Child Wasting

According to the latest Global Nutrition Report , released in early November, the world remains off-track on meeting nutrition targets, and financing to address malnutrition is not adequate to meet the needs of the problem.

Hunger levels in Africa south of the Sahara remain among the highest in the world, according to the latest Global Hunger Index (GHI) , released today by IFPRI, Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe.

While significant progress has been made in reducing hunger and food insecurity in Africa in recent decades, around one in five people in the region continue to face chronic undernourishment. In a new report from the Malabo Montpellier Panel, “Nourished: How Africa Can Build a Future Free from Hunger and Malnutrition” , researchers take a systematic country-level approach to identify where progress has been achieved and how to replicate and scale up successful policies.

Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), which combines a public works program with unconditional cash and food transfers, is one of the largest safety net programs for household food security in Africa. But does it actually improve childhood nutrition in the country? A recent project paper from IFPRI’s Ethiopia Strategy Support Program (ESSP) explores this question and finds no evidence that the PSNP reduces chronic undernutrition in preschool-aged children; this finding could be the result of confounding environment, social, or economic factors that need to be addressed.

This blog was originally posted on the Together for Nutrition website .

This conference took place on 15th June in Addis Ababa. Almost 150 people attended from diverse sectors and organizations to learn and to share the latest research on food and nutrition.

The introduction, presented by Bart Minten, program leader for ESSP, Stuart Gillespie, CEO Transform Nutrition and Ferew Lemma, Ministry of Health, captured the essence of why we were gathered together – to collectively improve nutrition in Ethiopia.