Thank you. It is more alarming in Bangladesh:
Bangladesh, which is among the countries with the most worrisome hunger status, has been ranked 70th among 88 nations in the Global Hunger Index.
The country suffers from an alarming level of hunger while Burundi, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone — standing at the bottom of the list — are plagued by an extremely alarming level of hunger.
Bangladesh has made some progress in raising its status by reducing the hunger score to 25.2 in 2008 from 32.3 in 1990, according to the index that was launched throughout the world on Tuesday. It ranks countries according to their level of hunger and spotlights where progress in reducing hunger is and is not being made.
'From January 2007 to June 2008, one-third of all the countries, for which 2008 GHI [Global Hunger Index] was calculated, suffered from a violent or non-violent protest, with multiple occurrences in Bangladesh,' observed the report, prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute. German Agro-Action and Concern Worldwide collaborated in releasing the index, only the third of its kind, compiled by IFPRI.
The report referred to urban dwellers' reactions — strikes, protests or even riots — to the increased inflation of food prices in recent times.
Mauritius, Jamaica , Moldova , Cuba , Peru , Trinidad and Tobago , Algeria , Albania , Turkmenistan and El Salvador are the top 10 performers in the index.
The hunger index of 2008 reflects data from 2001 to 2006, not the actual hunger situation in 2008, and in view of the price situation the countries ranked were unlikely to have achieved drastic improvements in their hunger situation between 2006 and 2008.
The Global Hunger Index is a multidimensional approach to measuring hunger and malnutrition, combining indicators such as the proportion of undernourished people, prevalence of underweight children and rate of infant mortality.
'The world has made slow progress in reducing food insecurity since 1990, with dramatic differences among regions and countries,' observed the report. 'Hunger is closely tied to poverty, and countries with high levels of hunger are overwhelmingly low- or low-middle-income countries,' said the report.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, almost 923 million people in the world go hungry every, 907 million of whom live in developing countries.
In the context of higher food prices, said the report, the prospects for improving food and nutrition security do not appear favourable, given that at least 800 million people suffered from food insecurity even before the food price inflation hit the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are found to be the regions with the highest GHI scores and the highest poverty rates. Whereas South Asia has made rapid progress in combating hunger, Sub-Saharan Africa has made only marginal progress, said the report, adding that for hungry and malnourished people in these regions the rising food prices pose a serious threat.
However, the number of subjacent poor in South Asia actually increased between 1990 and 2004, but there was a significant decrease in the number of medial and ultra poor.
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:32:30 -0700
From: bd_mailer@yahoo.com
Subject: Hunger in India states 'alarming'
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| Hunger in India states 'alarming' |  India has some of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world | Twelve Indian states have "alarming" levels of hunger while the situation is "extremely alarming" in the state of Madhya Pradesh, says a new report. Madhya Pradesh's nutrition problems, it says, are comparable to the African countries of Ethiopia and Chad. India has more people suffering hunger - a figure above 200 million - than any other country in the world, it says. The report, released as part of the 2008 Global Hunger Index, ranks India at 66 out 88 countries. 'Scored worse' The hunger index has been released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) along with Welthungerhlife and the University of California. It measures hunger on three indicators which include child malnutrition, rates of child mortality and the number of people who are calorie deficient.  The problem of hunger is measured in five categories - low, moderate, serious, alarming or extremely alarming. The survey says that not one of the 17 states in India that were studied were in the low or moderate hunger category. "Despite years of robust economic growth, India scored worse than nearly 25 sub-Saharan African countries and all of South Asia, except Bangladesh," the report says. The best performing state was Punjab, which has a 'serious' hunger problem and does less well than developing countries such as Gabon, Vietnam and Honduras.  About 60% children in Madhya Pradesh state are malnourished | "When Indian states are compared to countries in the Global Hunger Index, [the central Indian state of] Madhya Pradesh ranks between Ethiopia and Chad," it says. India is long known to have some of the highest rates of child malnutrition and mortality in under-fives in the world. According to the Indian government statistics two years ago, around 60% of more than 10 million children in the state were malnourished. Nutrition experts say the abysmal record is due to an inadequate access to food, poor feeding practices and poor childcare practices in India. And now the rise in the global food prices has reduced the food-buying capacity of many poor families, making their situation worse. In the past year food prices have increased significantly, but people's incomes haven't kept pace, forcing many families further into hunger, experts say. The report says "improving child nutrition is of utmost urgency in most Indian states". "All states also need to improve strategies to facilitate inclusive economic growth, ensure food sufficiency and reduce child mortality," it adds.
| http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7669152.stm |
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Bangladesh Ranked 70th among 88 in Global Hunger Index 
