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1 in 4 children malnourished, global report says

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Five children around the world die every minute because of chronic malnutrition, according to a report released Wednesday that also said that almost half a billion children risk are at risk of permanent damage over the next 15 years.A report from Save the Children said the deaths of 2 million children each year could be prevented if malnutrition were better addressed.The report called chronic malnutrition a largely hidden crisis that affects one in four children globally. Global hunger has fallen markedly over the last two decades, but the 2011 Global Hunger Index found that six countries have higher rates of hunger today than two decades ago. Five of those countries are in Africa. The other is North Korea.The 2011 Global Hunger Index said that Congo, Burundi, Comoros, Swaziland and Ivory Coast have higher degrees of hunger today than in 1990. Kuwait, Turkey, Malaysia and Mexico have made the biggest gains against hunger.Karin Lapping, a senior director of nutrition for Save the Children, said many Asian countries have made strides against hunger because of an explicit focus on reducing chronic malnutrition, but that many African countries have not made that same commitment and have fallen victims to predictable cycles of drought and famine.\When we look at successful examples in Asia like Bangladesh