ABSTRACT
Continuance of extreme poverty in Asia, with about one in five persons in poverty and almost half a billion suffering from hunger (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific [ESCAP], Asian Development Bank [ADB], and United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] 2012), raises the issue of the longterm sustainability of the region’s economic growth and development. About one in six people in the region suffers from malnourishment, and about one in three children is underweight. These conditions contribute to ill health and morbidity.1 These problems are particularly severe in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to reduce hunger by half is unlikely to be achieved in the case of child hunger; the region also may miss the target for reducing undernourishment if recovery from global economic crisis is sluggish and food prices continue to remain high.
