Improving Global Hunger Index

摘要

End of hunger is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Proper assessment of hunger is of great assistance to planners and administrators. The paper suggests ways to improve the currently used Global Hunger Index (GHI), which describes the hunger situation in different countries. GHI measures the prevalence of some broad outcomes of hunger like undernutrition and mortality-related proxy indicators. A limitation of GHI is the upward bias it induces because of using proxy indicators involving undernutrition and under-5 mortality. This is because while hunger leads to undernutrition, hunger alone is not the only reason for undernutrition or mortality. Use of other indicators having a direct bearing on hunger like dietary intake and behavioral responses on food access is suggested. The search for an improved hunger estimate requires computer-based statistical techniques like simulation. The use of all these indicators is likely to improve the hunger estimate.