HSS4331 – International Health Theory

Jan 25, 2010– Hunger (Special Focus on South Asia)

International Culture & Development Week

• http://www.scdi-icdw.uottawa.ca/

• Today:– 2:30pm: Launch with Allan Rock, Tabaret Chapel– 4pm: “Casino capitalism”, UCU205

• ALL events that involve an academic speaker are eligible for your mandatory seminars

Millennium Development Goal #1

"To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger"

Target 1: To halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015

Food: The State of the World• 2008, Canadian news reported food riots in Haiti and

parts of Africa• Food shortages are continuing in all parts of the

developing world• In the past year, global dairy prices have increased 50%• The NY Times reports that wheat prices are the highest

they’ve been in 28 years• The global price of food has risen sharply in that last 18

months• Cereal prices have doubled• Sugar has almost doubled

Let’s Look at Some Global Factors

• Global food crisis: – Rice at highest price in 20 years– Global supply of wheat lowest in 50 years (only 5

weeks worth of global reserve is on hand)– Producers (e.g., Khazakstan) restricting exports to

ensure supply for domestic populations– Speculators, sensing food shortage, are investing

in commodities, causing food prices to soar– Climate change is reducing all staple crops– Credit crisis reducing budget of donor agencies

Global Factors

• Historic trend of living on arable land• Increasing price of oil has made importing

food more expensive

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, and British Indian Ocean Territory

South Asia

Nation 1990 2005ChinaIndia -Rest of South Asia

38%24%8%

15%32% 43%

Percentage of World’s Poor Living in Asia

Source: “Renewed Policy Action for the Poorest and Hungry in South Asia”, Dec 2, 2008, IFPRI

(Uses World Bank definitions of poor = living on <$1.25/day)

Food Case Study: The State of India• The International food policy Research Institute

projects that in the next 20 years, India alone will increase its demand for:– meat by 176%– milk and vegetables by 70%– grain by 27%

• But India is the world’s 2nd biggest producer of wheat

Meanwhile the total global supply of grains and cereals has actually decreased by 40% over the last 7 years

www.ifpri.org

Indicator

Ag. Prod (%GDP)

HDI

% Underwt kids <5

% pop low cal

GHI

Inf mort rate (/1000 births)

Some Key Indicators for Selected Nations(source: World Food Programme)

Percentage of GDP dedicated to producing crops

Human Development Index = health, knowledge, and standard of living. Collected by UNDP. Closer to 1.000 the better.

Percentage of children under 5 years who are underweight

Percentage of the total population considered to be undernourished

Global Hunger Index = level of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient

Infant mortality rate per 1000 live births

A Note About GHI

Indicator Bangladesh India Pakistan Sri Lanka Nepal

Ag. Prod (%GDP)

HDI

% Underwt kids <5

% pop low cal

GHI

Inf mort rate (/1000 births)

Some Key Indicators for Selected South Asian Nations(source: World Food Programme)

Indicator Bangladesh India CANADA SAUDI ARABIA Nepal

Ag. Prod (%GDP)

HDI

% Underwt kids <5

% pop low cal

GHI

Inf mort rate (/1000 births)

2

0.967

<1

<1

n/a

5

<5

Some Key Indicators for Selected South Asian Nations(source: World Food Programme)

Indicator Bangladesh India Pakistan Sri Lanka Nepal

Ag. Prod (%GDP)

HDI

% Underwt kids <5

% pop low cal

GHI

Inf mort rate (/1000 births)

32%

0.547

48%

30%

25.2

54

60

0.619

47

20

23.7

56

20

0.551

38

24

21.7

79

11.7

0.743

29

22

15

12

43

0.534

48

17

20.6

56

Some Key Indicators for Selected South Asian Nations(source: World Food Programme)

What is “Food Security”

• “Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation.”

– Wikipedia

What Is The Role of Gender Here?

• Women manage household economics• Women do not manage incoming cash

“Giving women the same access to physical and human resources as men could increase agricultural productivity, just as increases in women’s education and improvements in women’s status over the past quarter century have contributed to more than half of the reduction in the rate of child malnutrition.”-Uisumbing & Meinzen-Dick, “Empowering Women to Achieve Food Security”

“the low status of women …and their lack of nutritional knowledge are important determinants of high prevalence of underweight children…“-UNICEF, 2006

Household Economy

• A typical family in Bangladesh:– Five people per household, each earning $1/day– -> $5/household/day

• Household energy – Heating, cooking,

etc

• Food

• Everything else– Clothes, books,

education, medicine, rent, etc

Household Economy

• 50 cents

• $3

• $1.50

Household Economy

Global prices of oil, rent, food go up

Food consumption goes down

Medical expenditures go down

Poor health

So What Can Be Done?

• Combat malnutrition and invest in human resources;• Help improve immediate food security for selected

target groups;• Maximize the active participation of women in

projects;• Advocate joint forest management;• Help strengthen distribution channels for locally-

produced food grains;• Increase agricultural production and create

employment.

World Food Programme’s Official Plan for South Asia

So What Can Be Done?

• expand emergency responses and humanitarian assistance to food-insecure people

• eliminate agricultural export bans and export restrictions• undertake fast-impact food production programs in key

areas• change biofuel policies• calm markets with the use of market-oriented regulation of

speculation, shared public grain stocks, strengthened food-import financing, and reliable food aid

• invest in social protection• scale up investments for sustained agricultural growth

International Food Policy Research Institute’s Official Recommendations for South Asia

Other Recommendations?• Letter from Prashant Goyal,Secretary to Government Chief

Secretariat, Pondicherry, to The Hindu (newspaper)– Promote crop insurance schemes, with government as insurer– Increase inter-state free trade– food security need can be productively linked to increased enrolment

in schools– Food for work– Community grain storage banks (decentralized)– investment in new agriculture infrastructure, credit linkages and

encouraging latest technologies (GM foods?– “The focus on accelerated foodgrains production on a sustainable

basis and free trade in grains would help create massive employment and reduce the incidence of poverty in rural areas. This will lead to faster economic growth and give purchasing power to the people”

ray@deonandan.com www.deonandan.com