Malnutrition in the OIC Member

Countries: ATrap for Poverty

COMCEC__________________________________________________________________________________________

alike and showed the immense value of setting ambitious goals. Yet, despite remarkable gains,

inequalities persisted and progress has been uneven, with over 60% of the world's poor living

in just five countries (MDG 2015 report). To date, while unprecedented progress has been

made in terms of poverty eradication and human development, many of the targets, including

MDG-1C (to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger), are far from being

achieved (Korenromp, 2015).

MDG-1C brought attention to the need to improve food and nutrition security. It was

comprised of two indicators for monitoring progress: the prevalence of underweight children

under five years of age and the proportion of the population below the minimum level of

dietary energy consumption. The nutritional status of children was recognized as a key

indicator of poverty and hunger which was an important step in acknowledging that national

policies and programmes which improve nutrition have a role to play in development beyond

the resolution of individual nutrient deficiencies (Webb, 2014).

Since 1990 the world has seen a drop of almost half of the proportion of undernourished

people in developing regions (measured by underweight): from 23.3% in 1990-1992 to 12.9%

in 2014-2016. This is very close to the MDG hunger target. Rapid progress during the 1990s

was followed by a slower decline in hunger in the first five years of the new millennium and

then a rebound starting around 2008.

There have been barriers to progress, including volatile commodity prices, higher food and

energy prices, rising unemployment and economic recessions, frequent extreme weather

events and natural disasters. In a growing number of countries, political instability and civil

strife have aggravated the effects of natural disasters, resulting in numerous and significant

humanitarian crises. These developments have slowed progress in reducing food insecurity in

some of the most vulnerable countries and regions of the world (“The Millennium

Development Goals Report,” 2015].

Figure 1: Number and Proportion of Undernourished People in Developing Regions

Proportion of und erno u rish ed people

18.3

N um ber of u nd erno u rish ed p eop le (in M ill/

991

926

902

1990/92

1993/95

1996/98

1999/01

2002/04

2005/07

2008/10

2011/13

2014/16

(projected)

Source: Based on "The Millennium Development Goals Report", 2015