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Hunger is a term which has
three meanings:
The uneasy or painful sensation
caused by want of food; craving
appetite. Also the exhausted
condition caused by want of
food
the want or scarcity of food in a
country
a strong desire or craving
World hunger refers to the second
definition, aggregated to the world level.
The technical term is either malnutrition,
or under nutrition. Both malnutrition and
under nutrition refer to not having enough
food.
Malnutrition (or under nutrition) is a
general term that indicates a lack of
some or all nutritional elements necessary
for human health.
There are 805 million undernourished
people in the world today. That means
one in nine people do not get enough food
to be healthy and lead an active life.
Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the
number one risk to health worldwide —
greater than AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis combined.
The vast majority of hungry people (791
million) live in developing countries,
where 13.5 percent of the population is
chronically undernourished. FAO, 2014.
Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of
deaths in children under five - 3.1 million
children each year. The Lancet
One out of six children -- roughly 101
million -- in developing countries is
underweight. UNICEF, 2013
1990-1992 1015 Million
(19%)
2000-2002 930 Million
(15%)
2006-2008 918 Million
(14%)
2009-2011 841 Million
(12%)
2012-2014 805 Million
(11%)
The source of hunger in the world is poverty,
and the source of poverty is ignorance and
neglect. When you provide people with the
tools and knowledge necessary to bring
change about and maintain it, they will
welcome the change with pride and will be
compelled to sustain it. I have seen the will
of people to better themselves and to
change; they just need a push of confidence
in the right direction.
60 percent of the world’s hungry are
women.
50 percent of pregnant women in
developing countries lack proper maternal
care, resulting in 240,000 maternal deaths
annually from childbirth.
1 out of 6 infants are born with a low birth
weight in developing countries.
Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of
deaths in children under five – 3.1 million
children each year. That is 8,500 children
per day.
A third of all childhood death in sub-
Saharan Africa is caused by hunger.
66 million primary school-age children
attend classes hungry across the
developing world, with 23 million in Africa
alone.
Every 10 seconds, a child dies from
hunger-related diseases.
Poverty: Poor people do not have the
resources—whether land, tools or money—
needed to grow or buy food on a
consistent basis.
Armed Conflict: War disrupts agricultural
production, and governments often spend
more on arms than on social programs.
Environmental Overload: Over-
consumption by wealthy nations and rapid
population growth in poor nations strain
natural resources and make it harder for
poor people to feed themselves.
Discrimination: Lack of access to
education, credit and employment—a
recipe for hunger—is often the result of
racial, gender or ethnic discrimination.
Lack of Clout: In the final analysis,
chronic hunger is caused by
powerlessness. People who don't have
power to protect their own interests are
hungry. The burden of this condition falls
most acutely on children, women and
elderly people.
• Chronic hunger—or food insecurity—is as devastating to
families, communities and countries as is famine. Chronic
hunger claims more victims than famine each year—by
far. Effects of chronic hunger include:
High Infant-Mortality Rates: Malnourished women are more
likely to be sick, have smaller babies, and die earlier, resulting
in high levels of infant mortality in areas where chronic hunger
is a problem. And where infant and child mortality is high,
birth rates are also high, locking these communities in a
vicious cycle of malnutrition and death.
Vulnerability to Common Illnesses: More than two million
children die every year from dehydration caused by diarrhea. A
malnourished child often lacks the strength to survive a severe
case of diarrhea.
Acute Vulnerability in Times of Disaster: Acommunity’s poorest families are already living onthe edge of survival. Unexpected shocks, such as cropfailure, floods, epidemics, locusts or typhoons resultin devastation and almost certain death to somemembers of the family.
Impediments to Development: Chronic hungerdeprives children of the essential proteins,micronutrients and fatty acids they need to growadequately. Globally, it is estimated that nearly 226million children are stunted—shorter than they shouldbe. In addition, stunted children score significantlylower on intelligence tests than do normal children.
Impediments to Economic Growth: For the nearly67 million children who weigh less than they shoulddue to chronic hunger, completing school is anunlikely reality. Studies have shown that underweightchildren will probably spend fewer years in school,which, in turn, has a measurable impact on howmuch they earn in adulthood.
Millions of people are starving, despite the worldproducing more than enough to feed everyone. What canwe do about it?
Reduce poverty:
Economic growth has long been seen as the key to reducinghunger. More trade, financial liberalization and openmarkets should aid the flow of food, of which there's nooverall shortage. Successful poverty reduction in China hasled some economists to predict there will be no morehungry people there by 2020.
Roll out Biotech
Huge gains could be available for health and agriculturalproductivity if the promises of genetic modification can bebelieved. Gene-splicing crops to help them withstanddrought and flood may be vital. Pigs and chickens couldhave their digestive systems altered so that they eat foodnot required by humans, and pollute the environment less.
Block the speculators
Huge sums of investment fund money
have flooded into the commodities
markets since the financial crisis, looking
for returns no longer available in equities.
Automated trading systems that exploit
tiny flaws in the market and encourage
volatility make it impossible for
traditional traders to keep prices stable
and hedge against spikes
Create awareness of this important issue
through eduction.
Volunteer in organizations that work to
reduce poverty and hunger
Donate to the food bank.
Call politicians to do something about
hunger and poverty in each country.
In our opinion, poverty is the main reason
for hunger, weather is it poverty of an
individual or of a whole nation. In
developing countries, governments can’t
afford to support those in need for food
and water and in developed countries
there are some individuals who can’t
afford their need due to lack of education
which caused them to be unable to look
for a source of income.
Natural disasters can cause poverty too.
Governments should be able to provide
shelter and food for those people who
their houses and belongings were
destroyed by natural disasters.
Those who are financially stable should
try and help those in need. And those are
health should try and volunteer to help
too.
World hunger can be the reason why
infections spread worldwide because
hunger allows infections, viruses and
bacteria to easily attack those who
doesn’t have enough of the essentials of
the body. Also if hunger rate is not
decreased as fast as possible, the country
economy will not be able to rise because
all those children who is underweight
wont be able to get normal education like
all other health children.
Statistics by Area/Child Survival and Health, UNICEF, November 2009
Statistics by Area/Child Nutrition, UNICEF, November 2009
Overview: Understanding, measuring, overcoming poverty, World Bank, 2010
The State of Food Insecurity in the World –Economic crises – impacts and lessons learned. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, 2009
Nutrition Intake and Economic Growth. Studies on the cost of hunger. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, 2003