Bangladesh advances seven notches up

Bangladesh advanced seven notches up in a hunger reduction commitment index from the 27th position in 2013 to 20th in 2014, according to the Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HNCI) 2014.

The UK-based Institute of Development Studies (IDS) made the global launch of the HNCI-2014 on Wednesday.

The report, published for the third year in a row, compares 45 developing countries whose hunger and under-nutrition status is considered severe or alarming. ActionAid Bangladesh works with IDS as one of the partners of HANCI initiative.

According to this year's report, Bangladesh secured the 14th position in the HANCI-2014 among 45 developing countries, which was the 16th in 2013 while it ranked 20th in the Hunger Reduction Commitment Index (HRCI) which was 27th last year.

However, the country slipped one position down as far as it's commitment to nutrition is concerned. Bangladesh slides down to 9th in Nutrition Commitment Index (NCI) which was 8th last year.

Nepal (8th) is the only country in South Asia that positioned better than Bangladesh (14th) in HANCI while, India secured the 17th position, Pakistan the 30th Afghanistan the 38th and Myanmar the 41st.

Peru, Guatemala and Malawi showed better commitment as they secured the first three slots while Angola, Sudan and Guinea-Bissau fared worst.

Referring to Bangladesh, the IDS report mentioned about some "strong performance" shown by the country, which include promotion of complementary feeding practices and administering vitamin A supplements among 94 percent of children aged 6-59 months.

The report also mentioned about certain areas where Bangladesh should do some improvements. The areas include ensuring women's rights on farmland and helping poor with better institutional, legal and market frameworks for accessing land and gain secure land tenure.