Hunger is a living, breathing thing that seems to be consuming the world one impoverished nation at a time. The numbers keep fluctuating and more of the world falls into malnutrition. Here are 10 world hunger statistics to raise awareness about people struggling with hunger.
1. On a regular basis, 842 million people in the world do not get enough to eat.
While the number of people struggling with hunger has fallen by 17% since 1990, the percentage of people who are hungry has grown by 7% since 2009.
2. The majority of hungry and impoverished peoples live in developing nations.
Nearly 15% of the people in developing nations can be malnourished, while 7% of the people in first world nations and developed countries go hungry.
3. Asia has the most hungry people.
More than 500,000 people in Asian countries are malnourished; half of these people are children under the age of five.
4. Africa had the highest prevalence of hungry people.
Nearly 30% of people in Africa suffer from extreme hunger, meaning more of their population is hungry in comparison to the rest of the world.
5. First world countries spend more on pet food than they do helping the hungry.
Today alone in America and the UK, people have spent 44 million dollars on pet food and only five million on aiding people who are starving.
6. Americans wasted 124,000 tons of food today alone.
Each day Americans can waste up to 150,000 tons of food by throwing it away. Every year Americans alone have the potential to waste well over 1.8 million tons of food.
7. Five million people died of hunger this year.
This year so far, well over five million people have died of starvation or malnutrition. More than half of these deaths were children.
8. One in every 15 children dies from hunger in developing countries.
Children often face the worst parts of starvation or malnutrition. More children will die of starvation than adults each year.
9. Due to hunger, 315,000 women die in childbirth each year.
Women who do not get enough nutrients, most specifically iron, in their diets during pregnancy are at a greater risk of dying in childbirth from hemorrhaging. It is not uncommon for women, even women with child, to be forced to give up nutrient-heavy foods in lieu of their male counterparts.
10. More than half of people suffering from hunger in the world are in Asia and the South Pacific.
Roughly 63% of all the people suffering from starvation and malnutrition can be found in Asia and the South Pacific. This means more people are suffering in these two areas than there is anywhere else in the world.
While starvation is preventable, millions of people will still die each year from not having enough food or enough nutrients to survive. Isn’t it time you did something?
– Cara Morgan
Sources: Do Something, Stop the Hunger, World Hunger, World Food Programme
Photo: Flanboyant Eats
Population Action International’s Impact
Population Action International is a nonprofit organization that “advocates for women and families to have access to contraception in order to improve their health, reduce poverty and protect their environment.” Its goal is to stem rapid population growth which will help lift families out of poverty and prevent damage to the environment caused in high population density areas.
The organization divides its work into a few different areas including advocacy and research. Each area strives to increase access to contraception around the world.
In terms of advocacy, Population Action International works both in the United States and abroad to create political support behind contraception programs.
For example, in the U.S., the organization works directly with Congress to promote reproductive health programs. Population Action International has made significant progress doing so over the last few years, including helping to significantly increasing funding for family planning. PAI is currently “working hard to protect these gains in the face of spending cuts and attacks on women’s health programs.”
On the global level, the organization supports countries by providing grants to fund family planning advocacy programs, often in developing countries. Because access to contraception is not a high priority in certain countries, these Population Action International grants are often the only source of funding for in-country advocacy programs.
One of Population Action International’s key research areas is identifying “links between demographics for governments and global institutions to combat poverty, ensure growing nations develop sustainably, and create a more stable world.”
When countries have uncontrolled population growth with little to no access to contraception, poverty is often a result, which can lead to conflict. PAI’s research in this field has identified relationships between large population growth and a number of factors including food security, health, climate change, violent conflict and economic progress.
Because of the results of this research, the organization believes that providing high population, low socioeconomic communities with contraception will enable them to thrive again.
In addition, Population Action International focuses its research on the effects large population growth areas have on climate change. Larger populations put increased pressures on the environment, whether that means using more resources or occupying more land. Supporting family planning, therefore, also supports environmental protection, the organization argues.
According to Population Action International, they exist “because providing women the family planning they want can save hundreds of thousands of lives.” The organization is a leader in the field of contraception, providing women around the world with access to reproductive health services in the hopes that it will help stem population growth and, among other things, alleviate poverty.
– Emily Jablonski
Sources: Charity Navigator, Population Action International, Vimeo
Displaced Syrian Refugees Seek Safety
The violent blitzkriegs currently commanding Syria and Iraq are causing unfathomably grave circumstances-so many that it is impossible to convey their consequent terror and devastation. Among countless other results, is the widespread population displacement occurring throughout the region.
