remains a serious issue. The proportion of undernourished people has continued to rise since 1990. The prevalence of child underweight has declined since 2000, but it remains one of the highest in Africa. Burundi’s child mortality rate has been improving, mainly since 1995 (see the table with underlying data in Appendix B). In Swaziland, the HIV and AIDS epidemic, along with high
income inequality, has severely undermined food security despite growth in national income. Swaziland’s adult HIV prevalence in 2011 was estimated at 26 percent—the highest in the world (UNAIDS 2012). The country’s GHI score worsened until 1995, then declined slightly until 2005, but has increased again since then. Swaziland and sever- al other African countries have made great strides in preventing mother- to-child transmission of HIV, and child mortality rates have dropped after peaking around 2005 (UNAIDS 2010; IGME 2012). However, the proportion of people who are undernourished increased dramatically in Swaziland after 2004–2006 (FAO 2013a). Because of drought, more than one-quarter of the population depended on emergency food aid in 2006–2007, and the country's GDP per capita declined between 2007 and 2010 (CIA 2013; World Bank 2013b). High unemployment, overgrazing, soil depletion, and the risk of future droughts and floods pose persistent challenges (CIA 2013). Some countries achieved noteworthy absolute progress in
improving their GHI scores. Comparing the 1990 GHI and the 2013 GHI, Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Niger, Rwan- da, Thailand, and Vietnam saw the largest improvements—with decreas- es in their scores ranging between 15 and 23 points (Table 2.1). Nineteen countries still have levels of hunger that are “extremely
alarming” or “alarming” (Figure 2.4). Most of the countries with alarm- ing GHI scores are in Africa south of the Sahara. The only exceptions are Haiti, India, Timor-Leste, and Yemen. The three countries with extremely alarming 2013 GHI scores—Burundi, Comoros, and Eritrea— are in Africa south of the Sahara. Haiti’s 1990 GHI score of 33.8 placed the country in the
“extremely alarming” category. The country’s GHI score declined by 8 points up to 2000, then slightly increased again around 2005, and fell further while Haiti recovered from the devastating earthquake that shook the country in 2010. As a result of overall positive development, Haiti’s 2013 GHI score of 23.3 was more than one-quarter lower than its 1990 score, although it is still considered “alarming.” Haiti’s 2010 under-five mortality rate more than doubled from its 2009 rate because of the earthquake and its aftermath, but it fell below pre-disaster lev- els in 2011 (IGME 2012). FAO’s most recent estimates indicate that 45 percent of Haitians were undernourished in 2010–2012. The data show that although undernourishment in Haiti is still high, it has fall- en by almost one-third since 1990 (FAO 2013a). Underweight in chil- dren also improved significantly during this period.
14 Global, Regional, and National Trends | Chapter 02 | 2013 Global Hunger Index
The Democratic Republic of Congo, with a population of more than 60 million (UN 2013c), still appears as a grey area on the map because reliable data on undernourishment are lacking and the lev- el of hunger cannot be assessed. It remains unclear if the GHI score in this country would be classified as “extremely alarming,” as in pre- vious editions of this report up to 2011, because data are not avail- able. High-quality data for the Democratic Republic of Congo, as for other likely hunger hot spots such as Afghanistan and Somalia, are badly needed. In terms of the GHI components, Burundi, Comoros, and Eritrea
currently have the highest proportion of undernourished people—more than 60 percent of the population.6
India and Timor-Leste have the
highest prevalence of underweight in children under five—more than 40 percent in both countries. Mali, Sierra Leone, and Somalia have the highest under-five mortality rate, ranging from approximately 18 to about 19 percent.
6
Although the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia are likely to have high proportions of undernourished as well, they could not be included in this comparison because of lack of reliable data.
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