The report said Sub-Saharan Africa has made the least progress in combating hunger, with only a 13 percent decline in its score since 1990.

These countries have alarming or extremely alarming levels of hunger, and thirteen countries have actually seen increases in their hunger levels since 1990, according to the index sent to AfricaNews and calls on the need to address gender inequality to solve the burden.

Of the ten countries that have seen the largest increase in their Index scores, nine are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) score has increased by an appalling 53 percent.

Since 1990, the global score has declined by less than 25 percent. Most of this progress has been made in Southeast Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, which have lowered their Index scores by more than 40 percent over the past two decades.

Africa is also home to the highest proportion of undernourished people (76 and 68 percent of the population, respectively, in the DRC and Eritrea) and the world’s highest child mortality rate, which stands at 26 percent in Sierra Leone.

Despite some progress over the past 20 years, the situation is also alarming in South Asia, which actually scored worse than Sub-Saharan Africa on the 2009 Global Hunger Index, largely because of widespread child malnutrition.

In Bangladesh and India, more than 40 percent of children are underweight. Sri Lanka, which has been committed to universal education and reproductive health care, has been successful at reducing hunger, and stands out as an important exception in the region.

The Index is being released in advance of World Food Day (October 16) for the fourth year by IFPRI, Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide. Overall, the 2009 Index illustrates that despite regional differences, progress in reducing hunger remains slow.

What is new on this year’s index is that high rates of hunger are strongly linked to gender inequalities, especially in terms of literacy and access to education, and highlights which countries are most vulnerable to the global economic downturn.

Co-author and IFPRI senior research fellow, Agnes Quisumbing, indicated that women’s educational level and status or power relative to men’s in households and communities significantly affect children’s nutrition.

In South Asia, women’s low social status and limited access to schooling have resulted in dire consequences for the nutrition, health, and wellbeing of both mothers and their children.

Low-income countries are being hurt by the food and financial crises. The crises have significantly reduced purchasing power and income-earning opportunities for poor people, who spend up to 70 percent of their income on food, while food prices in many countries are still higher than several years ago.

Countries that suffer from alarming levels of hunger are also very vulnerable to the global recession—Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo being prime examples. The areas of vulnerability are trade, foreign direct investment, international aid, and remittances.

The Index ranks countries on three leading indicators—prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient—and combines them into one score.