World Hunger and Poverty

The European Commission has allocated an extra €10 million in humanitarian aid for vulnerable children in Niger. The aim is to reduce child malnutrition and mortality. Since the beginning of this year, more than 150,000 children in Niger have been admitted to nutritional centres, many of which are supported by the Commission’s aid. The aid is also being used to improve access to primary health care for young children and their mothers, and to help the poorest families regain their food self-sufficiency, for example through distributing seeds to families who visit nutrition centres. A recent culling of chickens due to an outbreak of avian flu has contributed to the food shortage. The €10 million in aid comes on top of €8.3 million of humanitarian assistance the Commission has granted to Niger since the start of the food crisis in 2005.

The Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, said ‘Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, and this decision is a concrete expression of our solidarity towards children there who have little to eat. But if we are to achieve the goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, we must do more than help children suffering from malnutrition today. Through our ongoing development work in Niger, the Commission is supporting the people of Niger to achieve food security to prevent children from suffering in the future.’

Niger is home to an estimated half a million malnourished children under five years old, of whom more than ten percent are severely malnourished. The food shortage in 2005 has left especially poor families heavily indebted at a time when the price of food in local markets is very high. This means that the most vulnerable cannot access food. The Commission’s humanitarian aid responds to these immediate life threatening circumstances. All funds are channelled through the Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department, ECHO, under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel.

Niger has suffered from recurrent malnutrition with consequent high infant mortality for years. In order to help prevent these crises from happening again, the humanitarian aid will be followed closely by support to help families grow their own food, through the 9th European Development Fund (EDF). In the long run, food security has been identified as a priority objective for the 10th EDF (2008-2013).

Avian flu adds to the problems

Many of the poorest families in Niger were dependent on poultry as a source of protein and revenue. A recent outbreak of avian influenza in Niger resulted in a massive culling of chickens for which families were not compensated, causing additional hardship for the households concerned.
For further information:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/echo/index_en.htm

From: NextBillion.net – Development Through Enterprise

In this Sunday’s Business section of the New York Times, Daniel Gross from Slate Magazine writes about the latest trend in international development: the $2 a day job. He begins his article discussing A to Z Manufacturing, a mosquito bed-netting business from Tanzania that pays its 2,000 female employees $1.80 a day. Gross explains that many of the women who have low-paying jobs at this Tanzanian manufacturer earn almost twice as much as they did as street vendors and domestic employees.

By American standards, a $1.80 a day job would be outright exploitation. But in a country where 80% of the population earns less than $2 a day, A to Z’s wages actually place their workers in the top quartile of earners. In his article, Gross quotes the New York University economist Willliam Easterly, who explains somewhat rhetorically that, “To put it in the baldest possible terms, the more sweatshops the better. As you increase the number of factories demanding labor, wages will be driven up.”

You can check out Mark Thoma’s post at the Economist’s View for commentary on Gross’s article. The Acumen Fund, which has invested in A to Z, also has a blog worth checking out.

NextBillion.net

From: http://blog2endhunger.blogspot.com/

Going hungry isn’t fun. It doesn’t feel good to the body or to the soul either. But it happens. It can happen to anyone. It has happened to me more than once. More than I’d like to admit, but, I think that people should know that no matter who you are, there’s always that chance that you could be wondering where your next meal is going to come from.

I’ve always had a difficult time either getting or keeping a job. Keeping one has been the most difficult for me. I have a daughter who misses me so much when I’m not home that she gets depressed, which has stressed me out too much. I have never been able to handle this situation well. And since I put myself in this situation, I hope to help others by sharing my story so that maybe they’ll know that they’re not alone or that they don’t have to go through what I did. There is help out there.

My daughter’s father used to buy groceries for her, but it was only enough for her and it was only when he would pick her up on a Saturday or Sunday. If he didn’t pick her up, then she went without for that week. And back then I wasn’t able to get food stamps. Now I’m not so sure that should have been the case, but, anyway, this meant that there wasn’t a lot of food in the house, so, I skipped a lot of meals to make sure that my daughter would have food. I usually ate when I started to feel weak. I’m not sure how well I hid the pain from my daughter. She’s pretty in tune with my emotions.

