Africa's Fight Against Hunger Making Slow Progress

Only two regions in the world, Latin America and the Caribbean and East Asia, are on track to reach the Millennium Development Goals related to poverty and child mortality, according to the Global Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). As part of the Development Goal, the international community aims to cut hunger in half and child mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015. According to the report, most countries, especially in the sub-Saharan Africa, will not reach the goal if the progress continues at current rates.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi experienced the greatest setbacks in achieving the Development Goal, followed by Liberia, Swaziland and North Korea. However, African countries like Mozambique, Ghana, and Malawi have made considerable progress in reducing hunger. Ethiopia and India have also made notable improvements. The Global Hunger index uses indicators such as the proportion of people who are calorie deficient, child malnutrition, and child mortality. 

The complete report is available at http://www.ifpri.org/PRESSREL/2007/pressrel20071012.pdf