Read our fourth story in the series on The Food Crisis: What's Happening, a collection of work on the current events and the impact communities are seeing on a global scale. The Food Crisis is affecting everyone socially, economically and nutritionally. Stella Nordhagen, our Senior Technical Specialist discusses the wide reaching ripple effect climate change will cause on out food systems and what actions need immediate attention.
Climate change is already wreaking havoc with food systems, undermining food security and nutrition for millions of people. Few countries will be affected more seriously than Bangladesh.
Maternal nutrition has often been a neglected area and the global burden of maternal undernutrition in low-and middle-income countries remains staggeringly high. An estimated 450 million women have short stature, 240 million are underweight with a body mass index below 18.5, and 496 million are anaemic.
In a commendable move to combat the effects of COVID-19, the Government of Bangladesh has announced a bailout package to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by partially covering their interest payments for the current fiscal year until 30th June 2020. But the eventual impact of COVID19 pandemic and its potentially devastating impact on food systems, especially on the SMEs that are the backbone of food supplies.
The latest nutrition data out of Bangladesh describe a situation brimming with promise. The Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2017/2018 estimates stunting at 31% and the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2019 shows an even lower estimate of 28%.
5000 adolescent girls – known as the "Golden Girls" – assembled on 19 December 2017 in the Sultana Kamal Mohila Complex, Dhaka, to celebrate the launch of the national "Adolescent Nutrition Campaign". For the Golden Girls – and many more adolescent girls in the country – this campaign represents a window of opportunity to push further the development of Bangladesh.
