UN WFP anti-hunger Ambassador Li Ning visits Bangladesh

UN WFP's first Chinese anti-hunger ambassador, Li Ning, visits a town in  northwest Bangladesh, Dec. 6, 2009.

UN WFP's first Chinese anti-hunger ambassador, Li Ning, visits a town in northwest Bangladesh, Dec. 6, 2009. Legendary gymnast Li Ning was nominated by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) as the agency's ever first Chinese anti-hunger ambassador at a ceremony of 30 years of cooperation between WFP and China on Oct. 13, 2009.

Overview of Food Security in Bangladesh

2009 brings new challenges to the pursuit of food security in Bangladesh.

Over the course of 2007 and 2008, the increase in prices of basic food commodities and fuel exposed the poorest segments of society to severe pressure.

An additional 7.5 million people joined the ranks of the hungry, largely as a result of high food prices, bringing the number of people who consume less than the minimum daily recommended amount of food to 65 million, or 45% of the population.

The depth of food insecurity has also worsened. Food expenditures are increasingly dominating household budgets, the poor are consuming even less than before and the quality of their diet has deteriorated further.

To cope, the poor have fallen into an even deeper spiral of debt, from which it will take many months to recover. A heavy impact on school enrolment, attendance and dropout was already visible by mid 2008.

The impact of high food prices will be particularly acute in the lean seasons occurring in September-November (such as the monga period in the Northwest of the country) and in March-April, due to a chronic lack of employment opportunities for an ultra-poor population whose main livelihood is agricultural or day labour.

Nonetheless, the negative effects of high food prices will be acutely felt by the poor throughout the whole of 2009.

High food prices are worsening an already precarious nutritional situation. Nationally, nearly half of under-5 children are moderately to severely underweight and 36% suffer from moderate to severe stunting (chronic malnutrition).

The rates of wasting (acute malnutrition) increased from 13% in 2004 to 16% in 2007. This is above the World Health Organisation emergency threshold.

According to the Poverty Reduction Strategy of the Government of Bangladesh, the key elements in the fight against hunger include improving food security, tackling malnutrition, reducing disparities in income, education and gender, and protection against inevitable shocks.

(From WFP.org)