Exploring Undernourishment: Part 8 — Recommendations and Conclusions
A Visual Data Exploration Research Project to Better Understand the Nuances of Our Global Nutrition
Contents
This is Part 8 of an 8-Part research project aiming to better understand the nuances of our global nutrition. It explores this topic through the utilisation of data visualisation and data science techniques. It is complimented by a Web App: ExploringUndernourishment, which is freely available to the public.
Part 1 — Introduction and Overview
Part 2 — Literature Review
Part 3 — Data Exploration
Part 4 — Research Area 1: General Trend
Part 5 — Research Area 2: Most Successful Countries
Part 6 — Research Area 3: Surprising Trends
Part 7 — Research Area 4: Most Influential Indicator
Part 8 — Recommendations and Conclusions ← Selected page
Recommendations
Recommendation One: Get More Data
There is a large number of countries who do not have any data for their Prevalence of Undernourishment. Perhaps this data does exist, or that it can be calculated based on other socio-economic variables; it is recommended to gather this data and add to the repository for further analysis and comparison. Even if it is the case that the data is close to perfect, and there is little room for improvement, it is still important to have a wholistic view of the situation in all countries and regions of the world.
Recommendation Two: Focus on Countries with an Upward Trend
As there have been a number of countries who have begun to buck the downward trend, and their Prevalence of Undernourishment has started to increase. The focus of the United Nations and of the Food and Agricultural Organisation should be on those countries who have substantially increased their score over time. There should be action-plans to advise and guide the individual Governments, and also plans to educate and inspire the communities to look to perpetuate and improve their own economies.
Recommendation Three: Educate on Basic Agricultural Principles
As found in the literature review, one of the key deciding factors in improving a communities Prevalence of Undernourishment is education. While having a garden bed in and of itself is not going to substantially improve an individuals’ viability and prosperity, as a collective community having an understanding on the principles of agriculture builds an understanding of self-sustainability and self-maintenance. Perpetually, what this will lead to is an improvement of the economic situation of a community, and thus look to make a positive impact on the dietary adequacy of the citizens. As found in the Analysis, the three most important features were the value of food production, the dietary adequacy, and the protein supply, and by looking to address these within an individual community, they will have a positive impact overall. The fourth most influential feature was Political Stability, which also plays a vital role overall.
Conclusion
The emphasis that the United Nations has placed on their Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the goal of Zero Hunger, has had a substantial impact on the society, on the Globe in general, and on the individual Countries and their own viability. When analysing the Prevalence of Undernourishment data provided by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, there are many learnings and conclusions which can be drawn from this information.
At the end of the day, this data and its associated analysis can be used by the Food and Agriculture Organisation to help determine what actions should be taken to address this issue in the future. It is possible to see which countries need the most amount of assistance, and what features or attributes influence those countries the most. Furthermore, this will help to guide and inform the relative countries included, so that they may look to make the appropriate decisions for their best interest and future prosperity and viability.
Moreover, more broadly, this analysis helps the United Nations to see just how successful they have been in addressing their Sustainable Development Goals in the last two decades. The rest of the society are able to see the level of impact that has already been made in our world, and are able to reflect with confidence that the future trends will be positive and impactful. While there is a bit of a bucking to the trend occurring in recent years, there is some clarity around what can be done to help address this. The level of hope that this brings to us all is inspirational, and beneficial. Which is something that we all need a little bit more of these days.
By ways of a reminder, the application has been freely published and is openly accessible at any time. For convenience, the links have been copied below.
- Exploration App:
https://chrimaho.shinyapps.io/ExploringUndernourishment/ - Source Code:
https://github.com/chrimaho/ExploringUndernourishment/
References
Abafita & Kim 2014, ‘Determinants of Household Food Security in Rural Ethiopia: An Empirical Analysis’, Journal of Rural Development, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 129–57, DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.196613.
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the Unites Nations (FAO) 2014, Refinements to the FAO Methodology for estimating the Prevalence of Undernourishment Indicator, viewed 17 May 2020, <http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4046e.pdf>.
FAO 2019, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World: Safeguarding Against Economic Slowdowns and Downturns, viewed 16 May 2020, <http://www.fao.org/3/ca5162en/ca5162en.pdf>.
FAO 2020a, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, viewed 11 May 2020, <http://www.fao.org/home/en/>.
FAO 2020b, Sustainable Development Goals: Indicator 2.1.1 — Prevalence of undernourishment, viewed 11 May 2020, <http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/2.1.1/en/>.
FAO 2020c, FAOStat, viewed 7 May 2020, <http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS>.
FAO 2020d, Enhanced Parametric Approach Including In-Depth Thematic Analysis of Underlying Factors and Drivers Behind Food Security and Nutrition Trends, viewed 16 May 2020, <https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/files/Metadata-02-01-01.pdf>.
Fontell & Luchsinger 2011, ‘Sustainable efforts to eradicate Global hunger, undernourishment and malnutrition’, Journal of Global Business Issues, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 79–83, ProQuest central database.
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the Unites Nations (FAO) 2020a, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, viewed 11 May 2020, <http://www.fao.org/home/en/>.
Harris-Fry et al. 2015, ‘Socio-economic determinants of household food security and womens dietary diversity in rural Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study’, Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, vol. 33, ISSN: 16060997, DOI: 10.1186/s41043–015–0022–0.
Mbolanyi et al. 2017, ‘Determinants of household food security in a rangeland area of Uganda’, African Journal of Rural Development, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 213–23, ISSN: 2415–2838, DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.262839.
Mughal & Fontan-Sers 2020, ‘Cereal production, undernourishment, and food insecurity in South Asia, Review of Development Economics, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 524–45, Wiley Online Library, <https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/10.1111/rode.12659>.
United Nations (UN) 2020a, Sustainable Development Goals, viewed 11 May 2020, <https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/>.
UN 2020b, Goal 2: Zero Hunger, viewed 11 May 2020, <https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/>.
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