Currently, the world produces sufficient food quantities that can feed its entire population; yet, every year around 800 million or more people go hungry. In simple terms, it indicates that they consume less than 1,800 kilocalories a day, which is the minimum calorie requirement for a healthy, productive life. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), world hunger has risen by 5 percent from 2016 to 2017. Chronic hunger leads to undernourishment, which in turn results in the following body conditions in humans, severely affecting children under five:
wasting – having a low weight for height; stunting – having a low height for age; underweight – having a low weight for age.
Not all types of hunger are apparent
Dietary micronutrients, commonly known as vitamins and minerals, play a significant role in the physical and mental development of humans and affect their overall well-being. Though required by the human body in minute quantities, micronutrients may cause detrimental effects on human health when they are scarce in the diet. Certain micronutrient deficiencies may not show clinical symptoms despite their outrageous effects on human health; therefore, micronutrient malnutrition is widely known as ‘hidden hunger’. Hidden hunger affects more than two billion of the global population. Shockingly, that means one out of three individuals is undernourished with respect to vitamins and minerals. Thus, it is not surprising that each nation, community, family, or individual would yearn for food and nutrient security.
Securing nations with food and nutrients
The concept, ‘Food and Nutrient Security’ originated in the mid-1970s, and its initial focus was on the availability of food at a stable price. With time, our understanding of food and nutrient security has been reshaped; accordingly, its definition has been refined. According to the latest definition by the FAO, food and nutrient security is “a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Access to food refers to the ability of a household to acquire adequate quantities of food through purchase, home production, barter, gifts, borrowing or food aid. Households with low income may face greater barriers in accessing safe and nutritious food, which ultimately creates food and nutrient insecurity.
Are we hungry? Are we nutritionally secured?
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool that measures hunger at global, regional, and national levels. In 2017, GHI scores were measured for 119 countries across the world. These GHI scores ranged between >5 and 50.9, the highest being considered as an extremely alarming level of hunger.
The Global Hunger Index score (2017) for Sri Lanka was reported as 25.5, which was a slight increase from 24.2, the GHI score calculated a decade ago. However, both these scores were considered as serious levels of hunger. Other regional countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh showed higher GHI scores compared to Sri Lanka.
The Global Food Security Index (GFSI) provides an insight into a country’s vulnerability for food insecurity. Based on that, each country is ranked; high-ranking countries are less vulnerable to food insecurity, whereas low-ranking countries are more vulnerable to food insecurity.
In 2017, Sri Lanka was ranked as the 65th among a total of 113 countries, whilst our neighbours in the region, namely, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh acquired the 75th, 78th, and 95th positions, respectively.
The calculation of GHI scores for high-income countries or regions such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe, and North America is often ignored since hunger is a trivial issue for them. Similarly, food insecurity has not yet become a burgeoning issue for they are the pioneers in supplying food to the world, or they have better access to food. In contrast, alleviation of hunger and amelioration of food and nutrient security have become top national priorities in low-income countries, especially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Up to date, there are very few approaches that determine the economic access or the purchasing power of a household of a sufficient, safe, and nutritious diet.
How much do you need to spend on a nutrient-rich meal?
The Cost of the Diet (COD) is an assessment tool and this software was developed by Save the Children, UK. It generates hypothetical diets using a combination of locally available foods that would satisfy energy, protein, fat, vitamin, and mineral requirements of a typical household at the lowest possible cost. Any other diet would be either less nutritious or more expensive. Based on the preferred nutrition level, the COD tool calculates the least cost of four standard theoretical diets as follows: (1) Energy only diet – the least cost diet that meets only the average energy specifications of the household; (2) Macronutrient diet – the least cost diet that meets only the average energy and the recommended protein and fat specifications of the household; (3) Nutritious diet – the least cost diet that meets the average energy, protein, fat, and micronutrient specifications of the household; (4) Locally adapted, cost optimised, nutritious diet – the least cost diet that meets the average energy and nutrient specifications, simultaneously reflecting the typical dietary habits of the household.
The ‘energy only’ and ‘macronutrient diets’ are far less likely to be nutrient-rich; but, they demonstrate the potential for micronutrient deficiencies caused by consuming such diets, and help determine the additional costs that have to be borne to meet all recommended nutrient specifications. In this context, analysis of the ‘nutritious diet’ is highly favourable, and the COD tool may select the proper combination of food items based on the local availability.
In addition, information on food preference and consumption behaviours can be gathered via focus group discussions with local communities and included in the COD tool to generate a ‘locally adapted, cost optimised, nutritious diet’. These findings, along with household income data, can be used to determine the (1) possibility of supplying a nutrient-rich diet using locally available food; (2) minimum cost of a nutritious diet; (3) share of population that can afford the diet; and (4) prevalence of food and nutrient insecurity in a country, which in turn assists implementation of policies and programmes that may ameliorate the situation.
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