Malnutrition in the OIC Member
Countries: A Trap for Poverty
Middle East and North African Regional Policies
Arab League of States (LAS)
OIC Member Countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, State of Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Sudan, Syrian opposition, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen
Like other regional groupings, the LAS aims to promote coordination and integration among
member states. Food security is a significant challenge in the LAS region: in just five countries
(Iraq, Mauritania, the Occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia and Sudan) up to 21 million
people currently require emergency food relief. Arab countries have been particularly hard hit
by the 2007-2008 food price increase, exacerbated by the high rates of inflation in Arab
countries making food more expensive, and on the high reliance on imported food stuffs due to
a shortage of arable land and water. While Arab countries are home to 5% of the world's
population they have only 1% of the world's water reserves (Lampietti et al. 2011; IFAD
2009). Arab countries are also facing an increase in demand for food due high rates of
population growth (1.7% compared to 1.1% globally) and high rates of urbanisation. Some
Arab countries have developed policies to deal with the increasing food prices such as
increasing public sector salaries and bread subsidies to help the poor. However, it is
questionable whether these measures are sustainable in the long-run unless the governments
manage to increase fiscal revenues. Additionally, there are questions about the effectiveness of
these policies to increase nutrition security, and not just food security, for the poor. Non-oil
rich countries in the region are likely to suffer the most.
It has been recommended that Arab governments should respond to current price shocks with
a combined package of trade policies, wage increases and social safety net programmes.
Current safety nets in the region focus on food subsidies in many places, however they are not
the most cost effective means of delivering food to the poorest due to inefficiencies in terms of
administration, overhead, storage and loss. There is also some evidence that food subsidy
policies in some countries are actually increasing malnutrition (obesity) due to the energy-
dense and nutrient-poor nature of the subsidised foods which are usually produced, such as
bread, sugar and oil. In Egypt, the government's subsidy policy created a wide disparity
between the cost of energy-dense foods (sugar, oil, bread) and energy-dilute, nutrient-poor
foods (fruits and vegetables), making high energy foods much cheaper than nutrient-dense
foods. A study in Egypt found a direct relationship between increased maternal BMI with the
reduced price of sugar and bread (Asfaw 2007). Cash transfers which can be targeted to the
most vulnerable would be more cost-efficient, but are not widely implemented in the region.
For example, in Jordan the National Aid Fund covered less than 20% of the eligible population,
and of those who received aid only 14% were actually eligible. Additionally, providing cash in
combination with messages about the importance of healthy diets and the danger of obesity
maybe more effective than subsidies for improving dietary quality. It would also reduce the
price difference between healthy and unhealthy foods, reducing the incentive to purchase high
energy, nutrient poor foods. Access to family planning services also need to be increased, as
the region has very high rates of population growth which threaten regional food security
(Lampietti et al. 2011).
At the same time, obesity is a growing challenge in many Arab countries, especially oil
producing countries in the region, with rates of overweight and obesity dramatically
increasing in the past three decades. The region now has the second highest mean body mass
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