Global Hunger Index: An Instrument for Equitable Growth

          The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is an extremely important, multifaceted measure of hunger in 118 countries. It is designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally, nationally and regionally. Brought out every year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, the GHI highlights successes and failures in hunger reduction and provides insights into the sociological and economic reasons driving hunger worldwide. By bringing forth the multifarious nuances of hunger in public discourse, the GHI strives to raise awareness and comprehension of regional and national differences in hunger while also aiming to reduce the same to zero by 2030.

          For 11 years, it has enabled national, regional and global levels of analysis to track the progress of hunger mitigation policies and interventions in each participant country. The sustained and steady effort in this direction has resulted in significant reduction of hunger in a number of countries. As per the 2016 GHI, the developing world has seen a 29 per cent reduction in hunger since 2000, meaning that 68 of the countries in the index now fall into the “low” or “moderate” range of hunger. The remaining 50 countries are still of great concern, coming under the categories of “serious” or “alarming” levels of hunger.

          While the GHI scores for the developing world for 2000 and 2016 were both in the serious category, the earlier score was closer to being categorized as alarming. However, the latest score is closer to the moderate category. Underlying this improvement are reductions since 2000 in each of the following GHI indicators whereupon it bases its ranking. The four component indicators reflecting the multi-dimensional nature of hunger are:

·        Undernourishment: the proportion of undernourished people as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake);

·        Child wasting: the proportion of children under the age of five who suffer from wasting (low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);

·        Child stunting: the proportion of children under the age of five who suffer from stunting (low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and

·        Child mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).

          There are several advantages to measuring hunger using this multidimensional approach. It reflects the nutrition situation of not only the population as a whole, but also of children—a vulnerable subset of the population for whom a lack of dietary energy, protein, or micronutrients (essential vitamins and minerals) leads to a high risk of illness, poor physical and cognitive development, or death. It also combines independently measured indicators to reduce the effects of possible measurement errors.

          The global averages mask dramatic differences among regions and countries. Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia have the highest 2016 GHI scores, at 30.1 and 29.0, respectively. Both reflect serious levels of hunger. In contrast, the GHI scores for East and Southeast Asia, Near East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States range between 7.8 and 12.8, and represent low or moderate levels of hunger.

          Even though the 2016 GHI has projected a positive outlook on the state of world hunger levels, it has also pointed to the even progress across regions. One positive development has been the 50 per cent or more reduction of GHI scores in 22 countries since 2000. Despite this, the developing world still remains in the “serious” category, signalling that efforts to reduce hunger must remain of utmost importance to global policy makers for realising zero hunger by 2030.

          It is notable that in January 2016, the United Nations committed itself to achieve the same target in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), highlighting hunger as an increasingly important issue of focus in its policy over the next 14 years. The GHI breaks hunger into four components, taking into account the factors of undernourishment, child wasting (low weight for height), child stunting (low height for age), and child mortality. Together, these measurements provide a greater depth of understanding into the issues surrounding world hunger and make the GHI an extremely useful tool for governments and NGOs in formulating and

          Progress to reduce hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa has been significant, decreasing by 14.3% since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Despite this positive outlook, the region remains the most affected by severe hunger, followed closely by South Asia. According to the IFPRI, projections of the current rate of reduction in hunger will leave South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa with GHI scores close to the divide between “moderate” or “serious” hunger by 2030. This means that efforts to reduce hunger in both of those regions need to be of the highest priority for the international community.

          Surprisingly, the GHI has projected India in a very poor light, where the stark divide between growth and hunger has been emphasized. Coming in at 97 out of 118 countries, India’s low ranking despite its high growth rate comes down to the facts that one in three children suffer from stunted growth and that 15 per cent of its population remains undernourished. Recent data show that almost 40% of Indian children under five years of age are stunted compared to over 60% in the early 1990s. India is slated to become the world’s most populous nation in just six years, and it’s crucial that it ensures the food security for the expected 1.4 billion Indians to lead healthy and successful lives.