My daughter’s father stopped coming over to pick her up because she didn’t want to go with him, he didn’t buy her food either. So, we were really running low on food. It was so sad when my daughter would still be hungry after eating one helping of food. It also broke my heart when she would be eating and I wouldn’t join her. She look up at me with her beautiful brown eyes and I’d see a tear or two running down each cheek, which would ofen bring me to tears that I had been holding in. It got to the point where I didn’t even want to see look at my daughter’s face anymore.

I had to find a way to help ease her sadness. I explained to her that she needed to eat more than I did because she’s still growing and it wasn’t going to hurt me to eat less. I think she would tell me that she was full before her food was gone, just so that I could eat the rest.

I went to the pantry a few times and each time it was like we had one the lottery. I’d look in the cupboards that had once been almost completely empty and just thanked God that someone out there cares enough to buy food for the pantry and that there is somewhere to go to.

I did get emergency food stamps a couple of times, but for one reason or another, I’d get denied to get any on a regular basis. So, I tried to make them last by not eating too much myself. But I also couldn’t let my daughter not have seconds every single day. It just broke my heart too much.

I still don’t have a job and I have been getting the Link card for a few months, so now our cupboards are full. And so is my freezer. I still look in my cupboards and my freezer sometimes and thank God for how blessed I am.

I’m sitting here eating some almonds that I bought a couple of months ago. And I’m drinking a cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer. I enjoy my food more. I still eat junk food sometimes, but I eat healthier than I used to. I had missed snacks. Popcorn. Strawberries and banana yogurt. I savor everything I put in my mouth. And I don’t waste food. My daughter now understands why that is so important. She doesn’t like leftovers too much, but she remembers when we didn’t even have enough food for leftovers.

From: http://blog2endhunger.blogspot.com/

HUNGER FACTS

Scope of the problem
An estimated 852 million people in the developing world currently do not consume enough calories to sustain healthy bodies.

What is hunger?
Hunger is when people do not get enough food to provide the nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water) for active and healthy lives.

Malnutrition results from a lack of calories and/or inadequate consumption of one or more nutrients such as Vitamin A or iodine.

Famine is a situation of extreme scarcity of food, potentially leading to widespread starvation, which is defined as extreme suffering or death from prolonged lack of food.

Hunger kills
Did you know every day 24,000 people die from hunger and hunger-related causes? Of those, 18,000 are children. One person dies of hunger every 3.6 seconds. That is more than 16 people each minute; 1,000 each hour; which translates into 8,760,000 every single year! One in six people on the planet is hungry.

More fatal than war
An estimated 17 percent of all deaths in the world are due to malnutrition and unsafe water. In the last 50 years, more than 418 million people have died from hunger and poor sanitation–nearly three times the number of people who died in all wars of the 20th century.

Chronic hunger
Chronic hunger reduces the body’s ability to function and leads to a weakened state, leaving a person more susceptible to disease. It’s these preventable illnesses that often lead to death. When hunger progresses into starvation, the body literally eats up all its reserves of protein and energy. At this point, even with intervention, a victim may be so weak that he or she may not recover.

Hungers real causes
World population is not the reason for itcontrary to what some might believe. The real reason nearly one billion of the planets six billion people are undernourished is because of food-distribution problems, natural disasters, government policies
civil unrest, inequitable trade policies, lack of knowledge and greed.

What were doing
Food for the Hungry currently impacts individuals in 46 countries, attempting to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in the world. At Food for the Hungry, we are accountable before God and before our donors to use gifts in the best way possible. We give 93 percent of our resource income to field programs and relief interventions.

