Global Hunger Index

There is some good news from the fight on global hunger. Progress has been made toward achieving the Millennium Development Goal to halve the number of hungry people in the world by 2015, reports IFPRI, and South Asia , in particular, has made a significant move forward. However, Sub-Saharan Africa continues to display alarming trends.  Childhood malnutrition is a big  contributor to the Global Hunger Index. The window for rectifying this is the period during gestation and the first two years after birth. After this, the effects of under nutrition cannot be reversed.  This brings to mind the peanut wonder paste, Plumpy’nut which has been brought into use with great results for infants  in many countries, most recently in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.  More on its benefits and also controversies, here.