Week 14: How can developed countries reduce their overnourished population and aid developing countries with their undernourished populations?

Overnutrition and undernutrition: the issues and how developed nations can help.

This question is incredibly important and relevant, especially for someone living in the United States. The US has the highest obesity rate in the world compared to countries with a high percentage of undernourishment. According to Miller, “about 795 million people face health problems because they do not get enough nutritious food to eat and at least another 2.1 billion … have health problems stemming largely from overeating sugar, fat, and salt, leading physically inactive lifestyles, and becoming overweight or obese” (Miller 2016, 287). High amounts of undernutrition and overnutrition call for some kind of balance between the two. Addressing this issue is difficult, yet important to overall global health. A way in which developed countries can face issues of overnourishment is through the promotion of healthy diets and policies that limit sugar amounts in manufactured food products. By encouraging and educating people on healthy eating habits, especially in schools, there is hope for future generations to adopt these healthy habits. Policies to limit sugars in foods will also help to make food less fattening and a healthier option. These issues may cause economic strains and can take a long time to implement and see positive effects. 

Developed countries can help developing countries with problems of undernourishment through funding of agriculture and infrastructure that can help produce larger amounts of food and assist in the distribution of goods to underserved communities. Building out agriculture and infrastructure can also provide people with jobs. Developed countries investing in these developments would be life-changing for many in developing countries, but there are many caveats that may limit the success of such developments. It can be difficult to allocate enough money to these developments, and developed countries may lack incentive to invest. Another problem is the lack of resources needed to run agricultural land, which may require further costs and investment. 

Some large gaps in knowledge include long-term assessment of the success of investments in developing countries. While initial investments can help begin the production and distribution of nutritional goods, it is difficult to predict the long-term maintenance of these systems and if they can be kept up by the developing country. This is a challenge that limits countries from investing in infrastructure to assist developing countries, so long-term research in these instances is needed to push for more financial assistance.

Word Count: 392

Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. 2016. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning.