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.

In Portland's Waterfront Park, Steve Wessing sold Occupation-themed buttons to demonstrators for $1 each. Photos: Michael Andersen for MercyCorps.

Sometimes, people who claim to speak for "the other 99 percent" aren't actually among them.

As the leaderless, left-leaning "Occupy" movement gathered this week for demonstrations across the United States, claiming inspiration from and solidarity with the Arab Spring, some self-described "99-percenters" faced a hard truth: They were, in fact, among the richest 1 percent of humans.

In 2003, the World Bank estimated that anyone who earned at least $47,500 annually was in the world's richest percentile. According to 2004 Census figures, that was a bit higher than the median income for an American over 25 with earnings and a bachelor's degree.

In other words: on a global scale, much of the American middle class are 1-percenters.

As about 5,000 demonstrators, as estimated by the Portland Mercury, gathered Thursday just down the block from Global Envision's headquarters, we headed into the crowds to ask a few participants whether the world's richest can safely speak for its poorest.

The answer we heard: Why not?

Lauren Ho, center beneath banner.

"The 1 percent still exists," said Steve Wessing, 50, an unemployed music professional selling souvenir buttons to demonstrators for $1 apiece. "I can't identify with the 1 percent while the 99 percent are still suffering."

Both Wessig and Lauren Ho, a naturopathic medical student holding a sign that read "People Before Profit," hesitated to identify with this year's successful demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

"I don't feel educated enough," said Ho, 27. But Ho said she had come to support "a right to health care, housing" and an end to the destruction of the environment. "You have to start somewhere to make a change," she said.

Heather Perry, 30, attended with her boyfriend and their respective children. She said Thursday's rally was the "coming together" of communes predicted by Karl Marx in the 19th century.

Heather Parry, center left facing camera.

Neither Perry, Ho or Wessig seemed to question that globalization has driven huge increases in wealth around the world, even as it may have eroded the American middle class. Perry, in fact, said this might be for the best.

"If people have money, that should be redistributed to people that don't," she said.

To Charles Newlin, a semi-retired landscaper from Corvallis, Ore., protesting inequality within the United States made perfect sense.

Charles Newlin, right.

"Our income disparity is third-world," said Newlin, 66, who showed up in a Pacific Green Party T-shirt that matched his 18-year-old grandson's. "It's larger than a lot of third-world countries'."

As a result, even prosperous American cities are suffering, he said.

"The paint is peeling off the overpasses on I-5," Newlin said. "It's starting to look like Mexico."

As the crowd began to chant, Newlin said he was excited to see so many Americans taking action for greater equality. The key, he said, was widespread underemployment among young people.

"I think they've made a tremendous mistake," Newlin said, referring to the richest 1 percent. "They gave young people skin in the game."

Demonstrators at Occupy Portland, Oct. 6, 2011.

Muslims in Malaysia and elsewhere are boycotting Dutch imports in the wake of an incendiary Internet-posted movie by Dutch legislator Geert Wilders. The right-wing politician means to provoke with his 15-minute anti-Islamization movie, Fitna, which many say equates Islam with terrorism.

In Malaysia, where more than six of every 10 inhabitants are Muslim, the Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the film. The Religious Council has also urged the boycott of Dutch products, saying it created unnecessary tensions.

One of Malaysia’s leading supermarket chains initiated a "soft boycott" in 40 stores by marking the products with red labels. The chain buys $18.8 million worth of Dutch goods a year, ranging from dairy products and cosmetics to electronics.

Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said that a boycott would make the Netherlands "close shop" since the world's 1.3 billion Muslims make up the wealthiest population and are also the biggest importers. “We must not be afraid of losing trade with them. If we do, then we won't be thinking as Muslims, but more for our own self interests," he said.

The Dutch are fearful that the boycotts will affect their businesses. Malaysian dairy giant Dutch Lady Milk Industries took out full-page newspaper advertisements to denounce the film. Dutch businesses are even threatening to take legal action against Wilders if their businesses were affected by his film.

Oman, Jordan, Singapore, Pakistan and the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are among others who have condemned the film.

Fidel has resigned, but a Castro still rules over Cuba. What are the differences between Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, and what will these differences mean for a post-Fidel Cuba? While there is a general consensus that Fidel's official resignation is unlikely to bring substantial political and economic change in Cuba in the near future, there have been indications that Raul may follow the "Chinese model" and gradually open up the Cuban economy while maintaining strict political control.

Many Cubans say Raúl will have no option but to give Cubans more leeway, economically if not politically. “People here say they are fidelistas, but not necessarily socialistas,” said an analyst in Havana, who asked to remain anonymous. Without Fidel, “Raúl will have to renegotiate an agreement with the Cuban people”.

Raúl is hardly likely to jettison half-a-century of socialist reforms and throw the country open to foreign capital, as Russia did in the 1990s. But he has hinted that he wishes to gradually open up the system, acknowledging the “excessive number of prohibitions” in Cuba and starting a national debate about the shortcomings of the regime.

Photo: Danny McL (flickr)

It is shocking to read and hear about elections dissolving into civil crisis as we are seeing in Kenya right now. However, as a Kenyan friend of mine is warning, we should be reluctant to take media portrayal of an event as absolute truth:

“When it comes to international media I am nothing short of disgusted. The international community has a very bad (not to mention ignorant) view of Africa. So when something happens to slightly re-affirm that view they have a field day with it. I am not in any way trying to downplay what is happening in Kenya but you all have to understand that there are those of us who voted for the current president and are happy with the outcome. However, a happy Kenyan is not deemed 'newsworthy' as compared to a disgruntled rioter. That is the sadistic nature of journalism.

Before I watched the international coverage on the Kenya, I used to feed on everything the news said. At least now I know to take everything with a pinch of salt...Kenya has 42 tribes, that's why I don't see the Rwanda scenario playing out. However, the biggest tribe (the Kikuyu) are scattered everywhere in Kenya. There's even a joke that they are found everywhere in the world. The opposition has decided to eliminate Kikuyus in the opposition strongholds..thus the killing. Only because the president is Kikuyu. Apart from those places in Western Kenya, the rest of us are fine...it's very unfortunate and maybe the Kofi Annan team will realize that this has shifted from a political crisis to a humanitarian crisis.”

It is hard to understand the political situation going on in countries far away from us, ruled in a way unknown to us. Judi, my friend, makes a provocative argument about the desire to sensationalize stories rather than give bare-bones facts of the matter in cases like these, and it is difficult to know where to go to learn exactly what is taking place without hyperbole.