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
1
Outline
• Introduction
• Trends of global hunger
• Food security
• Hunger and malnutrition
• Technological advancement: a solution?
2
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
3
4
Trends of Global Hunger
5
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
6
Reference: FAO. 2012. The State of Food Security in the World 2012. http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf
7
8
9
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.
10
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
11
12
13
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
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
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
23
Food security
24
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
25
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
26
27
Hunger and Malnutrition
28
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)
29
Nutrient deficiencies and its
threats to food security
30
• 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
31
• 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
32
• 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
33
The Poverty-Obesity Paradox
34
35
36
37
38
Technological advancement: a
solution?
39
Self-directed learning
40
Thank You
41