WB: World’s ‘hungriest’ people mostly in SE Asia

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna - Southeast Asia, the geographical region to which the Philippines belongs, has most of the world’s “hungriest” people, according to a World Bank (WB) report.

“Two-thirds of the world’s hungriest people live in Asia, with Southeast Asia most afflicted with malnutrition – 281 million people, to be exact,” said Chancellor Fernando Sanchez Jr. of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) as he cited the report.

While the proportion of malnourished people in developing regions has been almost halved since 1990 (as enunciated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agreed upon by most countries in the world), “one in nine people in the world today remains undernourished,” Sanchez added.

The UPLB chancellor’s forum was the recent “Southeast Asian Conference on Econutrition (SEAConE): From Concept to Practice in Achieving Sustainable Di- held at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) here.

SEAConeE was sponsored by UP, UP Los Baños, SEARCA, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), University of Hohenheim and Food Service Center (both in Germany), Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Ajinomoto, Unilab, Sikap Bidani (UPLB), Exceed, Unilever, and TPW.

The conference was attended by about 200 food and nutrition practitioners, environmentalists, economists, educators, scientists, researchers, agriculturists, extension workers, community leaders, students, civil society and the private sector in Southeast Asian countries and various parts of the world.

The speakers included noted scientists and experts in food and nutrition in Australia, Columbia University (Central Africa), University of Georgia (Athens), Bangladesh, and the Philippines.

Sanchez lauded the conference for focusing its discussions on the varied dimensions of econutrition (health, environment, socioeconomics) and translating econutrition knowledge to action.

SEARCA Director Gil Saguiguit Jr. said that “econutrition looks into the broad spectrum of factors affecting food and nutrition, including the interrelationship of human health, agriculture, environment, and economic development.”

The center is particularly working toward development of the agriculture sector which remains as the local economy’s backbone and from which Southeast Asia’s growing population depends on for food and sustenance.

The organizers, sponsors, and participants concluded: “Looking forward, there is a need to construct sustainable food systems a round huma n needs.”