2016 Hunger Report: the nourishing effect - ending hunger, improving health, reducing inequality
Nutritious food is essential to healthy growth and development and can prevent the need for costly medical care. Many chronic diseases—the main drivers of cost growth and poor population health—are diet-related. The United States spends more per capita on health care than any other high-income country but compares poorly with these others on key population health indicators such as life expectancy and child survival. This is due in part to our tolerance, as a nation, for higher levels of poverty and hunger. Socioeconomic inequalities drive population-wide health disparities. Socioeconomic factors such as housing, education, employment opportunities, and access to healthy food have a larger impact on health outcomes than medical care. Even as hunger rates decline in every region of the developing world, wide-scale malnutrition from vitamin and mineral deficiencies continues to impose a devastating cost on individuals. In addition, rising levels of obesity and related chronic diseases are imposing a huge burden on weak health systems in developing countries.