What is world hunger?
World hunger is the want or scarcity of food in the world or malnutrition and undernutrition. There are two types of malnutrition/undernutrition, protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) or micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. PEM is more directly related to hunger and basically it’s when a person isn’t getting enough calories or proteins and leads to growth failure and rapid weight loss. This form of malnutrition is more lethal than micronutrient deficiency. From 2014-2016, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated about 1 in 9 people were suffering from malnourishment at that time approximately 795 million people. 11 million people were estimated to be undernourished in developed countries, less than 5% of the population. However, most of the hungry people lived in developing countries. There are about 1 in 8 people undernourished, 12.9% of the population.
Why does it happen?
There are many reasons why so many countries face problems feeding their people. One major issue is that the land is unsuitable for growing crops. Soil erosion can make the land rocky so that there’s no dirt to plant seeds in or the land could be damaged in other ways. Also, weather is an important factor to growing food. Some countries climates are to extreme to grow crops, and droughts along with other natural disasters also contribute to the hardships. Finally, in countries deeply affected by poverty many people can’t afford food.
Which countries are most affected?
(% of people that face hunger daily)
Burundi (african country, 73.4%)
Eritrea (african country 65.4%)
Comoros (african country 70%)
Ethiopia (african country 40.2%)
Zambia (african country 47.4%)
How can we help?
An easy but effective way to help would be to donate to food drives. There are food drives located throughout our area and you can Google one near you.
18