It is estimated that 2.8 million displaced Syrian refugees are currently residing in neighboring areas, such as northern Iraq, having been forced out of their native country due to the infamous civil war. This number significantly increases daily, as the violence continues to grow in breadth and magnitude. Over 9.3 million Syrian refugees have been displaced as a result of the conflict. Many refugees are living in camps and in host communities in the Kurdish, northern region of Iraq. In last August, alone, over 60,000 Syrian refugees arrived at these designated camps. In one record day that month, a whopping 10,000 refugees arrived. Initially, the Iraqi government accepted the refugees and accommodated their medical needs, in addition to providing shelter and work permits. However, the massive influx stretched the Iraqi accommodations, dramatically.
This is a growing humanitarian crisis that demands attention. An average of 100,000 Syrians are registering as official refugees, every month. The refugees often suffer from dehydration and diarrheal diseases as a result of scarce resources, poor nutrition, and unhygienic conditions. Among the millions are a considerable amount of children; the United Nations reported that, of the displaced, over 1.4 million are child refugees. These circumstances are inherently devastating and disorienting; for children it is particularly disrupting, as they are forced to pick up and leave, ending their educations in the process. The crowded conditions have been conducive to child outbreaks of polio and measles, threatening the children’s lives, as well as their safety and well-being.
Humanitarian group Mercy Corps has intervened on behalf of all the refugees, as well as the child refugees. They have been distributing necessary items, such as shelter materials and mattresses. They additionally built a playground for children and brought toys to an Arbat refugee camp, to ease the children’s traumatic transitions. World Vision is also helping to alleviate refugee strife; the group has been distributing personal sanitation supplies and clean water. They are providing education services for children in addition to creating Child-Friendly Spaces, which are designated areas in which children can play and unwind.
As the conflict continually unfolds in geographical conjunction with the current crises resulting from the ISIS presence, the amount of displaced refugees increases daily.
– Arielle Swett
Sources: MercyCorps, World Vision
Photo: UNHCR
10 World Hunger Statistics
Hunger is a living, breathing thing that seems to be consuming the world one impoverished nation at a time. The numbers keep fluctuating and more of the world falls into malnutrition. Here are 10 world hunger statistics to raise awareness about people struggling with hunger.
1. On a regular basis, 842 million people in the world do not get enough to eat.
While the number of people struggling with hunger has fallen by 17% since 1990, the percentage of people who are hungry has grown by 7% since 2009.
2. The majority of hungry and impoverished peoples live in developing nations.
Nearly 15% of the people in developing nations can be malnourished, while 7% of the people in first world nations and developed countries go hungry.
3. Asia has the most hungry people.
More than 500,000 people in Asian countries are malnourished; half of these people are children under the age of five.
4. Africa had the highest prevalence of hungry people.
Nearly 30% of people in Africa suffer from extreme hunger, meaning more of their population is hungry in comparison to the rest of the world.
5. First world countries spend more on pet food than they do helping the hungry.
Today alone in America and the UK, people have spent 44 million dollars on pet food and only five million on aiding people who are starving.
6. Americans wasted 124,000 tons of food today alone.
Each day Americans can waste up to 150,000 tons of food by throwing it away. Every year Americans alone have the potential to waste well over 1.8 million tons of food.
7. Five million people died of hunger this year.
This year so far, well over five million people have died of starvation or malnutrition. More than half of these deaths were children.
8. One in every 15 children dies from hunger in developing countries.
Children often face the worst parts of starvation or malnutrition. More children will die of starvation than adults each year.
9. Due to hunger, 315,000 women die in childbirth each year.
Women who do not get enough nutrients, most specifically iron, in their diets during pregnancy are at a greater risk of dying in childbirth from hemorrhaging. It is not uncommon for women, even women with child, to be forced to give up nutrient-heavy foods in lieu of their male counterparts.
10. More than half of people suffering from hunger in the world are in Asia and the South Pacific.
Roughly 63% of all the people suffering from starvation and malnutrition can be found in Asia and the South Pacific. This means more people are suffering in these two areas than there is anywhere else in the world.
While starvation is preventable, millions of people will still die each year from not having enough food or enough nutrients to survive. Isn’t it time you did something?
– Cara Morgan
Sources: Do Something, Stop the Hunger, World Hunger, World Food Programme
Photo: Flanboyant Eats
Every Newborn Action Plan Targets Preventable Deaths
Five babies are born every second, and every day over 400,000 women around the world facilitate the miracle of life. Many of these children, however, are given poor chances of survival. 44 percent of children who die before their fifth birthday are taken from the world within their first month of life. 2.9 million babies die within the first month, and an additional 2.6 million babies are stillborn. Arguably more alarming than the statistics is that these deaths are typically preventable.
