Hunger and malnutrition increase in many parts of the world

The target on eliminating the scourge of hunger is especially important, as without it many of the UN’s other goals, such as reducing the child mortality rate, combating key diseases and improving maternal health cannot hope to be addressed.

A report card on nutrition published in May by the United Nations Children’s’ Fund (UNICEF) shows that the target on hunger will not be met.

The “Progress for Children” report explains, “Despite an overall improvement between 1990 and 2004, the present rate of decline in the proportion of underweight children in the developing world is not sufficient to reach the MDG target of reducing hunger by half between 1990 and 2015.”

It reveals that 5.6 million children die each year as a result of malnutrition and 146 million children are underweight, many to a life-threatening degree. This figure represents 27 percent of children in developing countries.

The report gives a regional breakdown of the figures. It describes the Eastern/Southern Africa region to be at an “impasse,” explaining, “Of the 17 countries in this region ... only Botswana is on track to reach the target (MDG), and 9 countries are either showing no change or getting worse.”

It continued, “In Ethiopia, almost half of children are underweight, and along with Nigeria (from the West/Central Africa region) it accounts for more than a third of all underweight children in sub-Saharan Africa.”

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/jun2006/hung-j07.shtml