‘Hacia una seguridad alimentaria integral: Recomendaciones para el G20 sobre nutrición y protección socia’l, published by Save the Children in the framework of the 2012 G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, which will see leaders discuss global challenges such as food security and food price volatility.
The document sets out key facts and figures on the world food crisis and its impact on developing countries with focus on early childhood malnutrition and stunting:
– One in four of the world’s children are stunted. In developing countries this figure is as high as one in three;
– One in eight children in Mexico are stunted. Southern Mexico is reported to have the highest prevalence, i.e. in Oaxaca one in five children suffer from stunting. Mexico’s indigenous children have higher probabilities of stunting – one in three children.
– In Mexico, 6,928 children under five die each year from malnutrition;
– Nearly half of Indias’ children are stunted (48%).
– Malnutrition is an underlying cause of the death of 2.6 million children each year – one-third of the global total of children’s deaths;
– Estimates suggest that 48,6 million more people fell into poverty worldwide during 2010-2011 because of the global crisis;
– Between 2008 and 2010, 989,000 more Mexicans were living in food poverty and could not afford the current basic food basket;
– Global progress on stunting has been extremely slow. The proportion of children who are stunted fell from 40% in 1990 to 27% in 2010 – an average of just 0.6 percentage;
– 450 million children will be affected by stunting in the next 15 years, if current trends continue;
– Adults who were malnourished as children earn at least 20% less on average than those who were not.
The global economic crisis continues to have a profound effect on the poorest countries and their citizens. Continuing food price volatility has negatively affected access to food by vulnerable populations demonstrating the urgent need to advance food security and nutrition initiatives. The document outlines Save the Children’s recommendations to the G20 and calls for decisive action to minimise the impact of high and volatile food prices upon the most vulnerable people and the need for special child-sensitive social protection measures that mitigate the impacts of the crisis.