NGER A LIFE FREE FROM HUNGER - Save the Children

a life free from hunger
However, economic growth is not the only factor contributing to their success. For
example, a World Bank report 59 found that strong economic growth in the 1990s only
accounted for a small part of the reduction of undernutrition in Vietnam.
Many of the countries featured on Figure 4 (page 15) have strong public policies that
aim to improve nutrition. Social protection schemes in Latin America and elsewhere
have helped bring about big reductions in malnutrition among the poorest families. For
example, Brazil’s multi-sectoral Zero Hunger strategy includes an $8bn conditional cash
transfer scheme that reaches 46 million low-income Brazilians, 60 while Mexico has seen
an impressive reduction in stunting as it rolled out a well targeted conditional cashtransfer
programme. 61 These schemes aim to improve the purchasing power of lowincome
families, which has been identified as one of the important steps to improving
nutrition. 62 Social protection – a key driver of reducing poverty and stunting – is
examined in depth in chapter 3.
FIGURE 5 THE TEN COUNTRIES WITH THE SLOWEST ANNUAL REDUCTION
OF STUNTING BETWEEN 1990 AND 2010
AVERAGE ANNUAL REDUCTION RATE*
-2% AND UNDER
-2.0– -1.1%
-1.0– -0.1%
0–1%
AFGHANISTAN -1.6
Countries % children
with slowest stunted
progress (2010)
1. Côte d’Ivoire 39.0
2. Burundi 63.1
MALI -0.6
NIGER -1.0
YEMEN -1.0
3. Afghanistan 59.3
4= Niger 54.8
COTE D’IVOIRE -2.0
CAMEROON 0.1
ZAMBIA 0.0
SUDAN 0.1
BURUNDI -2.0
MALAWI 0.5
4= Yemen 57.7
6. Mali 38.5
7. Zambia 45.8
8= Sudan 37.9
8= Cameroon 36.4
10. Malawi 53.2
* Negative reduction indicates stunting rate is increasing
Source: Data came from Demographic and Health Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys or national nutrition surveys.
16