When you think of world hunger, what comes to mind? Africa? Children with distended bellies? Drought? Well there is so much more to know about world hunger. Let me share some facts with you.
What is Hunger?
There are different manifestations of hunger which are each measured in different ways:
Under-nourishment is used to describe the status of people whose food intake does not include enough calories (energy) to meet minimum physiological needs for an active life.
Malnutrition means 'badly nourished', and is characterised by inadequate intake of protein, energy and micro nutrients and by frequent infections and diseases. Starved of the right nutrition, people will die from common infections like measles or diarrhoea.
Wasting is an indicator of acute malnutrition that reflects a recent and severe process that has led to substantial weight loss. This is usually the result of starvation and/or disease.
Who are the hungry?
Call and/or write your congressmen and senators and ask them to support funding for hunger programs in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. (No there isn't a budget yet. We have until November 18, 2011)
Find their contact information here and here
Now you know. There's no need for hunger, so let's get rid of it.
What is Hunger?
There are different manifestations of hunger which are each measured in different ways:
Under-nourishment is used to describe the status of people whose food intake does not include enough calories (energy) to meet minimum physiological needs for an active life.
Malnutrition means 'badly nourished', and is characterised by inadequate intake of protein, energy and micro nutrients and by frequent infections and diseases. Starved of the right nutrition, people will die from common infections like measles or diarrhoea.
Wasting is an indicator of acute malnutrition that reflects a recent and severe process that has led to substantial weight loss. This is usually the result of starvation and/or disease.
Who are the hungry?
- There are 925 million chronically hungry people in the world
- Over half are in Asia and the Pacific and about a quarter are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- 60% of them are women
- 1 out of 4 children in developing countries are underweight
- 65 percent of the world's hungry live in only seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.
- More than 70 percent of the world's underweight children (aged five or less) live in just 10 countries, with more than 50 per cent located in South Asia alone
- Poverty
- High Food Prices
- Inadequate access to food
- Climate change
- Social exclusion
- Low investment in agriculture
- Rural women produce more than 55% of all food grown in developing countries
- Women make up a little over half of the world's population but in many parts of the world, especially in Asia and South America, they are more likely to go hungry than men.
- There is enough food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment necessary for a healthy and productive life.
These men significantly reduced hunger and poverty in their countries: John Agyekum Kufuor & Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (click and read how they did it)
Call and/or write your congressmen and senators and ask them to support funding for hunger programs in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. (No there isn't a budget yet. We have until November 18, 2011)
Find their contact information here and here
Now you know. There's no need for hunger, so let's get rid of it.
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