Food insecurity is often associated with vulnerable population groups in rural areas including women and children, disabled, victims of HIV-AIDS and other diseases. South Asia accounts for about 40% of the world’s stunted children, while this sub-region and also East and Southeast Asia account for 40% of the under weight children (Children who are too short for their age are stunted due to long term deprivation and children with low weight relative to their age are underweight and of underweight relative to their height, mainly due to severe short term deprivation). Whatever measures used on the world scale children in the three sub-regions are the most severely deprived. About 500.000 infants die every year, due to poor sanitation and water pollution.
