KNOWLEDGE FOR THE BENEFIT OF HUMANITY

ADVANCED NUTRITION (HFS4352)

WORLD HUNGER A challenge to food and nutritional sciences

Mohd Razif Shahril, PhD

School of Nutrition & Dietetics

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

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Outline

• Introduction

• Trends of global hunger

• Food security

• Hunger and malnutrition

• Technological advancement: a solution?

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Introduction

• United Nations Millennium Declaration 2001

– To improve human well-being by alleviating hunger,

poverty and disease.

– Targets of the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs)

• To reduce the prevalence of hunger by half between 1990

and 2015.

• World’s population is still increasing, but the

pace of increase is getting slower

• Numerous people around the world are still

suffering from hunger

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Trends of Global Hunger

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Hungry people in the world

• Nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion

people in the world (or 1 in 8) were suffering

from chronic undernourishment in 2010 – 2012

– Live in the developing countries representing 15% of

the population of developing countries.

– 16 million people undernourished in developed

countries

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Reference: FAO. 2012. The State of Food Security in the World 2012. http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf

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cont. Hungry people in the world

• The number of undernourished people

decreased 30% in Asia and the Pacific, from

739 million to 563 million

– The prevalence of undernourishment decreased from

23.7% to 13.9%.

– Due to socio-economic progress in many countries.

• Latin America and the Caribbean also made

progress, falling from 65 million hungry in 1990 –

1992 to 49 million in 2010 – 2012

– prevalence of undernourishment dipped from 14.6%

to 8.3%, but the rate slowed recently.

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cont. Hungry people in the world

• The number of hungry grew in Africa, from 175

million to 239 million

– Nearly 1 in 4 are hungry

– Sub-Saharan Africa – hunger rising 2% per year since

2007, reversing modest progress achieved

• Developed regions – hunger rise from 13

million in 2004 – 2006 to 16 million in 2010 –

2012

– Reversing a steady state decrease in previous years

from 20 million in 1990 - 1992

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Does the world produce enough

food? • YES!

• World agriculture produce 17% more calories

per person today than it did 30 years ago,

despite a 70% population increase.

• Enough to provide everyone in the world with a

least 2720 kcal per person per day.

• Principle problem – many people in the world do

not have sufficient land to grow, or income to

purchase enough food

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What causes of hunger? • Natural disasters

• Political and economic instability

• Inflation, high food prices

• Production shortfall

• Poverty

• Climate change

• Diminishing natural resource

• Infectious disease (e.g. AIDS pandemic)

• Low levels of education and literacy

• Inadequate application and distribution of technology

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Food security

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Food security

• Definition of food security:

– Access to enough food to sustain a healthy and active

life

• High food security

– No indication of food-access problems or limitations

• Marginal food security

– One or two indication of food-access problems but

with little or no change in food intake

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Food insecurity

• Definition of food insecurity:

– Limited or uncertain access to foods of succificient

quality or quantity to sustain a healthy and active life

• Low food insecurity

– Reduced quality of life with little or no indication of

reduced food intake; formerly known as food

insecurity without hunger

• Very low food insecurity

– Multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and

reduced food intake: formerly known as food

insecurity with hunger

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Hunger and Malnutrition

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Hunger concepts and definition

• Hunger

– A condition in which people lack macronutrients and

micronutrients for fully productive, active, and healthy

lives

– Can result from insufficient nutrients intake or from

impaired absorption of the required nutrients in the

body (also called hidden hunger)

• Malnutrition

– Is a physical condition in which people experience

either a deficiencies of nutrients (undernutrition) or an

excess of certain nutrients (overnutrition)

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Nutrient deficiencies and its

threats to food security

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• Protein and calories

– Problems of PEM or undernutrition – the main

manifestation of malnutrition in developing countries

– Determined based on the prevalence of underweight,

stunting, and wasting

– Leading to marasmus and kwashiokor

• Fat

– Low quantities of total fat being consumed in poor

countries esp. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

– About 19 countries falling below the minimum

recommendation of 15% dietary energy supply from fat

cont. Nutrient deficiencies and its

threats to food security

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• Vitamin A

– Vitamin A deficiency leading to permanent blindness

• Iodine

– Inadequate iodine nutrition among adults

– Mental handicap as a result of iodine deficiency

among children

– Children born with irreversible brain damage due to

their mothers lacking iodine before and during

pregnancy

cont. Nutrient deficiencies and its

threats to food security

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• Iron

– Most iron deficiency cases leads to anaemia

– ¼ of the worldwide population having anaemia

– Preschool-age-children having moderate or severe

anaemia (Hb level < 10 g/dL) esp. in Africa and Asia

• Zinc

– Zinc deficiency is a major determinant for diarrhoeal

disease, pneumonia and malaria, low birth weight and

stunted child growth

– Causing death

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The Poverty-Obesity Paradox

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Technological advancement: a

solution?

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Self-directed learning

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Thank You

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