What you can do
Food for the Hungry offers many ways to help. Perhaps you want to sponsor a child or join our Prayer Network. Or you can join our overseas volunteers for a few weeks with our Short-term Team Ministry or a few years through our Hunger Corps program. Or, you can donate online www.fh.org or by calling 1-800-2-HUNGERS.

About Us
Food for the Hungry currently impacts individuals in 46 countries providing emergency relief and implementing development programs throughout the world. This includes our field programs, exploratory programs and presence of our local-country offices (National Organizations). We help the world’s most disadvantaged people through child-development programs, agriculture and clean-water projects, health and nutrition programs, micro-enterprise loans and education; teaching communities to become self-sustaining. We are a Christian organization founded in 1971 by Dr. Larry Ward. For more information please visit www.fh.org

By Hassan Masum.

“For all of us, there comes a time on any given day, week, and month, every year and in different degrees over our lifetimes, when we choose to act in some way that is oriented toward fulfilling our social and psychological needs, not our market-exchangeable needs. It is that part of our lives and our motivational structure that social production taps, and on which it thrives.

There is nothing mysterious about this. It is evident to any of us who rush home to our family or to a restaurant or bar with friends at the end of a workday, rather than staying on for another hour of overtime or to increase our billable hours; or at least regret it when we cannot. It is evident to any of us who has ever brought a cup of tea to a sick friend or relative, or received one; to anyone who has lent a hand moving a friend’s belongings; played a game; told a joke, or enjoyed one told by a friend.

What needs to be understood now, however, is under what conditions these many and diverse social actions can turn into an important modality of economic production. When can all these acts, distinct from our desire for money and motivated by social and psychological needs, be mobilized, directed, and made effective in ways that we recognize as economically valuable?”

Read more…

By Thomas Sullivan

Where does starvation exist in the world today? What are some of the causes of world hunger? Are citizens of developed countries donating monetarily to the ongoing relief efforts? In this article I will address these questions with the hope that by creating an understanding of the current world hunger situation, morally conscious individuals will do their part in contributing to the eradication of this unseen suffering.

It is a well known fact that there is enough food in the world to feed every human being on earth. Sadly, malnutrition and hunger still afflict one out of every seven people in the world today. No matter how you examine the issue, a current crisis is at hand. Why is this so?

The causes of starvation are complex, but there are some common threads that seem to be associated with this problem. First and foremost, starvation is caused by poverty. To address the problem of world hunger then the problem of global poverty must be addressed. Therefore, the question that we should examine is what are the causes of poverty. A thorough discussion on the causes of global poverty is outside the purview of this article. Entire textbooks have been written on the subject. For our discussion, it is suffice to say that one of the major causes of poverty is governments pursuing policies that inhibit self sufficiency.

Areas of starvation are also characterized by persistent problems in cultivating food from lack of seed, arable land, and tools. Those that can grow food, must deal with insects, drought, floods, and war, which can result in complete destruction of crops. Historically, areas of Africa have experienced periodic locusts infestations, which can completely destroy crops.

Other causes of world hunger are related to the globalize system of food production. The globalize system of food production and trade favors a reliance on export crops while discriminating against small-scale farmers and subsistence crops. Many third world countries export out to much food while concomitantly not keeping enough food to sustain their own people.

AIDS is a significant cause of hunger. In societies affected by AIDS, famine is more deadly and difficult to combat. Why is this so? AIDS attacks the most productive individuals within society. Fewer productive people within society means fewer individuals to work the jobs that involve food production. This is one contributor to the starvation currently taking place in Africa.

Weather plays a major role in terms of the prevalence of starvation. Areas of drought leads to non-useable land with subsequent famine. This is well known. But less well known is that floods can also lead to starvation. Crops can be flooded and therefore destroyed, which in essence produces the same result as drought. In both cases, weather can produce a complete lack of self sufficiency.

Military conflicts, both internal and between neighboring countries, can lead to starvation. These conflicts can result in destruction of crops. Government money is directed at funding the conflict at the expense of the starving people. Funds are diverted from social and economic development. Military conflicts can also result in the displacement of large groups of people, removing them from their farms and their way of life. People can end up in refugee camps, completely dependent on relief aid.

