From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: FOOD: Less hunger in world, but mil
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 00:10:24 GMT



Topic 883       FOOD: Less hunger in world, but mil
newsdesk        ips.englibrary  12:14 am  Sep 21, 1992

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: FOOD: Less hunger in world, but millions of children suffering


att editors: please note that the following copy is under embargo
and may not be printed or otherwise reproduced before 2300 gmt,
sunday, sep. 20

washington, sep 20 (ips) -- the percentage of hungry people in the
third world has fallen substantially in the last 20 years, but
about 25 percent of the total are children suffering from protein-
energy malnutrition says the food and agriculture organisation
(fao) of the united nations.

the latest analysis by the rome-based fao which was released
here sunday says even though global population has increased by
1.8 billion over the past 20 years, the number of chronically
undernourished people in developing countries has dropped from 36
to 20 percent -- from 941 million to 786 million.

but the fao says that nearly 13 million children under five
years old die every year because of hunger, malnutrition and
infections.

and since the world's population is still increasing faster
than the rate at which people's nutritional well-being is
improving, the actual numbers of hungry have not been
substantially reduced, according to the survey.

most of the hungry are to be found in asia. in south asia, two
out of three children are estimated to be underweight. and in sub-
saharan africa, the numbers of underweight children have actually
increased over the past 20 years.

the reasons for the dramatic fall in the percentage of hungry
are many, according to the report. many nations have taken more
effective action in developing their agricultural resources to
improve food supplies and increase employment and income.

in addition, grains continue to be improved genetically to
increase yields and efforts to educate farmers in better
production techniques have been stepped up.

incentives to increase food production have also been put in
place in many countries, and increases in global trade in
agricultural products have also helped, fao said.

still, there remain some two billion people who suffer from
''hidden hunger'' -- defined as diet-related micro-nutrient
deficiency diseases -- that can lead to retarded growth,
blindness, mental retardation and other serious disorders.

the most prevalent defiencies are the lack of iron, iodine and
vitamin a. (more/ips)

food: less hunger in world, but millions of children suffering(2-e)

food: less hunger (2)

the lack of iron is believed to affect more than two billion
people worldwide.  the victims are found mainly in africa and
south asia, however, according to fao.

more than one billion people, particularly populations located
in mountainous or flood-prone areas of china and south asia where
soils are deficient in iodine, are at risk of this deficiency,
which often leads at first to goiter.

these deficiencies are to be a major subject of the first
international conference on nutrition in rome, to be sponsored by
fao and the world health organisation (who) in early december.

the fao analysis also found that average food availability rose
from 2,290 calories per person each day in 1961-63 to 2,700
calories in 1988-90.

but the survey showed that 11 poorly fed developing nations
with 123 million people had an available food supply of less than
2,000 calories per day, well below the minimum needed for the
nutritional well-being of all segments of the population.

by contrast, north america has enough food available to provide
3,600 calories per day. in europe, the average comes to about
3,450, fao said.

governments are also making progress in providing food security
for their people, according to fao.

botswana, for example, has established an early-warning system
that has helped prevent starvation despite the most severe drought
southern africa has experienced this century.

in senegal, a joint venture between dutch and local companies
to produce thrashing machines has enabled farmers to bring their
crops to market far more efficiently than before, says fao.
(end/ips/ag/jl/yjc/92)