World Hunger Facts
CVN Editorial by: b1a1b CVN Reporter
Edited by jdb_educator
I know that we all have just finished a wonderful holiday season, full of family, fun and, of course, food. We do hope that yours was great!
The sad fact is that not everyone in the world is able to have the same food and fun that we are. This world is a wonderful place for most of us but too many people around the world do not have enough to eat. It is a fact that more than 800 million people in the world go into each day hungry. What a huge number! Think about that number for a minute. You think one million is a lot? Think about 800 million, or over two nations the size of the USA! That second helping of ham suddenly looks kind of big now huh. Another sad thing is: the children suffer the most, and can do the least.
In developing countries six million children die each year, mostly from hunger related causes. Of course that couldn’t be us huh; we are not in that position in places like America and England… right?
WRONG. In the United States, 12 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less just to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. live with hunger or are at risk of hunger.
We can end hunger in the world by doing two simple things: Deciding to do it, then doing it. It would take a huge change in priorities and then of course money. The United Nations Development Program estimates the basic hunger and nutrition needs of the world’s poorest people could be met by an additional 13 billion dollars a year. Animal lovers in the United States and Europe spend more than that on pet food each year.
Other Hunger Facts
~More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished- 799 million of them are from the developing world. More than 153 million of them are under the age of 5.
~6 million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger
~Malnutrition can severely affect a child’s intellectual development. Children who have stunted growth due to malnutrition score significantly lower on math and language achievement test than do well nourished children.
In the world we live in today these are the sad facts, but we all can help by donating to a charity or just spreading these and other facts around so that we can all be aware of the problems these people face.
Everyone must do their part to end world hunger and what better time to start than in a new year to end hunger.
Our reporter thanks www.bread.org for the facts gathered for this editorial.