Daily Current Affairs

Global Hunger Index 2023 (GS Paper 3, Economy)

Why in news?

• India topped the list of countries with the highest child-wasting rate in the world, at 18.7 per cent, reflecting acute undernutrition, according to the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023 released recently.

 

About Global Hunger Index (GHI):

• GHI is a peer-reviewed annual report, jointly published by non-profits Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
• The indicators: undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality; reflect deficiencies in calories (quantity) as well as in important micronutrients.

 

Child wasting in India:

• Child wasting, one among the four indicators underlying GHI scores refers to the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height.
• India’s child wasting rate is higher than that of conflict-ridden Yemen (at 14.4 per cent) and Sudan at (13.7 per cent), which hold the second and third positions, respectively.
• Moreover, India has been ranked at the 111th position out of 124 countries, with neighbouring Pakistan (102th), Bangladesh (81st), Nepal (69th) and Sri Lanka (60th) faring better than it in the index. The country slipped four notches from its 107th position in 2022.
• India scored 28.7 on the GHI, classifying it under the ‘serious’ hunger category. Other countries in the same classification include Pakistan (26.6), Afghanistan (30.6), Zambia (29.3), Botswana (20) and Sudan (27).

 

Indian government’s response:

• The Union government, however, rejected the findings of the report, calling the methodology “an erroneous measure of hunger with serious methodological issues”.
• Poshan Tracker, a mobile-based application rolled out by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, consistently reports a child wasting rate of less than 7.2 per cent each month, against the 18.7 per cent recorded in GHI, the Centre claimed.

 

Indian in other parameters:

• In India, the prevalence of undernourishment was recorded at 16.6 per cent and the under-five mortality rate was at 3.1 per cent.
• The report also pointed out it is critical to address the challenges faced by small farmers in India.
• Children afflicted by wasting experience compromised immunity, are vulnerable to developmental delays and face a high mortality risk, especially in cases of severe wasting.
• The report also noted that among Indian women aged 15 to 24 years, the prevalence of anaemia was at a staggering 58.1 per cent, slightly above Nigeria.
• Low weight and height of mothers are associated with stunting and wasting in their children, and child undernutrition tends to occur in the same regions as maternal undernutrition.
• The prevalence of anaemia is high and persistent in many countries, and currently, no region of the world is on track to meet the 2030 target to halve the rate of anaemia in adolescent girls and women, the report added.

 

Conclusion of 2023 GHI:

• The 2023 GHI shows that, after many years of advancement up to 2015, progress against hunger worldwide remains largely at a standstill.
• As the effects of crises multiply and intensify, more and more people are experiencing severe hunger, with the situation expected to worsen throughout the year.
• South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are the global regions characterised by the most severe hunger levels, both holding a GHI score of 27, signifying a serious state of hunger.

 

Disaster Risk Reduction Day 2023

(GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)

Why in news?

• There has been a shocking lack of progress on government policies to protect people with disabilities during natural disasters in the last decade, according to a new global survey.

Details:

• The findings of the survey done by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) was particularly alarming because it showed that the vulnerable population group has been left out of disaster management planning despite the previous survey in 2013 stressing on the need for its inclusion.
• Moreover, the international law under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities mandates that countries have defined mechanisms to provide safety to people with disabilities.
• Of the 6,000 people from 132 countries covered in the 2023 survey, around 84 per cent of the respondents said they were not aware of evacuation routes, shelter homes or that they should have a package of emergency supplies.

 

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2023:

• The report was released just ahead of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction observed on October 13, 2023.
• The theme of UN International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2023 is "Fighting inequality for a resilient future."
• In 2023, UNDRR has highlighted the importance of removing inequalities to reduce disaster risk, which refers to the probability of death, injuries or damage due to natural disasters.
• It was first observed in the year 1989 at the United Nations General Assembly.

 

Why it matters?

• As much as 16 per cent of the world’s people have some form of disability and are killed by disasters two-four times more often than the rest of the population.
• In the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, persons with disabilities were twice as likely to die, UNDRR noted citing Rehabilitation International, an international disability rights organisation.
• This becomes all the more important with the world projected to face some 560 disasters every year by 2030.

 

Global practices:

• The report also highlighted some practices being followed in various parts of the world that can be scaled up and replicated elsewhere.

1. In Jordan, there is a dedicated line for deaf individuals to report emergencies;
2. in Uganda, persons with disabilities participate in the legal frameworks on disaster and climate management; and
3. in New South Wales, Australia, disability service providers identify individual requirements to feed into community emergency preparedness plans”.

 

Future Roadmap:

• The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 also called for disability inclusion, the provision of accessible disaster risk information and establishing inclusive and end-to-end early warning systems.
• There is also a need to strengthen early warning systems, as half the countries lacked such mechanisms. If sufficient early warning is provided, 39 per cent of respondents reported they would have no difficulty evacuating, compared to 26 per cent, if there was no warning.
• They called for immediate action to address these challenges and meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities in community disaster risk reduction planning.