More hunger looms over Burundi and DRC: Report

Severe hunger looms over the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, says the 2009 Global Hunger Index.

The index indicates that DRC tops the list of 29 worst hit countries, followed by Burundi, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Chad and Ethiopia.

“Low-income countries are being hurt by food and financial crises,” said Klaus von Grebmer, lead author of the report and communications director of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

The report, released ahead of the World Food Day, shows that high rates of hunger are linked to gender inequalities, especially in terms of literacy and access to education. It highlights the countries most vulnerable to the global economic downturn.

The research institute says 29 countries in the world have alarming levels of hunger, and 13 have had increases in hunger levels since 1990.

“The crises have significantly reduced the purchasing power and income-earning opportunities of poor people, who spend up to 70 per cent of their income on food. The price of food in many countries is still higher than it was several years ago,” Dr Klaus said.

The Global Hunger Index scores, however, are distressingly high throughout sub-Saharan Africa, which has made the least progress in combating hunger, with only a 13 per cent decline in its score since 1990.

Of the 10 countries with the largest increase in Index scores, nine are in sub-Saharan Africa.

The score for the DRC has increased by an appalling 53 per cent.

Africa is also home to the highest proportion of undernourished people — 76 and 68 per cent of the population, respectively, in the DRC and Eritrea.

It has the world’s highest child mortality rate, at 26 per cent in Sierra Leone.

The countries that suffer from alarming levels of hunger are also vulnerable to the global recession — Burundi and DRC being examples.

They are most vulnerable in trade, foreign direct investment, aid and remittances. Poor countries also had high levels of gender inequality.

The situation is very serious in Chad, which ranks fifth worst country on the Global Hunger Index.

Chad is second on gender inequality, and has a shockingly low female literacy rate of 13 per cent, compared with 41 per cent for men.

The negative trend, however, can be reversed. Research by the hunger agency shows that equalising men’s and women’s status would reduce the number of malnourished children by 13.4 million in South Asia and by 1.7 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Hunger and gender inequality go hand-in-hand. An important step to ending world hunger is empowering women and eradicating gender disparities in education, health, economic participation and political opportunities,” said Joachim von Braun, IFPRI director general.

“After decades of slow progress in the fight against hunger, child malnourishment is now on the rise due to the recent economic downturn. The commitments made at the recent G20 meeting and at other global forums should be transformed,” he said.

Despite the progress made in the past 20 years, the situation is also alarming in South Asia, which scored worse than Sub-Saharan Africa on the hunger index, largely because of widespread child malnutrition.

In Bangladesh and India, more than 40 per cent of the children are underweight.

Sri Lanka, which has been committed to universal education and reproductive health care, has been successful at reducing hunger.

It stands out as an important exception in the region.