Dataset Information

The global hidden hunger indices and maps: an advocacy tool for action.

ABSTRACT: The unified global efforts to mitigate the high burden of vitamin and mineral deficiency, known as hidden hunger, in populations around the world are crucial to the achievement of most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We developed indices and maps of global hidden hunger to help prioritize program assistance, and to serve as an evidence-based global advocacy tool. Two types of hidden hunger indices and maps were created based on i) national prevalence data on stunting, anemia due to iron deficiency, and low serum retinol levels among preschool-aged children in 149 countries; and ii) estimates of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) attributed to micronutrient deficiencies in 136 countries. A number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as India and Afghanistan, had an alarmingly high level of hidden hunger, with stunting, iron deficiency anemia, and vitamin A deficiency all being highly prevalent. The total DALY rates per 100,000 population, attributed to micronutrient deficiencies, were generally the highest in sub-Saharan African countries. In 36 countries, home to 90% of the world's stunted children, deficiencies of micronutrients were responsible for 1.5-12% of the total DALYs. The pattern and magnitude of iodine deficiency did not conform to that of other micronutrients. The greatest proportions of children with iodine deficiency were in the Eastern Mediterranean (46.6%), European (44.2%), and African (40.4%) regions. The current indices and maps provide crucial data to optimize the prioritization of program assistance addressing global multiple micronutrient deficiencies. Moreover, the indices and maps serve as a useful advocacy tool in the call for increased commitments to scale up effective nutrition interventions.

SUBMITTER: Muthayya S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3680387 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The global hidden hunger indices and maps: an advocacy tool for action.

Muthayya Sumithra S Rah Jee Hyun JH Sugimoto Jonathan D JD Roos Franz F FF Kraemer Klaus K Black Robert E RE

PloS one 20130612 6

The unified global efforts to mitigate the high burden of vitamin and mineral deficiency, known as hidden hunger, in populations around the world are crucial to the achievement of most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We developed indices and maps of global hidden hunger to help prioritize program assistance, and to serve as an evidence-based global advocacy tool. Two types of hidden hunger indices and maps were created based on i) national prevalence data on stunting, anemia due to i ...[more]

PMID: 23776712

Similar Datasets

Project description:Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is the sixth most important cereal crop after rice, wheat, maize, barley and sorghum. It is widely grown on 30 million ha in the arid and semi-arid tropical regions of Asia and Africa, accounting for almost half of the global millet production. Climate change affects crop production by directly influencing biophysical factors such as plant and animal growth along with the various areas associated with food processing and distribution. Assessment of the effects of global climate changes on agriculture can be helpful to anticipate and adapt farming to maximize the agricultural production more effectively. Pearl millet being a climate-resilient crop is important to minimize the adverse effects of climate change and has the potential to increase income and food security of farming communities in arid regions. Pearl millet has a deep root system and can survive in a wide range of ecological conditions under water scarcity. It has high photosynthetic efficiency with an excellent productivity and growth in low nutrient soil conditions and is less reliant on chemical fertilizers. These attributes have made it a crop of choice for cultivation in arid and semi-arid regions of the world; however, fewer efforts have been made to study the climate-resilient features of pearl millet in comparison to the other major cereals. Several hybrids and varieties of pearl millet were developed during the past 50 years in India by both the public and private sectors. Pearl millet is also nutritionally superior and rich in micronutrients such as iron and zinc and can mitigate malnutrition and hidden hunger. Inclusion of minimum standards for micronutrients-grain iron and zinc content in the cultivar release policy-is the first of its kind step taken in pearl millet anywhere in the world, which can lead toward enhanced food and nutritional security. The availability of high-quality whole-genome sequencing and re-sequencing information of several lines may aid genomic dissection of stress tolerance and provide a good opportunity to further exploit the nutritional and climate-resilient attributes of pearl millet. Hence, more efforts should be put into its genetic enhancement and improvement in inheritance to exploit it in a better way. Thus, pearl millet is the next-generation crop holding the potential of nutritional richness and the climate resilience and efforts must be targeted to develop nutritionally dense hybrids/varieties tolerant to drought using different omics approaches.

Project description:Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km2 resolution for 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km2 pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications.

Project description:BackgroundHidden hunger (micronutrient deficiencies) among adolescents are linked to impaired physical growth, poor cognitive function, low resistance to infection as well as degenerative and chronic diseases at later age. To prevent these deleterious impacts of hidden hunger, effective intervention strategy that improves nutrition knowledge and promotes healthy food choices among this age-group becomes imperative. The intervention was to evaluate the impact of a 14-page locally developed nutrition education aids on the teenagers' knowledge of the functions, food sources and deficiencies of some micronutrients and their food choices.MethodsA one group pre-and post-intervention quasi-experimental study design was conducted with 869 adolescents (13-17?years) selected using multi-stage sampling technique in public secondary schools in a suburb of Nigeria. Using the instructional material development guidelines, the nutrition education aids were developed with nutrition facts, pictures of staple micronutrients-rich foods, and computer graphics. Baseline (pre-intervention) knowledge of nutrition and practice of food choices in relation to micronutrients were determined before exposing the students to the developed nutrition education aids and reassessing (post-intervention) them after 6?months. Data obtained were subjected to paired samples t-test using SPSS version 21.ResultsThe adolescents were mostly females (58.92%) aged 16-17?years (53.62%). There was significantly (p?<?0.05) higher mean knowledge scores of general nutrition (65.77 vs. 39.61%) and food sources of nutrients (82.26 vs. 66.87%) at post-intervention compared to pre-intervention. Also, the mean knowledge of functions and deficiencies of vitamin C, folic acid, iron, calcium, and zinc were significantly (p?<?0.05) higher at post-intervention than at pre-intervention. The study further revealed percentage increase in the proportion of respondents who consumed meat (27.72%), mango (128.20%), watermelon (152.29%), carrot (336.34%) and leafy vegetables (85.56%) daily after the intervention. In addition, the percentage of students who rarely consumed all the studied micronutrient-rich foods decreased after the intervention.ConclusionThe intervention strategy increased the nutrition knowledge and the consumption of some micronutrients-rich food sources among the adolescents. The developed nutrition education aids are recommended for use in the fight to reduce/eradicate hidden hunger among adolescents in Nigeria.

Dataset Information

The global hidden hunger indices and maps: an advocacy tool for action.

Publications

The global hidden hunger indices and maps: an advocacy tool for action.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets