By:- SEHRISH GULZAR

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