, is hoped to make countries more accountable to their commitments and to help speeding up necessary nutritional improvements.

Suggested Citation

  • Wiesmann, Doris & von Braun, Joachim & Feldbrügge, Torsten, 2000. "An International Nutrition Index - Successes and Failures in Addressing Hunger and Malnutrition," Discussion Papers 281234, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ubzefd:281234
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.281234
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. von Grebmer, Klaus & Headey, Derek & Bene, Christophe & Haddad, Lawrence & Olofinbiyi, Tolulope & Wiesmann, Doris & Fritschel, Heidi & Yin, Sandra & Yohannes, Yisehac & Foley, Connell & von Oppeln, Co, 2013. "2013 Global Hunger Index: The challenge of hunger: Building resilience to achieve food and nutrition security," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-951-1 edited by von Oppeln, Constanze & Labahn, Marius & Towey, Olive & von Grebmer, Klaus.
    2. Ugo Gentilini & Patrick Webb, 2005. "How Are We Doing on Poverty and Hunger Reduction?: A New Measure of Country-Level Progress," Working Papers in Food Policy and Nutrition 31, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
    3. von Grebmer, Klaus & Bernstein, Jill & Prasai, Nilam & Yin, Sandra & Yohannes, Yisehac & Towey, Olive & Sonntag, Andrea & Neubauer, Larissa & de Waal, Alex, 2015. "2015 Global hunger index: Armed conflict and the challenge of hunger," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-964-1.
    4. von Grebmer, Klaus & Saltzman, Amy & Birol, Ekin & Wiesman, Doris & Prasai, Nilam & Yin, Sandra & Yohannes, Yisehac & Menon, Purnima & Thompson, Jennifer & Sonntag, Andrea, 2014. "Welthunger-Index 2014: Herausforderung verborgener hunger," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-959-7 edited by Sonntag, Andrea & Neubauer, Larissa & Towey, Olive & von Grebmer, Klaus & Yin, Sandra.
    5. repec:fpr:resrep:2012ghienglish is not listed on IDEAS
    6. von Grebmer, Klaus & Saltzman, Amy & Birol, Ekin & Wiesman, Doris & Prasai, Nilam & Yin, Sandra & Yohannes, Yisehac & Menon, Purnima & Thompson, Jennifer & Sonntag, Andrea, 2014. "2014 Global Hunger Index: The challenge of hidden hunger," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-958-0 edited by Sonntag, Andrea & Neubauer, Larissa & Towey, Olive & von Grebmer, Klaus & Yin, Sandra.
    7. von Grebmer, Klaus & Saltzman, Amy & Birol, Ekin & Wiesman, Doris & Prasai, Nilam & Yin, Sandra & Yohannes, Yisehac & Menon, Purnima & Thompson, Jennifer & Sonntag, Andrea, 2014. "Indice Globale della Fame 2014: La sfida della fame nascosta," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-961-0 edited by Sonntag, Andrea & Neubauer, Larissa & Towey, Olive & von Grebmer, Klaus & Yin, Sandra.
    8. Wiesmann, Doris, 2006. "A global hunger index: measurement concept, ranking of countries, and trends," FCND discussion papers 212, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. von Grebmer, Klaus & Ringler, Claudia & Rosegrant, Mark W. & Olofinbiyi, Tolulope & Wiesmann, Doris & Fritschel, Heidi & Badiane, Ousmane & Torero, Maximo & Yohannes, Yisehac & Thompson, Jennifer & vo, 2012. "2012 Global hunger index: the challenge of hunger: Ensuring sustainable food security under land, water, and energy stresses," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 2012 GHI English.
    10. Peter Wehrheim & Doris Wiesmann, 2006. "Food security analysis and policies for transition countries," The Electronic Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, vol. 3(2), pages 112-143.
    11. repec:fpr:ifprib:2012ghienglish is not listed on IDEAS
    12. von Grebmer, Klaus & Bernstein, Jill & Prasai, Nilam & Yin, Sandra & Yohannes, Yisehac & Towey, Olive & Sonntag, Andrea & Neubauer, Larissa & de Waal, Alex, 2015. "2015 Indice globale della fame: I conflitti armati e la sfida della fame," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-967-2.
    13. Wiesmann, Doris & Biesalski, Hans Konrad & von Grebmer, Klaus & Bernstein, Jill, 2015. "Methodological Review and Revision of the Global Hunger Index," Working Papers 228856, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).

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