Nutrition Situation and its Food Policy Links | Land Portal

Resource information

Date of publication: 
January 1987
ISBN / Resource ID: 
129415
Pages: 
13 pages
Copyright details: 
IFPRI adheres to the basic tenets of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, articulated in 2002 (subject to any applicable third-party rights and or confidentiality obigations). All applicable data are subject to IFPRI’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines. Copyright © 2013 International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). All rights reserved.

Malnutrition is generally not perceived to be a pervasive problem in much of Africa, except during famines. There is little doubt that in "average" years, malnutrition in Africa is a smaller problem than it is in Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, or Sri Lanka. Another reason why nutritional problems do not receive much attention in Africa is that in recent years episodes of severe drought, famine, and starvation have been relatively frequent, and attention has focused more on the shorter-run alleviation of food problems than on longer-term underlying problems. Finally, the proportion of the undernourished has been almost uniformly lower in urban centers than in rural areas due to a variety of income subsidies, better health, water supply, and sanitation facilities. Because of dispersed habitations and less variation in living standards, the rural problem is seldom visible except when reports of severe famine surface

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The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Established in 1975, IFPRI currently has more than 500 employees working in over 50 countries. It is a research center of theCGIAR Consortium, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development.


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