Malnutrition The Economics of Food
This is a piece I wrote pre-pandemic … shocked how you could feel a change in the air.
As we start off a new year and a new decade everyone gets excited about a chance to make their lives and themselves anew. You will find that most of the media you are presented with after the major holiday shopping rush is over focuses on starting the year off right with exercise, a personal makeover, some new year’s resolutions, and taking time for self-reflection.
After a very turbulent decade that changed how people move towards life and the uncovering of some deep societal issues that are now part of our daily discussions and thoughts; it begs us to ask what’s next? I recently felt this as I stood on the beach on the first day of the new year at sunset with hundreds of other people. I could feel the excitement, anxiety, and longing for something different in the air.
I think that people in this new decade are going to seek nourishment for themselves in all forms; physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. The last decade showed everyone that people have not been taking care of themselves, their communities, their families, the environment and our children as we should. To start off 2020 I want to look at how we can continue to look at problematic societal issues with hopefulness and a solution-oriented approach.
I decided to kick the year off with an interview with Nutrition International an organization that is a global leader in finding and scaling solutions to malnutrition. The organization works to solve global malnutrition through:
- Delivering low-cost high-impact nutrition interventions, especially for women, adolescent girls, and children in Africa and Asia;
- Integrating nutrition across sectors to maximize impact and ensuring there are no missed opportunities
- Utilizing research, technical assistance, advocacy, and partnerships with national and global nutrition actors to improve policies, programs, and resources for nutrition.
I picked nutrition as a topic because food is an essential that everyone on the planet needs to sustain their life and it affects how we view our lives. I had the pleasure of having Amanda Keenan who is the Communications Officer at Nutrition International answer a few questions about global nutrition.
Why do you think nutrition is such an important issue…beyond the surface level of the fact that we all need to eat?
Good nutrition is the foundation for human development. It is the critical ingredient every one of us needs to survive and to thrive. Without it, the brain cannot develop fully, the body cannot grow properly, and the immune system cannot function effectively.
Well-nourished women are healthier; they also have safer pregnancies and deliver healthier babies. Well-nourished infants and children have stronger immune systems, which makes them more resistant to sickness and disease while improving their overall health, brain development, and human potential.
When adolescents are well-nourished, they are more likely to stay in school, learn more and succeed in their studies. This means they can get better jobs, increase their lifetime earnings, and make a greater contribution to the development of their family, community, and country.
When most people think of malnutrition, they envision very skinny men, women and children in third world countries but, malnutrition is a much larger problem that includes obese people affecting every country in the world. According to the Pew Research article, The New Foods Fight, The American food scene has undergone considerable change over the past two decades. During this period, the public has seen the introduction of genetically modified crops, the mainstreaming of organic foods into America’s supermarkets, and the proliferation of chefs elevated to celebrity status within popular culture.
Over the same period, there has been a marked increase in public health concerns about the growing prevalence of obesity among both children and adults.
Starvation and Obesity are both forms of malnutrition that engulf the world.
I then asked Keenan about the rise of malnutrition.
The 2018 global Nutrition Report stated that malnutrition now affects every country at an unacceptably high rate. Why do you think malnutrition has been on the rise?
While there have been some successes in the fight against malnutrition, we still have a long way to go. Stunting in children has declined and there has been a slight decrease in underweight women, yet we are still far off track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030.
If we are going to reach the target of Zero Hunger, the global nutrition community needs to come together and work towards this common goal.
The World Health Assembly has set six nutrition targets for 2025. These will be a key marker to determine if we are on track to achieve the SDGs. Right now, we are not, but we can get there.
We need to ensure nutrition remains a global priority and doesn’t become a forgotten one. We need a multi-sectoral approach that integrates nutrition into existing and non-nutrition platforms so that no opportunity to improve nutrition for those who need it is missed.
And we need to put people — especially women, girls, and children — at the center of our planning and prioritization, making sure they get the right nutrition at the right time to not only survive but thrive.
Keenan makes a strong point about women needing to be the focus when looking at malnutrition. According to the Population Reference Bureau, Women are more likely to suffer from nutritional deficiencies than men are, for reasons including women’s reproductive biology, low social status, poverty, and lack of education. Social-cultural traditions and disparities in household work patterns can also increase women’s chances of being malnourished. Globally, 50 percent of all pregnant women are anemic, and at least 120 million women in less developed countries are underweight. Research shows that being underweight hinders women’s productivity and can lead to increased rates of illness and mortality. In some regions, most women are underweight: In South Asia, for example, an estimated 60 percent of women are underweight.
Addressing women’s malnutrition has a range of positive effects because healthy women can fulfill their multiple roles — generating income, ensuring their families’ nutrition, and having healthy children — more effectively and thereby help advance countries’ socioeconomic development. Women are often responsible for producing and preparing food for the household, so their knowledge — or lack thereof — about nutrition can affect the health and nutritional status of the entire family.
What would you say are the key causes of malnutrition?