That’s where the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) comes in. Endorsed in May and launched on June 30, ENAP is an initiative aimed at accelerating action to prevent the numerous newborn deaths around the world. USAID, the UN and other global organizations have banded together to support and promote this plan.
Children are at their most vulnerable during the child delivery process and the first few months of life. Prematurity, asphyxiation and infection are among the serious threats to newborn survival, but they can be minimized with the right steps. Training doctors and nurses to anticipate and prevent these possibly fatal conditions is a vital step in minimizing newborn deaths, and ENAP aims to address this.
ENAP was launched in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon spoke. He said, “If we increase investments, focus on equity and promote human rights, we can create a world free of preventable maternal and child deaths in just one generation.”
The plan has a timetable, hoping to reduce the neonatal mortality rate per 1000 live births from 15 to 7 by 2035, with less extreme mile markers between now and then. To achieve these goals, over 90 countries have to get behind the movement and accelerate their progress and 29 of these countries will have to “more than double current rates of progress in policy and private sector commitments to save newborn lives.” ENAP outlines how this can be achieved.
ENAP focuses on improving healthcare across myriad specialties including prenatal, pregnancy, postnatal and infant care. It emphasizes thoroughness at every stage, beginning with early pregnancy and not ending until the child and the mother are experiencing stable health. Their plan includes a checklist of criteria for improved pregnancy healthcare, including points like “early initiation of breastfeeding” and “birth companion of choice and skilled attendant at birth.” These things are often a given in the U.S., but are sometimes a luxury in impoverished countries.
Higher survival rates for newborns and mothers would mean great things for fighting global poverty. Population growth is often uncontrollable in impoverished areas because, without a guarantee that children will survive, families often have more children than they can support. This puts strain on communities and lowers quality of life standards significantly. As ENAP reduces newborn deaths, population growth can transition to a steadier rate that can be more easily supported by countries, which will lead to more stable economies and happier people.
With the backing of countries worldwide, the support of institutions such as USAID and the UN and effective implementations of the guidelines of the plan, Every Newborn Action Plan has the potential to save millions of lives in just over two decades.
– Magdalen Wagner
Sources: United Nations, World Health Organization, GhanaWeb, Huffington Post, Mail Online
Photo: IBTimes
Defining a Third World Country
The term “third world country” was created during the Cold War and was used to categorize a country’s alignment during the war. There were three categories at this time: those countries whose views aligned with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and capitalism (i.e. the First World); those countries whose views aligned with the Soviet Union and communism, (i.e. the Second World); and all the other countries, aligned with neither view, the “Third World.”
Today, the term “third world” is an antiquated term most commonly used to describe the developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and is a term typically associated with poverty. What classifies a country as part of the “Third World”? Below are four of the indicators that are used to classify third world countries:
1. Low Gross National Income (GNI)
Third world countries experience low economic development, and high rates of poverty. For the 2015 fiscal year, low-income economies—such as those in Tanzania, Haiti and Cambodia—are defined as those with a GNI per capita of less than $1,045 in 2013. The GNI for high-income economies, such as the United States, is $12,746 per capita.
2. Economic Dependence on Other Countries
Developing third world countries, as a result of the state of their economies, rely heavily on more economically and technologically advanced countries. And, third world countries’ economies—which, for the most part, lack modernity and independence—are typically geared towards serving and are controlled by more developed countries. This imbalance of control and dependence widens the gap between the wealthy countries, such as the U.S., and low-income economies such as Cameroon’s.
3. Low Human Development Index (HDI)
The HDI, published annually by the United Nations, measures three basic dimensions of human life: knowledge, a long and healthy life and a decent standard of living. The U.S. is ranked fifth on the HDI scale, while a developing country such as the Democratic Republic of Congo is ranked 186th.
4. Lack of Political Rights and Civil Liberties
Most of the world’s poorest countries are also the countries for which there is a severe lack of political rights and civil liberties. Developing countries such as Sudan are war-torn and civil liberties and rights almost nonexistent in the wake of the violence and war crimes. Citizens of the U.S. experience a life that is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, with basic rights such as the right to an education strongly in place.
There are other indicators when it comes to categorizing a country as “third world,” and certainly not every developing country shares each of the above characteristics. But one thing is clear: millions of people around the world are citizens of countries in which daily life is excruciatingly difficult.
Poverty, limited access to education, low standards of living and lack of civil liberties and political rights are just a few of the realities for the many third world countries that exist alongside wealthy nations such as the U.S. If wealthier nations stepped in and did more to assist third world countries, surely the term would dissipate, following the alleviation of the effects of extreme poverty.
