How to Accelerate the End of Hunger and Undernutrition.

Abstract

In recent decades, global undernourishment rates have declined, and health and nutrition have improved. Yet the pace of progress has been shamefully slow. To break the cycle of poverty, hunger, and undernutrition, the problems of hunger and undernutrition must be addressed first. The socioeconomic costs and detrimental effects on human health of hunger and undernutrition perpetuate poverty; if they persist, there will be no end to poverty. China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Brazil have all accelerated progress toward ending hunger through either agricultural reform, social protection programs plus targeted nutrition interventions, or agricultural reform plus social protection programs and targeted nutrition interventions. In China and Vietnam, agricultural reform supported by basic social protection programs drove progress. In Brazil, social protection programs - notably, Bolsa Família - plus targeted nutrition interventions sped up progress. In Thailand, progress accelerated after the country undertook agricultural reforms as well as both social protection programs and targeted nutrition interventions. Nutrition interventions should include both nutrition-specific efforts that address the immediate causes of undernutrition and programs in other areas that address the underlying causes of undernutrition. When nutrition-sensitive programs are leveraged as delivery platforms, nutrition-specific interventions can be improved and scaled-up. The relative importance of such strategies will vary, depending on the size of a country and whether its economy is agriculture-based, transforming, or urbanized. Compact2025 was established in 2015 to end hunger in a decade and set out with 4 focus countries - Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Rwanda. Compact2025 leads a multistep process that includes setting priorities; analyzing relevant strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to a country's food security and nutrition situation; convening roundtable meetings and recommending policies; designing M&E mechanisms; developing an innovation lab; and conducting pilot programs and policy experiments. Compact2025 has shown that, with the proper framework, committed national leadership, and adequate funding, hunger and undernutrition can be eliminated by 2025.