Published Date: July 01, 2010
The Millennium Development Goals aimed to cut severe poverty and hunger in half by the year 2015. But the recent rise in staple food prices and global economic crisis make it clear that these goals will not be met and that recent gains in mitigating malnutrition are being erased. In this for the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, Center Faculty Associate Gail Harrison and co-authors note that the number of malnourished people has increased to more than 1 billion from 800 million a few years ago and that hunger persists because of lack of production and income opportunities for the poor and lack of social security networks. "There are critical needs to increase production yet again and to protect the interests of the poor," the authors write. "The world's population will stabilize by midcentury but the quality of that half-century depends on political will, technological capacity and commitment."

Publication Authors:
  • Gail G. Harrison, PhD
  • M. Christina Tirado
  • Osman M. Galal