Poverty and inequality are both a cause and a consequence of malnutrition. Poverty prevents people from accessing the nutrition they need, and malnutrition is a steep barrier to lifting oneself out of poverty.
Gender inequality means that women and girls are hit disproportionately hard by malnutrition. Women and girls are often responsible for planting, harvesting and serving food, yet they eat last and least.
Lack of education or understanding is also an important factor. Often people don’t understand the importance of nutrition or see the connection between what they eat and how they feel.
In fact, even in the US, a study and article by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that; A sizable proportion of the US population is deficient in health literacy. The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy found that more than one-third of the US population had only basic or below-basic health literacy, meaning they would have difficulty viewing the nutrition labels of 2 different potato chip packages and determining the difference in the number of calories. Some studies have found that even high school graduates and college students lack the basic health literacy skills to effectively apply nutrition label information.
This then led me to ask Keenan about the solution to health illiteracy through food fortification.
Can fortification help solve some of the major global micro-nutrient deficiency problems such as iron, zinc, vitamin A, folate, and iodine?
Food fortification is one of the most important tools that we have in the fight against malnutrition — and it is something that is taken for granted in many parts of the world. Iodized salt, for example, has been widely available in North America for decades and contributed to the effective elimination of iodine deficiency disorders.
Fortifying foods, such as flour, rice, and ghee, ensures that populations will have access to the nutrients that may be missing from their diets but are critical to ensure healthy growth and development without radically altering diets or habits.
It is also one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to reach entire populations with vital nutrients they may be missing.
Do you think the media has a role to play in malnutrition? If so, how?
The media certainly has a role to play in ending malnutrition. Media can raise awareness about the importance of good nutrition and best practices to ensure people who might not otherwise have access to this information are given the tools they need to do what’s best for themselves and their families.
For example, if the media promotes iodized salt as the safest and healthiest option, citizens will be more likely to purchase that for their families.
Media can also drive action by leaders and decision-makers, raising the profile of nutrition and giving it priority status for new policy and investments. And they can hold their feet to the fire when nutrition drops out of the discussion.
Food, Economic and Gender Equality
What are the top three ways nutrition and economics are intertwined?
Good nutrition plays a fundamental role in economics at the individual, community and national levels.
A healthy, well-nourished person can go to school and complete their education, going on to a higher-paying job and more fulsome participation in society.
Nutrition is essential for building human capital. A well-nourished, healthy and educated population is the prerequisite for growth and economic development. This means more people earning more income, paying more taxes and building a country’s capacity to contribute its own resources to essential services, such as quality education and improved healthcare.
On the flip side, malnutrition perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality that can last for generations.
Malnutrition costs the global economy $3.5 trillion USD a year. Stunting in childhood is estimated to lead to an income “penalty” of 7% on average, and higher in Africa and South Asia. Evidence shows that every dollar invested in nutrition yields $16 in return, yet less than 1% of all development assistance is dedicated to nutrition. Improving nutrition is one of the most cost-effective investments for a healthier, more productive and more equitable world.
Nutrition International believes that good nutrition and gender equality mutually reinforce each other. Can you explain what that means or why that is?
Women and girls suffer disproportionately from malnutrition. Women are twice as likely to suffer from malnutrition as men and girls are twice as likely to die from the consequences of malnutrition as boys. This is the result of a combination of factors, including differing biological needs, particularly in adolescence, and gender norms and barriers, such as those that dictate girls eat last and least. When women and girls are malnourished, they can’t fully participate in life.
For example, adolescent girls who suffer from anemia often don’t have the energy to go to school, missing out on their education. This jeopardizes their future earning potential and potential contributions to their families and communities. If they become pregnant their babies are also more likely to be malnourished, perpetuating an inter-generational cycle of poverty and malnutrition.
On the other hand, when women and girls do not face these barriers and are able to access the nutrition they need, they can grow and thrive. They can complete their studies and go on to a higher-paying career, taking control of their life. When they understand the importance of good nutrition they can make it a priority for their families, ensuring future generations grow up healthy and well-nourished.
Improving nutrition for women and adolescent girls lays the foundation for their current and future education, productivity and economic empowerment.
About Nutrition International
Founded in 1992, Nutrition International is a global organization dedicated to delivering proven nutrition interventions to those who need them most. Working in partnership with countries, donors and implementers, Nutrition International experts conduct cutting-edge nutrition research, support critical policy formulation, and integrate nutrition into broader development programs. In more than 60 countries, primarily in Asia and Africa, Nutrition International nourishes people to nourish life. Find out more at NutritionIntl.org
About the Author
Annmarie Hylton-Schaub, Head Marketing Strategist and Content Developer at Project Good Work a boutique marketing group focused on helping individuals who want to launch social impact projects, charities, and change-making initiatives. The marketing group works to develop branding, marketing strategy, and content to connect clients with the people who believe what they believe so that their project and business can thrive.
If you have a passion for an unserved community, a social justice problem, or simply want to change minds contact Project Good Work at ProjectGood.Work to start your project of change today.
