Of the world’s 6 billion people, about 800 million do not have enough to eat. Globally, nutrition has improved in recent decades, but malnutrition — including deficiencies in micronutrients —is still widespread. Hunger, combined with low intake of important micronutrients such as vitamin A, zinc, iron, and iodine, contributes to low birth weight, infections and increased risk of death. In developing countries, close to 24 percent of all newborns have impaired growth due to poor nutrition during fetal development. About 33 percent of all children under the age of five are stunted. Because of iron deficiencies, about two billion people worldwide suffer from anemia, and nine out of ten of them live in developing countries. Improving nutrition will continue to be a challenge, and the current move toward accelerated globalisation can play either a positive or a negative role in reducing malnutrition and hunger. Policies that reduce the negative and enhance the positive effects of globalisation on nutrition and groups most at risk will be needed, at both the international and national levels.
