World Hunger

          Hunger and poverty had always been one of the worst social problems that exist in the world today. It’s usually people in developing countries that suffer the most. Developing countries have denser population which means there will be more competition and as the result, food won’t be distributed evenly. In developing countries, more than 1.02 billion people in the developing world are undernourished. They consume less than the minimum amount of calories essential for sound health and growth.. There are about 7 billion people in the world, this number shows that almost 1 in every 7 people are hungry.

          As the result of the hunger, 4.5 million children under the age of 5 will die because from hunger related issues. These children won’t die from starvation, but rather to common illnesses (like diarrhea, malaria and measles) that move in on vulnerable children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger. Also, the lack of food may create conflict or even trigger a war. For example, in 1991, as the result of the civil war in Somalia', large part of the agriculture was destroyed which led to starvation in large parts of the country. The international community began to send food supplies to halt the starvation, but vast amounts of food were hijacked and brought to local clan leaders, who routinely exchanged it with other countries for weapons. An estimated 80 percent of the food was stolen. These factors led to even more starvation, from which an estimated 300,000 people died and another 1.5 million people suffered between 1991 and 1992. So on October 3, 1993, USA sent out Task Force Rangers and Delta Force to Somalia on a mission, and eventually the mission became a clash between the civilians and the soldiers. At the end, 19 American soldiers and more than 1000 civilians died. These problems were all caused because of hunger.

Trend

          When technology is advancing and economics being stable, more and more people are now able to buy food and not go hungry. In 1990, there are about 1000 million people that are malnourished in developing countries, right now, that number decreased from 1000 million to 868 million. These numbers kept decreasing until 2009, the recession broke out. A lot of people became in debt, and they can't afford the food therefore the number went up again. People realized that hunger is a problem and many countries are taking actions to make the situation better. 

Cause

          

Hunger is a complex piece of social issue. It is linked to the country’s economic, political and social structures; modes of developing and consuming; population; and possible social biases. One of the main causes of hunger is poverty, which is the lack of purchasing power and access to resources for poor people.  Right now worldwide, 1.3 billion people live on less than $1 US dollar a day. Nearly one-third of people in developing countries is poor and cannot or can barely afford their daily needs. Because of the uneven distribution of resources, rich people will become even richer and poor people will become poorer. Another main factor that caused hunger is population, competition and environment. There are limited resources on Earth. We are currently using them at a rate which they cannot reproduce fast enough. With the human population increasing rapidly every day, the resources are quickly running out. Right now, fresh water, forest, land, and fisheries are being used at or beyond capacity. In the competition for resources, poor and hungry people, lacking economic and political clout, become even more marginalized. Especially in countries where landholdings are inequitable, poor families are forced to move onto fragile land and often to overcrowded cities.

Actions

          What can we do to help? We can do campaigns and raise awareness. Many people don't know what hunger can do to a person. They just know that it's bad, and this isn't enough! Hunger is not a problem you can solve in one day. It existed for a long time and it is hard to make sure everyone that is malnourished gets enough food everyday. But if everyone in the world helps, poverty and hunger will soon become history. We can also donate food and money to different charities, so they offer better programs that better suits the needs of malnourished people. Some of these charities are:

Actions Against Hunger

http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/

World Food Program

http://www.wfp.org/

Bread For The World Institute

http://www.bread.org/institute/

A dollar may not seem much to you, but to those people that are in need, a dollars means a day of food for them. Start making some difference, donate a dollar, a quarter, even a cent to those charities! 

YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!!

Bibliography:

1. http://www.freedomfromhunger.org/info/ 

2.http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm

3.http://www.ehow.com/info_8154419_general-causes-effects-world-hunger.html

4.http://writefix.com/?page_id=754