By Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva

Anyone who has gone without food for a couple of days knows the debilitating effects of hunger. For many of us, the experience is transient – we fail to eat during a trip or a long working day, for example – and infrequent. But for 220 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, hunger is a daily threat. And it often has permanent consequences.

Hunger in Africa – and the role that food security plays in people’s current and future opportunities – is the focus of the first Africa Human Development Report, which was launched in Nairobi on Tuesday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Those familiar with the work of UNDP know that its Human Development Reports have long been making key contributions to national, regional and international development debates.

It was about time for the first HDR for Africa. I’ve covered the main messages of…