Hunger remains a pervasive problem in developing countries, undermining people’s health, productivity and, too often, their very survival. The foundation for overcoming hunger is a reliable information base on “food insecurity”, its most immediate cause, which is needed for targeting assistance, monitoring progress, and developing appropriate policies. Such as base is now more urgent than ever as efforts are stepped up to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015. This report introduces new estimates of food insecurity based on food acquisition data collected directly from households as part of household expenditure surveys (HESs) undertaken in twelve Sub-Saharan African countries. The measures of food insecurity explored include those of both food energy deficiency (diet quantity) and poor diet quality, an equally important aspect of food insecurity. The goals of the report are to (1) explore the extent of food insecurity across and within the countries; (2) investigate the scientific merit of using HES food data for measuring it; and (3) compare the estimates generated with FAO’s estimates of undernourishment and begin to explore the reasons for differences. The purpose of the latter is to investigate how HES data can be used to improve the accuracy of FAO’s estimates, which are based on food supply data and are being used to monitor the MDG hunger goal.

The report confirms that food insecurity is a major problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, with prevalences of food energy deficiency in the twelve countries ranging from 37% for Uganda to 76% for Ethiopia. Problems of diet quality associated with micronutrient deficiencies are also found to be widespread. Notably, there is not a strong association between the diet quantity and quality measures. When both are taken into account, food insecurity prevalences are higher; policy must address both to effectively overcome food insecurity. HESs offer a rich lens through which to examine the wide variation in the severity of food insecurity within countries across both geographic areas and demographic groups. Strong differences between HES and FAO estimates of food energy deficiency for the twelve countries are found. The main source of the discrepancy lies in differences in the national-level parameters used for generating the FAO estimates, the most important being mean household energy availability, rather than in the underlying probability distribution method used. HES estimates of food energy deficiency are more strongly associated with other MDG indicators of poverty and hunger; they are more consistent with country rankings based on a survey of expert opinion. These findings suggest that they are a useful source of information for improving the accuracy of FAO estimates. The report concludes by suggesting ways in which HES data can be used in this endeavor as well as avenues for future research that will improve the reliability of international estimates of food insecurity and thus accelerate progress in reducing hunger globally.