August 28, 2001

Gloomy Outlook for Malnourished Children

WASHINGTON, DC – Unless more aggressive measures are taken, progress against child malnutrition is likely to slow over the next two decades, according to a new report from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The report, 2020 Global Food Outlook: Trends, Alternatives, and Choices, projects that child malnutrition will decline by only 20 percent over the next 20 years.

"Progress in reducing child malnutrition is unconscionably slow. It leaves 132 million children malnourished in 2020," said Per Pinstrup-Andersen, director general of IFPRI and recipient of the 2001 World Food Prize. "Yet we have the power to change that. With modest alterations to policies and priorities, the rate of progress against child malnutrition could be more than doubled."

The report uses IFPRI's state-of-the-art computer modeling to develop projections for food production, consumption, and demand for 16 major food commodities through 2020 and beyond. It also assesses the impact of various policy actions (including trade liberalization and expanded investment in agricultural research, health care, and education) on food security and nutrition.

The report projects that Latin America will virtually eliminate child malnutrition and China will cut it in half. However, not all regions will fare as well. India will remain home to one-third of all malnourished children. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of malnourished children will actually increase by 18 percent, unless new action is taken.

"Alternative scenarios in this report show that decisions made now can have wide-reaching effects on food security and nutrition. In fact, our optimistic scenario - a 42% reduction in child malnutrition worldwide - is achievable with only an additional $10 billion per year in investments. That's equal to less than one week of global military spending," noted Mark Rosegrant, senior research fellow at IFPRI and the lead author on the report.

The results of 2020 Global Food Outlook: Trends, Alternatives, and Choices will be a focal point at the Conference on Sustainable Food Security for All, to be held next week in Bonn, Germany. The conference is organized by IFPRI, in cooperation with the German government. Over 1000 world leaders, policy makers, researchers, journalists, and advocates will attend the conference, an event designed to break the complacency that condemns millions of children to die each year from hunger and poverty.

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For more information, contact:

Michael Rubinstein, International Food Policy Research Institute,
(202) 862-5670, m.rubinstein@cgiar.org