– Elizabeth Nutt
Sources: The World Bank, One World – Nations Online, United Nations Development Programme, Blurtit
Photo: Mental Floss
Education in the Middle East
The Education for All goals, as part of the Millennium Development Goals, aim to ensure that children everywhere, boys and girls, have basic access to education in the Middle East by 2015. However, certain places in Middle East such as Iraq and Yemen are unlikely to achieve this goal.
Iraq
Decades of war and a poor economic situation in Iraq exacerbated the local education system. According to IRIN news, at least five million of Iraq’s almost 30 million total population cannot read or write. Fourteen percent are school-age children who work to feed their families or simply have no access to education. Also, Iraq has the highest adult illiteracy rate, with almost 30 percent of its rural population unable to read or write.
Yemen
As the civil war between the government and the rebel groups goes on, education in Yemen has been seriously disrupted. In the North of Yemen, where most of the conflicts took place, schools were destroyed or damaged during fighting. According to IRIN, a reallocation of 10 percent of the military budget to education would afford 840,000 children to go back to school.
A video, getting thousand of hits on youtube, shows a Palestinian child carrying a weapon and claiming that he wants to become a martyr and take revenge on Israeli soldiers for killing his uncle. The anti-Semitic rhetoric teaches children violence in the name of Islamic Honor. However, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the Palestinian Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs, condemned the efforts to teach children violence and revenge. The belief of “an eye for an eye” will only generate more hatred instead of peace.
During times of conflict, children are afraid to go to school and parents are afraid to send their children to school. Most of the time, children suffer psychological trauma and witness losing their family members. The ultimate method for returning children to school is to stop local violence and regain confidence in education to provide hope for the future.
– Jing Xu
Sources: i24 News, IRIN News
Photo: Learning for Peace: UNICEF
WhyHunger Mobilizes Artists to Fight Hunger
“Grassroots” is a favorite term of WhyHunger, a New York-based nonprofit addressing hunger and poverty in the United States, and worldwide. The organization supports over 8,000 community-based projects that are helping to create “a just food system that provides universal access to nutritious and affordable food.”
WhyHunger was founded in 1975 by musicians Harry Chapin and Bill Ayres in response to rampant hunger in Africa, and elsewhere. The friends decided that their new charity would need to go beyond providing emergency food aid if it were to create a just and sustainable food system. Chapin and Ayres became dedicated to digging deep to the roots of poverty in order to find long-term solutions to the global problem of hunger.
In an open letter, co-founder and current Executive Director Bill Ayres defines WhyHunger’s global mission as “[helping] people to help themselves through food production, job-training programs, nutrition education, community economic development, healthcare, youth programming, leadership development and more.”
WhyHunger brings much-needed publicity and funding to small, community-based organizations that are working hard to chip away at hunger in their communities. This feat is accomplished through WhyHunger’s various programs, including Artists Against Hunger & Poverty.
AAH&P partners with accomplished and rising musical artists to raise funds for outstanding local projects that are fighting hunger. So far, the campaign has funneled close to 10 million dollars into grassroots initiatives.
Some of the artists involved with AAH&P and WhyHunger include Bruce Springsteen, Carlos Santana, Chicago, Brandi Carlile and O.A.R., among many others. WhyHunger connects the management of the different artists to organizations that focus on hunger and poverty in towns near their tour stops. The artists then set aside time during their concerts to speak about the different nonprofits, and to collect donations. Typically the organizations are given the best tickets in the house to auction off, and the artists generally donate to the cause, as well.
“I’ve always said that working with WhyHunger is the perfect antidote to dealing with the whims and challenges of the music industry,” says Jen Chapin, an artist-supporter and longtime board member of WhyHunger. “In the food justice movement, you always get to interact with inspired and intelligent people who are driven by a sense of mission, which is — ahem — not always the case in the music biz.”
Artists Against Hunger & Poverty is a strategic program that utilizes the existing charisma surrounding musical artists to draw in fans and mobilize support for small-scale nonprofits that would otherwise not have access to such large audiences.
WhyHunger has received a four-star rating on Charity Navigator. The nonprofit places a great emphasis on keeping profits at the grassroots level, in community-based nonprofits that are helping eradicate hunger and poverty, person-by-person.
