Guatemala’s “vast inequality” helped it land “on the list of eight ‘plus’ countries in the Global Health Initiative (GHI) that President Barack Obama is focusing on as part of his expansion and revision of how the U.S. is funding and rethinking global aid,” GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog reports in an article examining malnutrition in Guatemala, the wealthiest of nations in the first round of GHI plus countries.

The blog notes that Guatemala “has the fourth-highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world, higher than Haiti and most Sub-Saharan African nations – a striking figure for a country where, according to USAID, the average per capita income is $2,700 per person.” The blog describes the many reasons for the country’s high chronic malnutrition rate, including a history of civil war, a “culture of exclusion,” “widespread corruption and drug violence,” and low tax rates (Kriel, 6/28).