Malnutrition in the OIC Member
Countries: A Trap for Poverty
COMCEC
MDG-1 measured malnutrition as the share of children in a population who are underweight;
that is, the prevalence of under-five year olds whose weight is too low for their age (low
weight-for-age] in relation to a WHO-defined international child growth standard (WHO
2006], The use of underweight as the indicator has come under criticism as weight gain can
indicate children becoming taller, or fatter, or both, Stunting, (based on height-for-age], and
wasting (based on weight-for-age] are more specific measures of undernutrition,
Today, it is acknowledged that there are several distinct, albeit linked, facets of poor nutrition,
and each carries its own implications for impaired human productivity, development and well­
being, It is widely considered that the focus on nutrition in the MDGs was minimal
(Korenromp, 2015], Moreover, failing to specify how to achieve the nutrition - and other -
targets led to a limited country ownership of the goals,
Nutrition-specific lessons learnt from the MDG framework include the realisation that the
focus on undernutrition was too narrow, and that synergies between nutrition and other
sectors were underexploited, For example, many national nutrition strategies in the 2000s
focused almost exclusively on treatment of acute malnutrition (wasting], Anchored in
ministries of health, these strategies often did little to encourage food based approaches to
reducing malnutrition, In many countries, the disconnect was further exacerbated by food
security policies whose primary objective was increased production of staple grain
(Korenromp, 2015], Today, in contrast, a huge body of knowledge exists on the benefits of a
multi-sectoral approach (Tiwari et al,, 2013]. It is important to note that the “uni-sectoral”
approach which fragmented nutrition strategy in the 2000s not only limited progress toward
the achievement of MDG1 targets, but probably also slowed progress in achieving other related
targets such as poverty reduction, education, child mortality and maternal health (Korenromp,
2015],
Malnutrition and the SDGs
The post 2015 agenda and development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs] targets
and indicators saw a huge amount of advocacy for the inclusion of more precise nutrition
indicators, which include stunting and wasting, as opposed to the previously used indicator of
underweight. Nutrition in the SDGs is addressed primarily under Goal 2, which aims to “end
hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”.
Within this goal, target 2:2 reads “By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving,
by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years
of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women
and older persons”. The goal of ending malnutrition in all its forms reflects a major change in
thinking since the MDGs, with the international community now responding to the evidence
about the devastating personal and societal costs of all forms of malnutrition (Lateef et al,,
2015],
Box 2: WHA's Six Global Nutrition Targets for 2015
1, Reduce by 40 percent the number of children under 5 who are stunted
2, Achieve a 50 percent reduction in the rate of anemia in women of reproductive age
3, Achieve a 30 percent reduction in the rate of infants born low birth weight
4, Ensure that there is no increase in the rate of children who are overweight
5, Increase to at least 50 percent the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months
6, Reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5 percent
Source:
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