Malnutrition in the OIC Member
Countries: A Trap for Poverty
COMCEC
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The study aims to understand how malnutrition and poverty are related in the member
countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC], and what policy responses are most
adapted to fight against malnutrition. The study used a mix of secondary literature review and
data analysis to establish a conceptual framework, describe the state of malnutrition - and its
relationship with poverty - in OIC countries, and discuss global, regional and national policies
to fight against malnutrition.
The study also selected five countries for conducting in-depth analysis: Senegal, Indonesia,
Egypt, Bangladesh and Tajikistan. In each country, a combination of secondary literature
review, data analysis and stakeholders' interviews was used to shed light on the relationships
between malnutrition and poverty in empirical and policy perspectives. The countries were
chosen to reflect the geographical spread of and the range of under- and over-nutrition found
in OIC countries.
Conceptual Framework and International Best practices
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs] contributed to bring malnutrition and food
insecurity to the attention of policymakers. Since 1990, rates of under-five children who are
underweight have dropped by two, almost in line with the MGD specific goal of hunger
reduction.
However, the MDGs were too focused on underweight, and ignored other facets of
malnutrition. Linkages between nutrition and other sectors were insufficiently recognised.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for the post-2015 period, include more precise
measures of malnutrition, such as stunting and wasting. However, they still do not retain all six
targets from the World Health Assembly.
Apart from specific hunger and malnutrition goals, nutrition is absent from the rest of the
SDGs. The absence of nutrition mainstreaming within other sectors in the SDGs framework
risks undermining inter-sectorality, which is critical for the fight against malnutrition.
Multi-sectoral planning, Common Results Framework, and Community Management of Acute
Malnutrition feature among the best practices to fight malnutrition. The UN Reach and SUN
movements contribute to advocate and ease the implementation of these, including in OIC
countries.
Malnutrition in the OICMember Countries
OIC Countries are more affected by undernutrition than non-OIC countries. This remains true
when high-income countries are excluded. In OIC countries, 33% of under-five children are
stunted (too short for their age], 11% are wasted (too thin for their height] and 53% suffer
from anaemia in OIC countries. The corresponding figures for non-OIC countries are 29%, 10%
and 43%.
The rate of undernutrition decline in OIC countries has been either on par with or lower than
that of non-OIC countries since the early 1990s. Significant progress has been made to reduce
stunting and anaemia prevalence in OIC countries since the early 1990s. Stunting has been
reduced by one-third in OIC countries (from 41% to 27%), a similar record than in non-OIC
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