          India currently has the fifth highest GHI score in Asia— better than only Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, Pakistan, and North Korea. In the 2016 rankings of 118 countries, India is ranked 97 and Pakistan 107. All other Asian neighbours are doing relatively better -- China (29), Nepal (72), Myanmar (75), Sri Lanka (84) and Bangladesh (90) as per the 2016 GHI report.  Even though India has reduced its GHI score by a quarter since 2000, India’s GHI score of 28.5 in 2016 was worse than the developing country average score of 21.3. Notwithstanding considerable improvements over the years, such a score underpins the significant challenges that India face in the coming years.

          Going by a United Nations annual report for 2014-15 released recently, India has the world’s highest number of hungry people in the world. India has 194.6 million hungry people compared with 133.8 million in China, of the total 795 million people in the world. In other words, one-fourth of the world’s hungry population lives in India. Low income levels, access to food and women’s nutrition remain areas of concern for the Indian policymakers. There are issues like intra-national poverty, unemployment, lack of safe drinking water, poor sanitation, and lack of effective health care which combine together to compromise food security situation in India. There is, therefore, an urgent need to spend more money on health, education and social sector while ensuring higher levels of unemployment. In the GDP led growth there is a need to take care of right kind of policy which will ensure redistribution of national resources and equity across the regions.

          More or less, same concerns have been raised for the rest of South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the developing world. Globally, the Central African Republic, Chad, and Zambia had the highest levels of hunger in the report. The GHI score for the developing world as a whole is 21.3, which is in the low end of the “serious” category. Around half of the populations of Haiti, Zambia, and the Central African Republic are undernourished— the highest in the report. The positive, however, is that 20 countries, including Rwanda, Cambodia, and Myanmar, have all reduced their GHI scores by over 50% each since 2000 and no developing countries were in the “extremely alarming” category in its latest report.

          While Brazil and Argentina with a GHI score of less than 5 are ranked the best among developing nations, seven countries including the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, and Zambia still suffer from the alarming levels of hunger. The exceptions are Haiti and the Republic of Yemen. Violence, mass displacement and extended civil war have compromised the food security in many of these countries including CAR and Chad. The examples of these countries underscore that despite significant progress in reducing hunger globally, violent conflict, poor governance, and climate-related impacts on agriculture ensure that hunger continues to plague our planet and requires a transformative plan of action.

          Examination of individual GHI indicators at the sub-national or state levels reveals disparities within countries, both in terms of absolute values and changes over time. Variations in GHI indicator values can exist within countries at all levels of the GHI For example, in Zambia and Sierra Leone, GHI indicators vary widely within each country. In Cambodia, which has seen impressive reduction in its GHI score since 2000, improvements have been uneven between provinces. Such examples of sub-national disparities serve as a springboard for further research into the specific causes, circumstances, and challenges of hunger at the sub-national level.

          Even if hunger declines at the same rate as it has since 1992, more than 45 countries including India, Pakistan, Haiti, Yemen, and Afghanistan will still have “moderate” to “alarming” hunger scores in the year 2030. The annual GHI reports have provided thought-provoking information on hunger and under-nutrition that call upon all stakeholders for concerted action on these complex challenges. Many country governments draw from the GHI to bring attention to the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition and, more importantly, to compel policymakers, sector leaders, and other stakeholders to work together on these issues.

          Some governments, aid agencies, and non-profit organizations use the GHI to support programme implementation and evaluation towards ending hunger and malnutrition. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) uses the GHI as one of the indicators to identify ‘Feed the Future’ focus countries which are given priority in funding.

          Today, we need a development model which ensures high growth, distribution of wealth, creation of jobs, and mix of technology so that large number of people benefit from the equitable allocation of resources. Ending global hunger is certainly possible, but it’s up to all of us that we set the priorities right to ensure that governments, the private sector and civil society comprehensively and diligently devote the time and resources necessary to meet this important goal for the benefit of the 795 million people experiencing food insecurity around the world.