Relationship between Hunger and Health Outcomes of Children: Evidence from South Asian Region
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53983/ijmds.v15n03.011Keywords:
Hunger, Global Hunger Index, South Asia, Undernourishment, Children Health Outcome, Panel RegressionAbstract
Purpose: South Asian region shows a pronounced vulnerability to various development parameters like hunger, poverty, malnutrition, etc. Despite technological advancements over the years, the region is more or less found herself at the lower bottom of the development ladder. At this back drop, the paper tries to examine the incidence of hunger in South Asia using calorie undernourishment and also makes an attempt to explore the relationship between hunger and children health outcomes. Methodology: Present research work is based on secondary data gathered from the GHI report, 2024. It has used Roy’s (2017) methodology for analysing the status of hunger and has also constructed Children Health Outcome Index (CHOI) in line with the works of Nath and Roy (2023). It has sought to investigate the relationship between hunger and CHOI by using a panel regression model. Findings: Results of the study indicate that the proportion of undernourished has been dropping, but a sudden spike in hunger was observed in 2024, except in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In respect of children health outcome, except Afghanistan, other South Asian countries are making progress, although at a slow rate. Regression results exert that Children Health Outcome Index (CHOI) is positively and significantly associated with calorie undernourishment. Originality: This paper contributed to the limited empirical evidence on hunger in South Asian nations. It dives into the deep to measure the state of hunger among the South Asian countries and tries to find out whether there is any significant relationship between undernourishment and CHOI.
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