First what is hunger? Hunger is the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; a craving appetite. Also the exhausted condition caused by the want of food. The want or scarcity of food in a country a strong desire or craving. Everyone has felt the sensation of hunger but ponder this. Imagine being hungry right now, and staying that way weeks on end with nothing but scraps to sustain yourself. Now imagine that but on a global scale that is world hunger. World hunger refers to the second definition, aggregated to the world level. The related technical term (in this case operationalized in medicine) is either malnutrition, or, if malnutrition is taken to refer to both under nutrition and over nutrition obesity, overweight as it increasingly is, undernutrition. Both malnutrition and undernutrition refer to the effects on people of not having enough food. There are two basic types of malnutrition and undernutrition. The first and most important is protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). It is basically a lack of calories and protein needed to for daily activity. Food is converted into energy by humans, and the energy contained in food is measured by calories then burned off then required again. Protein is necessary for key body functions including provision of essential amino acids and development and maintenance of muscles. Protein-energy malnutrition is the more lethal form of malnutrition/hunger and is the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed. This leads to growth failure. Principal types of growth failure are
The two types of acute malnutrition
are wasting (also called marasmus) or nutritional edema, (also called
kwashiorkor). Wasting is characterized by rapid weight loss and in its severe
form can lead to death. Nutritional edema is caused by insufficient protein in
the diet. See visual illustrations here. Stunting is a slow, cumulative process
and is caused by insufficient intake of some nutrients. It is estimated by the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to affect 161 million children worldwide
(UNICEF Nutrition). Stunted children may have normal body proportions but look
younger than their actual age. Stunting develops over a long period as a result
of inadequate nutrition or repeated infections, or both.
The number of famished people in
the world has been decreasing, but at a very underwhelming rate. The United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 795 million people of
the 7.3 billion people in the world, or one in nine, were suffering from
chronic undernourishment in 2014-2016. Almost all the hungry people, 780
million, live in developing countries, representing 12.9 percent, or one in
eight, of the population of developing counties. There are 11 million people
undernourished in developed countries. The problem is finding a real reliable
solution to ending world hunger. The vast majority of hungry people live in
developing regions, which saw a 42 percent reduction in the prevalence of
undernourished people between 1990–92 and 2012 to 14. Despite this progress,
about one in eight people, or 13.5 percent of the overall population, remain
chronically undernourished in these regions, down from 23.4 percent in 1990 to 92.
As the most populous region in the world, Asia is home to two out of three of
the world’s undernourished people. There has been the least progress in the
sub- Saharan region, where more than one in four people remain undernourished,
the highest prevalence of any region in the world. Nevertheless, the prevalence
of undernourishment in sub-Saharan Africa has declined from 33.2 percent in
1990 to 92 to 23.2 percent in 2014 to 16, although the number of undernourished
people has actually increased.
Hunger continues to take its
largest toll in terms of the number of people impacted in Southern Asia, which
includes the countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The estimate of 276
million chronically undernourished people in 2014 to 16 is only marginally lower
than the number in 1990 to 92. Eastern Asia (where China is by far the largest
country) and South-eastern Asia (including Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar,
Vietnam and others) have reduced undernutrition substantially. Children are the
most visible victims of undernutrition. Black et. al. (2013) estimate that undernutrition
in the aggregate including fetal growth restriction, stunting, wasting, and
deficiencies of vitamin A and zinc along with suboptimum breastfeeding is a
cause of 3·1 million child deaths annually or 45% of all child deaths in 2011
(Black et al. 2013). Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease,
including measles and malaria and many more diseases that affect developing
countries. The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an
underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%),
pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005). Malnutrition can
also be caused by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhea, by
reducing the body’s ability to convert food into usable nutrients. Many may ask
what causes hunger. Well there is many different reasons why there is hunger in
the world but the most important reason is poverty. The causes of poverty
include poor people’s lack of resources, unequal income distribution in the
world and within specific countries, conflict, and hunger itself. As of 2016
(2012 statistics), the World Bank has estimated that there were 896 million
poor people in developing countries who live on $1.90 a day or less. This
compares with compared with 1.95 billion in 1990, and 1.99 billion in 1981.
This means that 12.7 percent of people in the developing world lived at or
below $1.90 a day in 2011, down from 37 percent in 1990 and 44 percent in 1981.
This compares with the FAO estimate above of 791 million people living in
chronic undernourishment in developing countries. Progress has been slower at
higher poverty lines. Over 2.1 billion people in the developing world lived on
less than US $ 3.10 a day in 2012, compared with 2.9 billion in 1990- so even
though the share of the population living under that threshold nearly halved,
from 66 percent in 1990 to 35 percent in 2012, far too many people are living
with far too little. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in
Asia, and especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased.
The statement that ‘poverty is the principal cause of hunger’ is, though
correct, unsatisfying. Why then are (so many) people poor? The next sections
discuss some of the causes.
- Without
economic prowess armed conflict spawns. For 2012, the first and latest
year for which its estimates are available, the Center for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) estimates that more than 172 million
people were affected by conflict worldwide. Of this total 149 million or
87 percent were conflict-affected residents (CARs). Internally displaced
persons (IDPs) accounted for another 18 million and refugees for five
million. CRED says that the global total is higher because its figures
only include 24 countries for which comparable and validated data are
available. For example: Pakistan with 28 million and Nigeria with nearly
19 million had the largest numbers of people affected by conflict.
- Libya
and Somalia had the highest proportion of their populations affected by
violence and insecurity at about 90 percent each.
- IDPs
suffer the worst health impacts of conflict. They and their children are
almost twice as likely as refugees to die from conflict-related causes,
particularly disease and starvation.
- Conflict-affected
residents also suffer significantly higher death rates than refugees
The year 2015 marks the end of the monitoring
period for the Millennium Development Goal targets. For the developing regions
as a whole, the share of undernourished people in the total population has
decreased from 23.3 percent in 1990–92 to 12.9 per cent. Some regions, such as
Latin America, the east and southeastern regions of Asia, the Caucasus and
Central Asia, and the northern and western regions of Africa have made fast
progress. Progress was also recorded in southern Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean
and southern and eastern Africa, but at too slow a pace to reach the MDG 1c
target of halving the proportion of the chronically undernourished. 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 are such as: High Infant-Mortality
Rates which means 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. Increased Risk of Infection a malnourished child has a weakened
immune system, making the child more vulnerable to infection. Infections cause
lack of appetite and further compromise the child's ability to fight off
recurrent and lingering infections. Acute Vulnerability in Times of Disaster a
community’s poorest families are already living on the edge of survival.
Unexpected shocks, such as crop failure, floods, epidemics, locusts or typhoons
result in devastation and almost certain death to some members of the family.
Impediments to Development Chronic hunger deprives children of the essential
proteins, micronutrients and fatty acids they need to grow adequately.
Globally, it is estimated that nearly 226 million children are stunted—shorter
than they should be. In addition, stunted children score significantly lower on
intelligence tests than do normal children. So there are a myriad of results
that happen when someone goes hungry, so it’s up to us who have it much better
than those in underdeveloped countries to make some sort of difference.
