Hunger & Malnutrition Definitions

World Food Programme

 

Hunger: Not having enough to eat to meet energy requirements. Hunger can lead to malnutrition, but absence of hunger does not imply absence of malnutrition. 
Malnutrition: A condition resulting when a person's diet does not provide the adequate nutrients for growth and maintenance. Or when a person unable to properly and adequately utilize the food consumed due to illness. It is important to note that malnutrition encompasses both undernutrition (too thin or short with micronutrient deficiencies) and overnutrition (overweight and obesity).
Micronutrient Deficiency: A lack of shortage of micronutrients (vitamins or minerals) that are essential in small amounts for proper growth and metabolism. People are often said to suffer from "hidden hunger" when they consume an adequate amount of calories, but suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.  Hidden hunger may not be visibly apparent, but it affects over 2 billion people worldwide.
Stunting: The development of stunting is a gradual cumulative process during the 1,000 days window from conception through the first two years of a child's life. Stunting develops as a result of sustained poor dietary intake or repeated infections or a combination of both. It has severe irreversible consequences, beyond the shortness of statur, including physical health and cognitive functioning, which are intergenerational. Indicators: low height for age, a measurement thatis caluclated by comparing the height of a chidl against the WHO international growth reference for a child of the same age. Globally 1 in 4 children under the age of 5 are stunted.

Undernourishment: An indicator of inadequate dietary energy intake (basedon FAO's definition of hunger) that is assessed at the population level using national food balance sheets to determine the supply of dietary energy available to a given poulation and modeling of hot that energy is distributed across the population. As of 2014, 1 in 9 people in the world are undernourished.

Underweight: A low weight-for-age measurement calculated based on comparing the weight-for-age of a child with the WHO international growth reference. Underweight reflects both stunting and wasting. 

Wasting: (Also known as Acute malnutrition) Acute malnutrition, or wasting, develops as a result of recent rapid weight loss or a failure to gain weight. The degree of acute malnutrition is classified as moderate (MAM) or severe (SAM). Wasting is often used to assess the severity of an emergency because it is caused by illness and/or sudden, severe lack of food and is strongly related to mortality.