An essay on food insecurity, malnutrition.

1. VERACITY OF SCRAWNY FIGURES
Everyone feels ravenous sporadically. Appetite is the inherent symptom of our chassis to indicate that it
needs to get repleted. Once we have sated, hunger scrams away until our breadbasket is empty again.
Malnutrition and hunger are not the same thing but somewhat similar. Hunger in long run can lead to
malnutrition but hunger is not necessarily the one and only reason of malnourishment. Even the people with
a plethora of food be malnourished alike if the diet is deficient in nutrients, minerals, and vitamins.
Malnourishment can be for a prolonged or a brief period and the situation may be lenient or dreadful. In
major cases, the person might even die. Malnutrition has an adverse effect on the body as well as the mind.
The level of malnourishment determines the number of nutrients missing and the plausible threats the victim
is likely to face. The prospect of death is directly proportional to the intensity of malnutrition. So basically,
it’s the condition of deficiency or excess of proper nutrition in the body capable of causing severe health
issues.
It’s a major public health problem throughout the developing world, especially in southern Asia and sub-Saharan
Africa. An amalgam of varied factors contribute to this worldwide phenomena inclusive of the political and economic
situation, the level of education, sanitation facilities, the climate conditions, food production, religious and cultural
customs, breastfeeding habits, prevalence of infectious diseases, the effectiveness of present nutrition programs,
availability and standard of health services in the region. Malnutrition has an impact on the people of every age, albeit
newborns and youngsters are most susceptible. Around 1.9 billion adults globally are overweight, while 462 million
are underweight. An estimated 41 million children under the age of 5 years are obese, while some 159 million are
stunted and 50 million are wasted. Every year, 5.9 million children under the age of 5 years die of malnutrition.
Adding to this burden are the 528 million women of reproductive age around the world affected by anaemia. Although
treatment procedures lately have become more efficient, most sufferers mostly in the countryside have access to
formal health care services barely. Prevention protocols cover promotion of breastfeeding, food supplementation
measures, dietary diversification strategies, nutrition awareness manoeuvres are being undertaken. To accomplish the
food insecurity and malnutrition related Millennium Development Goals, we need to eradicate poverty and promote
education, which is undoubtedly tied-up with the food insecurity and nutrition. UN Food and Agriculture org. reports
that world hunger has declined by over 100 million in the past decade. It is the testimony to how greater cooperation
and coordination between governments, civil society, researchers, the private sector and farmers can be the panacea to
food insecurity. Yet regardless of the progress, 805 million people across the world endure hunger.
Article 47 of the Constitution of India states that "the State shall regard raising the level of nutrition and
standard of living of its people and improvement in public health among its primary duties". India has a
diverse agricultural sector with second largest arable land in the world after the US and around 58% of the
rural population engaged in the sector. Despite being one of the leading grain producers in the world we
have failed to feed our own countrymen as one-fourth of the population go to bed empty stomach every day.
World Bank report says that the rate of malnutrition cases among Indian children is almost five times more
than in China, and twice that in Sub-Saharan Africa. India is undergoing a transition, a makeover of its
temperament very rapidly and it’s facing multi-dimensional challenges but what we are failing to perceive is
that the future of our posterity is at stake. According to the Global Hunger Index 2014, India ranks 55 out of
the world’s 120 hungriest countries even behind some of its smaller South Asian counterparts like Nepal
(rank 44) and Sri Lanka (39). Experts impute many reasons for this condition as the concept is complex and
multi-dimensional which get more complicated in the context. According to Shaleen Jain of Hidayatullah
National Law University in India, food security has three broad dimensions – food availability, which
encompasses total food production, including imports and buffer stocks maintained in government granaries.

2. Food accessibility –food’s availability or accessibility to each and every person. And thirdly, food
affordability – an individual’s capacity to purchase proper, safe, healthy and nutritious food to meet his
dietary needs. Pawan Ahuja, the former joint secretary in the ministry of agriculture, says India’s problems
result mostly from a deeply flawed public distribution system than anything else. “Despite the abundant
production of grains and vegetables, distribution of food through a corruption-ridden public distribution
system prevents the benefits from reaching the poor,” says Ahuja. The other challenges which India faces in
attaining food security, “Natural calamities like excessive rainfall, accessibility of water for irrigation
purpose, drought and soil erosion. Further, lack of improvement in agriculture facilities as well as
population explosion has only made matters worse.” The expert adds. Administrators have laid down
policies and multi-sectoral strategies to eradicate these public health problems and improve the health
conditions of the people but the results have been hit and miss cases largely, with the experts accusing the
corrupt distribution system of its inefficiency.
Growing crops sustainably through methods which increase the produce and the productivity and ensuring
the same quantity of food reaching the consumers is the key objective today. But the matter of concern is
that everyone wants to eat but no one wants to produce, everyone depends on the poor farmers to grow food
for them and yet a handful is doing remarkable works to support them. An array of actions is entailed,
counting nutrition-education, agricultural, nutritional and hygienic interventions, the provision for safe
drinking water, standard health services safeguarding gender issues and drawing special attention towards
the unguarded pregnant women and young children. Besides the government, the efforts of civil society
based organisations in their ability to assist is crucial to mitigate hunger and malnutrition. By countering
today’s food problem, tomorrow’s world will see a handful of people suffering through chronic deprivation
and food scarcity. We have enough food to feed every person today. It is time more effort is to be put behind
elevating food inequality and ensure no person goes hungry.