Die globale Hungersituation hat sich seit 1990 verbessert, wie der Welthunger-Index 2013 anhand von Daten aus dem Zeitraum 2008-2012 zeigt. Der WHI ist um ein Drittel gesunken. Dennoch ist die weltweite Hungersituation nach wie vor „ernst“. 870 Millionen Men­schen hatten laut Schätzungen der Ernährungs- und Landwirtschafts­organisation der Vereinten Nationen (FAO) im Mittel der Jahre 2010-2012 nicht genug zu essen. Südasien und Afrika südlich der Sahara haben die höchsten WHI-Werte.

Recent experience has shown that as countries get richer, nutritional status does not necessarily improve. In a recent article in the journal The Lancet, IFPRI researchers and others explain that creating the right conditions for nutritional advances often requires political action. The feature article in this issue of Insights looks at how some developing countries and regions—Ghana, Peru, Thailand, and the state of Maharashtra, India—have made nutrition a political priority and how they’ve turned political commitments into widespread changes on the ground.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene can have a profound effect on health and nutrition. A growing base of evidence on the link between sanitation, child height, and well-being has come at an opportune time, when the issue of sanitation and nutrition in developing countries has moved to the top of the post-2015 development agenda.

The second of three books in IFPRI's climate change in Africa series, East African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing 10 of the countries that make up east and central Africa - Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda - and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food security throughout the region. East Africa's populations is expected to grow at least through mid-century. The region will also see income growth.

How can family farmers best contribute to their country’s agriculture needs as well as broader development goals? First, we should determine which farmers can be profitable and assist them in doing so. Second, for those who aren’t profitable, we need to help them shift to other economic pursuits.

This study employs IFPRI’s IMPACT model to generate projections of global fi sh supply and demand. IMPACT covers the world in 115 model regions for a range of agricultural commodities, to which fi sh and fi sh products are added for this study. As is the case with most global modeling work, an important value that IMPACT brings to this study is an internally consistent framework for analyzing and organizing the underlying data.

The 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report—the ninth in an annual series—presents a multidimensional measure of national, regional, and global hunger. It shows that the world has made progress in reducing hunger since 1990, but still has far to go, with levels of hunger remaining “alarming” or “extremely alarming” in 16 countries. This year’s report focuses on a critical aspect of hunger that is often overlooked: hidden hunger. Also known as micronutrient deficiency, hidden hunger affects more than an estimated 2 billion people globally.