Much needed food aid being distributed in Sukkur, Pakistan. Photo: Rob Holden, UK Department for International Development (Flickr)

Malnutrition, which prevents children from reaching their physical and intellectual potential, is falling. The most significant cause? It's becoming a politically important issue in its own right.

Today, 925 million people do not have enough to eat. About 98 percent of those people live in developing countries and 60 percent are women. In sub-Saharan Africa, one third of all child deaths are caused by hunger.

But these rates are lower than they have been in the past. In Brazil and Peru, malnourishment in some regions has been nearly eradicated. A likely cause for these improvements is economic development: as economies grow, people should have more money for food.

But a recent study found no such correlation in many parts of the world. In Peru, a mining boom occurred that boosted the incomes of certain regions. But these regions were not those that saw the most dramatic drop in malnutrition rates. In Southeast Asia, where economies have been growing rapidly, hunger rates have not seen a corresponding drop. As the World Bank’s chief economist for South Asia describes it, "For a region that's clocked something like 6 percent growth on average over the past decade, the statistics on malnutrition are just truly astonishing and unacceptable.”

Growth hasn’t exactly led to glut for much of the developing world. But many regions have seen a sharp decline in hunger rates.

Children in Haiti waiting for food and school supplies to be distributed. Photo: UN Photo/Marco Dormino (flickr)

What caused the plummet? Proactive politicians. Increasingly, politicians are seeing tackling malnutrition as a means of getting elected. The humanitarian news and analysis service IRIN reports that malnutrition has been a neglected issue in the politics of many developing countries. One researcher from the Institute for Development Studies recalls being told by Indian journalists that hunger was a difficult issue to get past editors “because it’s not an election issue.” Looking at the figures for global poverty, it is easy to note that the world’s poorest tend to be the most politically neglected. This may be changing.

The study attributes this attitude shift to civil society networks that are getting better at lobbying governments, and to governments that are themselves becoming more responsive amid democratization of the developing world. According to the World Health Organization, “disparities in health outcomes between the poor and the rich are increasingly attracting attention from researchers and policy-makers, thereby fostering a substantial growth in the literature on health equity.” More attention has led to more action in many parts of the world.

Former Peruvian president Alan Garcia was elected on his “5x5x5” campaign, which pledged to reduce malnutrition for children under age 5 by 5 percent in 5 years. After his election proved it to be a popular issue, he raised the figure to 9 percent.

Some leaders learn the hard way that hunger is something to be taken seriously. In Niger, former president Mamadou Tandja all but banned the subject of hunger from the press. A growing hunger crisis led to his ouster in a military coup. Knowing that its power rested on a promise to provide food, the interim government acted quickly to coordinate relief efforts.

For most countries that have reduced malnutrition, success came after national governments began coordinating and implementing broad anti-poverty campaigns. In Malawi, the federal government began coordinating its own programs with those of non-profits operating in the country to increase efficiency and monitor what worked and what didn’t. Cash transfer programs that were established to incentivize behavior in the community best pulled people out of poverty. While international groups have been doing good work in Malawi for quite some time, it was the government’s engagement of the issue that proved crucial to increasing efficiency and providing real results. “The government’s remarkable engagement and leadership on fighting hunger and undernutrition cannot be overstated,” according to reports from Tripode Proyectos, the research group that conducted the study.

So malnutrition is being elevated in importance around the world. But it is still a huge problem. In Asia, Latin America, and Africa, despite recent improvements, malnutrition remains a leading cause of death for children. As many developing countries head for economic growth, this study should remind us that bigger GDP does not always mean healthier people. But prosperity should mean more money and resources to fight hunger, and politicians are learning that healthy voters are more likely to be happy voters.

According to one Peruvian governor, “In the past, politicians didn’t care about issues like nutrition, because children don’t vote. But now they have realized that their mothers do.”

Ben Osborn is a 2011 graduate of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Read his other contributions to Global Envision.

Tunisia becomes the first country of the Arab Spring to hold a general election. Photo: Gwenaël Piaser (Flickr)

While the world's eyes are fixed on violence in Egypt and Libya, the Arab Spring’s most important step yet will depend not on blood shed, but on votes cast.

Tunisia becomes the first country of the Arab Spring to hold general elections on Oct. 23. Voters will elect 217 members to a general assembly charged with drafting the country’s constitution over the next year. The voting will take place in a system of proportional representation, with parties providing a list of their candidates.

At least half of all listed candidates will be women, per the election’s rules. Though for Tunisia, this is not so surprising. 'Tunisia is considered one of the most liberal Arab countries, with high levels of female participation in public and political life,' according to BBC News.

There are three major political parties vying for votes. The most widely supported is Ennahda, an Islamist party that was banned under Tunisia’s former president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. The two other contending parties are both secular. Each party has said it'd be open to a power-sharing coalition, depending on the results of the election.

Tunisia’s economy is expected to see the highest growth rates out of any country affected by the Arab Spring, and that is due at least in part to peaceful politics. 'We expect activity to continue improving in the coming months particularly if the elections and the political transition thereafter take place in a smooth manner,' said Alia Moubayed, an economist at Barclays Capital who was quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek.

These elections represent the closest any of the Arab Spring countries have come to a full transition of power. As other countries continue to rise up against corrupt regimes, pay close attention on Sunday as 3.9 million Tunisians head to the polls. The fate of the Arab Spring may depend not on how revolutions are started and waged, but on whether they can culminate in new and stable regimes.

Ben Osborn is a 2011 graduate of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Read his other contributions to Global Envision.

Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Taiwan’s mid-March elections show that residents there may be willing to have a closer relationship with China if it benefits them economically.

Taiwanese voters favored Hong Kong-born Ma Ying-jeou's promise of economic prosperity over his rivals' campaigns to ensure further confrontation with China. Ma Ying-jeou won the presidential election in a landslide victory with his message for closer economic ties with China. He proposed reviving the economy by inviting more Chinese investment and tourism for Taiwan.

This is a new tack for a country that has long struggled to become separate from China and find its own identity in the international arena.

Tibet could learn from Taiwan’s strategy. The BBC’s Humphrey Hawksley, writing in YaleGlobal, contends that Tibet’s embrace of a national identity prevents them from enjoying China’s economic benefits. With India and China as neighbors, Tibet is in a prime position to benefit from the global market. Hawksley suggests that if both countries focused on their economic relationship, Tibet could enjoy a Taiwan-like success story. But it might mean giving up some of its traditions and its fight for independence.

Taiwan’s decision highlights how the lure of closer of economic ties is affecting the way countries formulate their foreign policy. It seems as if Tibet could better its struggling economy by putting aside its hostility to China — but at what expense?

Kenya’s economy, troubled even before the recently disputed election, is suffering from a “youth bulge” which may have helped increase the acceleration into violence the country saw hours after the votes were counted. According to Stephanie Hanson of the Council on Foreign Relations, “research shows that countries with a “youth bulge” are particularly vulnerable to civil conflict.” The country suffers from high unemployment rates, especially among these young people, who make up a majority of the population. Nevertheless, the youth should not be written off altogether. Their “potential to lead positive political change” suggests that “policymakers should spur job creation and education opportunities.” In other words, given the chance to lead productive lives, the population will be more likely to thrive, and perhaps help mitigate rather than escalate crises.