The four horsemen of the apocalypse are said to ride together. Now it seems that at least in the case of war, famine and death, it鈥檚 true. That鈥檚 the overwhelming message from a global analysis of malnutrition by the International Food Policy Research Institute.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, nine of the 12 countries with the severest hunger were racked by civil war or violent conflict. Many of the countries that score worst are in sub-Saharan Africa, marked in red on the map.
鈥淚t demonstrates there should be a focus on conflict prevention and resolution,鈥� says project leader Doris Wiesmann. 鈥淏ut even under difficult conditions, investment in infrastructure, health and education can be beneficial.鈥�
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Wiesmann says the analysis carries extra weight because the 鈥済lobal hunger index鈥� that she used combines three major indicators of hunger into a single measurement 鈥� child mortality, child malnutrition and estimates of the proportion of calorie-deficient people in each country.
Wiesmann also found 鈥渉otspots鈥� of hunger in south-east Asia, despite huge progress overall in the region thanks to the transformation of agriculture during the 鈥済reen revolution鈥� of the 1970s. These include parts of India, where women and children often go hungry because men traditionally get to eat their fill first, she says.