The causative factors of world hunger are numerous, and certain factors change from year to year, therefore at any given time, some areas may be more prone then others. The extent of drought, flood, internal conflicts, and war with neighboring countries can vary over time. Therefore, these factors incorporate a variable affect on the degree to which inhabitants of susceptible countries suffer from starvation.

A combination of these causative factors in a particular region is a formula for disaster. When this occurs, large scale starvation can take place. A case in point. The Horn of Africa has seen severe drought coupled with internal conflicts. This is leading to the development of a tragedy. In this region currently 11 million people are on the brink of starvation.

Historically, certain areas of the world have had a high prevalence of hunger and starvation. These areas are the central region of South America, large areas of East, Central, and Southern Africa, and regions of South Asia. As of 2006, the current hot spots, those areas which are suffering the greatest degree of starvation, are as follows:

Niger:
This area in central Africa has been struggling to cope with the devastating impact of drought and locusts infestations.

Haiti:
In this region extreme poverty has been further exacerbated by a political crisis, floods, tropical storms, and hurricanes.

Horn of Africa:
An estimated 11 million people in the Horn of Africa “are on the brink of starvation” because of severe drought and war. Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia need food aid, water, new livestock and seeds. This is a major hunger crisis in development.

Afghanistan:
Poverty in Afghanistan, made worse by drought, has contributed greatly to their hunger problem.

Pakistan:
The recent earthquake coupled with a severe winter have produced starvation conditions. Recently, mud slides have hampered relief efforts.

North Korea:
Food insecurity caused by the countries economic problems, is compounded by unpredictable and severe weather conditions. To date, the North Korean government has failed in its duty to provide for it‘s starving people. The North Korean government has actually refused foreign aid.

Columbia:
A 40 year civil conflict and the illegal drug trade have caused mass displacement and poverty.

Democratic Republic of Congo:
3.4 million people have been internally displaced as a result of a continuing internal conflict.

Mali:
They are struggling to cope with the devastating impact of a recent drought.

Southern Africa:
Erratic weather, lack of seed and fertilizer, chronic poverty, and AIDS have been contributing factors to starvation.

These are the areas of the world which are currently suffering the highest levels of malnutrition and hunger. With this understanding of where relief efforts are needed, we must address the question of individual response. Are individuals of developed countries donating to relief efforts? Most morally conscious individuals donate to relief efforts when the problem is presented to them.

A major problem in the relief effort is the general population of developed countries not knowing about the current hunger crisis. News organizations, more specifically television news, are not giving enough attention to the global hunger situation. While an in depth discussion as to the reasons for this is outside the purview of this article, a few points can be made.

Evidently, the American TV news organizations, do not think world hunger is much of a story since starvation is a daily occurrence. I suspect, from the perspective of these news organizations, that 24,000 people per day dying from hunger is not a big enough news story. When 1,386 people died from hurricane Katrina, the news coverage was enormous. Five months after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, TV news organizations were still squeezing all they could out of this story. Granted this was an obvious tragedy, but an even bigger tragedy, much bigger, is going on in Africa and the general public does not even know about it.

I have seen little to almost no coverage given by American TV news organizations on the devastating hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. I have only learned of this crisis through RSS feeds on the Internet. Television news organizations such as CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC are thus far not reporting on this crisis. Hopefully this will change.

It is evident that the American TV news organizations do not really provide total and complete news, rather they screen the events and only provide what they feel may be interesting to their audience. News organizations should present the news and concomitantly maintain high journalistic standards. Maybe these news organizations need to incorporate a higher level of moral obligation into their decision making process, when deciding which stories to cover. In any case, people can not donate if they do not know the problem exists.

