Colombo ( AsiaNews) - In Sri Lanka, the problem of hunger remains "at a serious level " , although it is the South Asian country with the lowest mortality rate and malnutrition of children under five years. This is what emerges from the 2013 Global Hunger Index ( GHI) , released this week.
Developed by the International
Food Policy Research Institute ( IFPRI ) , the Ghi measures the levels of
hunger and malnutrition in 120 countries in the developing world, or that are
coming out of this stage. The
largest number of undernourished people are in Asia and the Pacific, while the
population of sub -Saharan Africa is still the largest single block in the
world.
In
the ranking Sri Lanka came in at 43rd place , with a score of 15.6 , showing a
marked improvement over the last decade. In
1990, when the Ghi was measured for the first time , Sri Lanka had a score of
22.3 and was part of the countries where hunger was at an " alarming level".
Between
2010 and 2012, the malnourished population of the country stood at 24% , while
the percentage of underweight children under the age of five years was 21.6% . In
2011, the infant mortality rate under five years was just 1.2% .
As
for the other countries of South Asia, GHI index put India at 67th place among
the nation with a "alarming" hunger
level. Bangladesh and Pakistan are - respectively - the 57th and 58th place,
with a level of "serious" of malnutrition. According
to the GHI, in South Asia the main causes of malnutrition among children are
social inequality and a low level of education and nutrition of women.
Yesterday
Pope Francis, in a
message sent to FAO for the World Food Day, called the hunger in the world
" a scandal ", which require us to "decidedly break down the
barriers of individualism", fighting food wastage, "
one of the fruits of the ' culture of waste' that often leads men and women to
sacrifice themselves to the idols of profit and consumption " and promote
a culture of solidarity to deal with the " globalization of indifference ."