Oct 14, 2017-Nepal has held on to the top position among South Asian countries in the campaign to reduce hunger.
According to the 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on Thursday, Nepal experienced rapid improvements in reducing hunger and is nearing the ‘moderate’ from the ‘serious’ category, largely due to declines in undernourishment, child stunting and child mortality.
The GHI considers a score above 50 as being extremely alarming, 35-49.9 alarming, 20-34.9 serious, 10-19.9 moderate and below 9.9 low. The report shows that Nepal’s GHI score of 42.5 in 1992 has dropped to 22 in 2017. This implies that hunger levels in Nepal have diminished significantly.
The GHI calculation does not include higher-income countries and countries with small populations. Nepal’s GHI score was in the ‘alarming’ category in 2000.
Nepal has been ranked 72nd out of 119 countries on the GHI. Among South Asian countries, Nepal is ahead of Sri Lanka (84th), Bangladesh (90th), India (97th), Pakistan (107th) and Afghanistan (111th).
The report said that Nepal’s remarkable achievement in reducing child stunting between 2001 and 2011 is associated with, and likely attributable to, increased household assets, increased maternal education levels, improved sanitation levels, and implementation and utilization of health and nutrition programmes, including antenatal and neonatal care.
Despite Nepal’s progress, there are still deep inequalities within the country, the report said. “As we fight the scourge of hunger across the globe, we must understand how inequality contributes to it.
To ensure that those who are affected by inequality can demand change from national governments and international organizations and hold them to account, we must understand and redress power imbalances.
This is crucial if we are to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and end hunger forever,” the report said.
The report combines four hunger-related indicators -- the proportion of undernourished in the population, the prevalence of wasting in children under five years, prevalence of stunting in children under five years and the mortality rate of children.
