WASHINGTON: As the international community observes the World Food Day on Monday, a UN body dedicated to fighting hunger warns that the number of undernourished people on the planet has increased to 815 million, up from 777m in 2015.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) cites conflict and violence as one of the main reasons for hunger across the globe and places Pakistan, Afghanistan and India among the conflict-affected countries.

“Conflict is a main driver of population displacement, and displaced populations are among the most vulnerable in the world, experiencing high levels of food insecurity and under-nutrition,” the FAO warned.

Another report, released this week by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri), places Pakistan, Afghanistan and India at the bottom of its Global Hunger Index. Pakistan is 106th among 119 countries that face serious hunger problems.

Conflict and violence cited as reasons for problem

The Ifpri report gives Pakistan the second highest hunger score in all of Asia, 32.6. With a 33.3 score, Afghanistan is the hungriest country in Asia and is ranked at 107th on the Global Hunger Index (GHI).

India — with 31.4 points — is the third hungriest country in Asia and is ranked 100th on the index.

The index uses four indicators — proportion of undernourished in the population, prevalence of child mortality, child stunting, and child wasting (low weight) — for ranking a country.

On the severity scale, a GHI score of less than 10 means ‘low’ prevalence of hunger while a score of more than 50 implies an ‘extremely alarming’ situation.

The report notes that about one-fifth of Pakistan’s total population was undernourished.

n earlier report by an international charity, called Water Aid, says that India has the highest number of children suffering from stunted growth in the world. The report, titled Caught Short, notes that India has at least 48m stunted children under the age of five.

Nigeria and Pakistan rank second and third with 10.3m and 9.8m stunted children, respectively.

Another Water Aid report, released this week, shows that 844m people still lack even a basic drinking water service, 2.3 billion people still lack a basic sanitation service, and 892m people still practice open defecation.

Besides food shortage, poor sanitation and contaminated drinking water also cause malnutrition, leading to stunted growth among children.

Ifpri shows that levels of hunger remain “serious”, “alarming” or “extremely alarming” in 52 of the 119 countries included in the study.

South Asia and Africa, South of the Sahara, have the highest levels of hunger, at 30.9 and 29.4, respectivelyAnd 24 countries have populations in which at least one quarter of the population is undernourished.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2017