Bangladesh ranks 84th out of the 121 countries in the GHI scores in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) launched Thursday.
The 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) was launched through a global online event, which is jointly published by the international humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide, and its partner Welthungerhilfe.
World hunger levels are reaching catastrophic proportions with 44 countries suffering from serious or alarming levels of hunger. In the report, 35 countries including Pakistan, India and Afghanistan were found to have serious levels of hunger.
The GHI found that South Asia has the world’s highest levels of child stunting (low body weight to height) and child wasting (malnourished or emaciated) while areas of Africa south of the Sahara have the highest levels of undernourishment and child mortality rates.
Bangladesh has made considerable improvements in food security and nutrition. However, as shown in the GHI, challenges remain.
“Despite the Government of Bangladesh’s strong commitment to addressing undernutrition, as shown in the commitments made in the 2021 Food Systems Summit and the Nutrition for Growth conference.
However, persistent undernutrition represents a significant and complex barrier to building a thriving, prosperous country,” said Gretta Fitzgerald, Acting Country Director of Concern Worldwide in Bangladesh.
The GHI, now in its 17th year, ranks countries based on four key indicators: undernourishment, child mortality, child wasting (malnourished or emaciated) and child stunting (low body weight to height).
This year’s GHI report considers one important avenue for food systems transformation: community action that engages local leaders and citizens in improving governance and accountability.
“Progress made to tackle world hunger has largely halted,” said Concern Worldwide Chief Executive, Dominic MacSorley.
“The toxic cocktail of conflict, climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic had already left millions exposed to food price shocks and vulnerable to further crises.”
“It’s sobering that 828 million people are undernourished today and many of them are children who should not be suffering in a world with so much food and wealth.
The GHI recommendations include a call for governments to enshrine in law “the right to food” for all people. These recommendations highlight the need to respond to current emergencies while also transforming food systems to be more equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient—and thus can avert future crises.
The report also forecasts that by 2030 (the year that the United Nations has set as the target to end world hunger) there will still be hundreds of millions of people experiencing hunger.
It is critical to act now to rebuild food security on a new and lasting basis. Governments need to enable citizens to participate fully in developing and monitoring public policies that affect food security while upholding a legal right to food.
On the eve of World Food Day, Concern Worldwide launched Global Hunger Index on Thursday in Germany leading a discussion on the insights of the power of rights-based, bottom-up, community-led governance to drive food systems transformation and highlight experiences from different contexts.
