Feeding hunger and insecurity

6. what more is needed?Table 6.2: Percentage of children underweight in nine Indian StatesType State Years1974-79 1988-90 1991-92 1995-97 1998-99Type 1 Kerala 68 43 40 26 28Programmatic Tamil Nadu 68 61 57 40 38West Bengal N/A N/A 64 N/A 45Type 2 Andhra73 65 57 56 41Intermediate PradeshGujarat 73 69 66 62 49Karnataka 72 70 65 54 46Maharashtra 76 64 71 58 N/AType 3 Madhya70 65 N/A N/A 58Clientelistic PradeshOrissa 72 71 64 57 56Source: WHO (2008) and Harriss (2005)Politics and political will remain the greatest impedimentsto the eradication of hunger. At the global,national and local level, politics underminesefforts to combat malnutrition and food insecurityby constraining funds, de-prioritising nutrition,preserving existing agendas and power structuresand forcing groups to compete rather than cooperate.Understanding and reforming the politicaleconomy of malnutrition represents a major challengeto the global community; one that must beresolved immediately.6.3 Eradicating Hunger: Where doWe Begin?Change will not come over night. The recommendationsand tools listed above are only partof a fuller set of interventions needed to tackleglobal food security and malnutrition. Establishinga mechanism that can enforce a right to foodcan still only be imagined. This does not mean wecannot make substantial steps towards eradicatinghunger now. First, donors, governments andother actors engaging with malnutrition and foodsecurity must adopt a seasonal approach to hunger.Second, the treatment of severe acute malnutritionmust be scaled-up. Action Against Hungerprovides crude estimates of the costs associatedwith these proposed changes.6.3.1 Adopting a Seasonally-Sensitive Approach to HungerEvidence from Central African Republic, Liberia,Sierra Leone demonstrated how high global foodprices had translated into high domestic foodprices and forced households to adopt damagingcoping mechanisms, such as restricting food consumption,selling assets and even withdrawingtheir children from school. Reducing the qualityand quantity of food consumed can cause malnutrition,as appears to have happened in Ethiopiaand possibly Sierra Leone and Liberia (thoughthese assertions are made with some caution).These behaviours are consistent and strikinglysimilar to strategies employed during the annualhunger season, suggesting that many of the sameinterventions that address seasonal malnutritionand food insecurity can be used to minimise (andpreferably, prevent) household suffering.ACF International Network Feeding Hunger and Insecurity 59