UN Launches First Africa Human Development Report

The first-ever African Human Development Report, released today in Nairobi, begins with a paradox: Sub-Saharan Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies and most lush agricultural land, but it is also home to the largest group of hungry, undernourished and malnourished people on Earth. One in four people living in the region is undernourished. In each of two regions - the Sahel of Western Africa and the Horn of East Africa - 15 million people don’t have enough to eat. As UN Development Program Administrator Helen Clark said at the report’s launch, “Impressive GDP growth rates in Africa have not translated into the elimination of hunger and malnutrition.” “Towards a Food Secure Future,” a report of nearly 200 pages, attempts to explain how hunger has persisted in an otherwise up-and-coming region. Historical legacies, bad policies, decades of inattention to agriculture, and massive inequality are just a few of the factors holding back access to nutrition across the continent. In other words, the problems are structural - built into the very food systems that are now broken. Fixing them, the report argues, will take a combination of technological, political and social interventions.