We have addressed some key questions in order to characterize the current status of the world hunger situation. We have examined where hunger is the most prevalent in the world today, and we have identified some of the causative factors which contribute to malnutrition, hunger, and starvation. We have concluded that most morally conscious individuals would contribute to the elimination of hunger, if they knew about the crisis. Finally, we have observed that the degree of world hunger coverage by TV news organizations is very much lacking.

Even though TV news organizations have not been covering the current world hunger crisis, by reading this article, you have developed an understanding of the degree to which starvation is prevalent in the world today. If you are reading this in a developed country, which is highly likely since you are reading it on a computer which has Internet access, you have a moral obligation to donate either time or money to help in the elimination of unseen suffering. Winston Churchill once said “we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” We must all do our part to eliminate world hunger.

About the Author:

Thomas Sullivan is a Webmaster, and activist for world hunger elimination. He has built and currently maintains several websites. A relevant website he currently manages is located at http://hungerrelieforganizations.atspace.com. For questions or comments his email can be found on his website.

By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA (Reuters) – Hunger kills more people than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and keeps millions of children out of school, the United Nations said on Thursday.

The U.N. World Food Programme, which provides food aid to about 90 million people every year, estimated that 25,000 people die each day from malnutrition-related diseases.

“The number of hungry people is rising at a rate of 4 to 5 million a year, despite a marked reduction in poverty,” Sheila Sisulu, the WFP’s deputy executive director, told a news conference at the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva.

Humanitarian crises account for about 10 percent of hunger suffered worldwide, and the rest suffer “silent emergencies” of chronic undernutrition and ill-health that have persisted despite a broad economic upswing in past years, Sisulu said.

“There needs to be a very targeted effort to address issues of hunger and malnutrition,” she said.

In a report on the links between malnutrition and education, WFP said one third of the 300 million children worldwide who go to bed hungry on a regular basis are not attending school.

“Even if they do manage to go to school, undernourished children are unable to concentrate on their lessons,” the report said, urging school feeding programmes and other measures to improve students’ prospects — particularly in poor areas.

“The meal acts as an incentive to attend, leading to increased school enrolment, particularly for girls, in places where hunger and undernutrition are problems,” it said.

The report urged nutrition and health training, better access to deworming programmes in affected areas, particularly Africa, and efforts to educate women and families about the importance of good early childhood nutrition.

Paul Howe, a WFP policy adviser involved in the production of the report, said it was essential that governments introduce specific programmes to curb chronic hunger and malnutrition, which can act as a drag on overall development.

“Economic growth on its own is not enough to eliminate problems of under-nutrition. You really do, in addition to that, need some targeted interventions,” he said.

New Picture:

The fight against hunger involves so much. Here at Millions Of Mouths, we want to thank everyone who helps the cause.

The fight against hunger involves, above all, raising awareness and just getting the facts out. For that reason, we have started this blog. We started this blog to bring out the facts, to raise awareness, to provide links to hunger sites and to publish current news and information on the hunger war.

Please help us help the hungry by checking in with our blog and telling your friends about this blog and MillionsOfMouths.com.

To aid us with the hunger struggle, we sell pixel advertisements on the Millions Of Mouths homepage (http://www.millionsofmouths.com/). Our goal is to raise over fifty thousand dollars for the hungry in less than a year. Help us reach that goal by purchasing pixels from our homepage (http://www.millionsofmouths.com/), by telling your friends about MillionsOfMouths.com, and by clicking the pixel grid on our homepage. (Remember, every click on the grid increases the value of the pixel advertising and thus increases the likelihood that we’ll reach or even surpass our goal.)

We have a chance to make a real noticeable difference. So, please, tell your friends about Millions Of Mouths; purchase pixels from our homepage (http://www.millionsofmouths.com/); and, click the pixel grid as much as possible.

Keep checking back at this blog for information and updates about the war on hunger.

Thank you,

The Millions Of Mouths Team

Our Homepage’s Address: www.millionsofmouths.com/

This Blog’s Address: www.millionsofmouths.com/blog/nfblog/index.php

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Hunger Information: www.millionsofmouths.com/info.html