-Kayla Strickland
Sources: WhyHunger, American Songwriter, Charity Navigator, AAH&P
Photo: WhyHunger Twitter
Himalayan Cataract Project
In an attempt to aid the blind, ophthalmologists Dr. Geoff Tabin and Dr. Sanduk Ruit founded the Himalayan Cataract Project. Their goal was to provide and implement adequate hospital quality standards in areas that do not always have basic electricity and water needs satisfied. The two aim to deliver the highest possible quality care for the lowest possible cost.
The prevalence of blindness in developing countries is astounding and, as explained by the Himalayan Cataract Project website, “malnutrition, inadequate health and education services, poor water quality, and a lack of sanitation leads to a high incidence of eye disease.”
According to the World Health Organization, individuals in sub-Saharan Africa are often afflicted with avoidable blindness caused by onchocerciasis (4 percent), childhood blindness (5.3 percent), trachoma (6.8 percent), corneal opacities (10 percent), glaucoma (15 percent), and cataracts (50 percent).
In developing countries, life expectancy for someone who is blind is less than half of that expected for a person of the same age who can see. The blind individual is no longer able to work and therefore, one income for the family is lost. The World Health Organization also states that “a conservative estimate of the annual direct economic productivity loss due to blindness and low vision in sub-Saharan Africa was U.S. $1,830 million in 2000. Without concerted international action, it is expected to rise to $4, 374 million per year by 2020, the equivalent of 0.5 percent of GDP for the region.”
The Himalayan Cataract Project is based in both the Himalayan region and in sub-Saharan Africa. They operate through teaching ophthalmic care at basic and advanced levels, establishing self-sustaining eye centers, and performing low cost sutureless cataract operations in 7 minutes. Moreover, their efforts to create self-sustaining eye centers involve building microsurgical eye clinics in rural communities and encourage these centers to reach out to the poor who are blind in order to provide them with the care they need. The Himalayan Cataract Project makes treating blindness both affordable and accessible to the wider masses in developing countries and communities.
–Jordyn Horowitz
Sources: Global Giving, Himalayan Cataract Project, WHO
Photo: MediManage
Reut’s Last Day
The Borgen Project team surprised Reut with a song on her last day.
We’re going to miss you Reut and we’re looking forward to meeting your baby!
Sorcery in the Rwandan Genocide
Twenty years after the Rwandan genocide, personal stories of heroism are still coming to light. One such story is that of Zula Karuhimbi, who saved more than 100 hunted Tutsis through acts of “sorcery.”
She kept these Tutsi fugitives safe and hidden during the three-month genocide in 1994, concealing them in her house beneath dry leaves and beanstalks, as well as in a foliage-covered pit she dug on her property.
When machete-wielding Hutu militiamen arrived and ordered her to open her doors, Karuhimbi decided to challenge them. She had grown up in a family of traditional healers, and many suspected her of being a witch. Karuhimbi used her skills and reputation to her advantage. She threatened to use sorcery against the Hutus if they approached. She also covered her hands in herbs that cause skin irritation and touched the Hutus, who believed a powerful spirit was cursing them.
When the militia attempted to burn her house down and shoot through the walls, Karuhimbi retreated inside. But then she shook various items and instructed the hidden Tutsis to scream and wail. She again scared the Hutus away by convincing them that the noises came from angry spirits. Such Hutu attacks occurred many times throughout the genocide, forcing Karuhimbi to remain vigilant and determined.
As a practicing Muslim, Karuhimbi maintains that she never believed in magic. But she felt it was her duty to defy the Hutu militia any way she could. Yet this brave woman’s actions resulted in the loss of her two children, both killed by Hutus.
Karuhimbi says she was inspired by her mother, who always helped those in need. When violence erupted based around The Hutu Manifesto in 1959, Karuhimbi and her mother saved the life of current Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Kagame went on to lead the Rwandan Patriotic Front, whose victory ended the 1994 genocide.
Karuhimbi says she acted selflessly because she believes that all humans are connected. “We are one. Our forefathers and foremothers are one for all of us. We are siblings to each other,” she said.
Her courage and determination has been acknowledged by both her countrymen and the international community. In 2006, President Kagame honored her with Rwanda’s Campaign Against Genocide Medal. In 2009, she was flown out to Italy to witness a tree being planted in her honor in the Garden of the Righteous.
Yet today, Karuhimbi still lives in the same tiny, dilapidated mud house where she hid the Tutsi refugees. She continues to practice traditional medicine. Her popular products include potions to fix ugliness, unemployment, “head problems” and mosquito bites. Although folk remedies are increasingly viewed as primitive or even Satanic in Rwanda, many members of her community still consider her a kind healer rather than a “witch.” She was never able to acquire a formal education and her livelihood has relied a great deal on small-scale agriculture. In her younger years she sold vegetables in her district. But now, at the age of 89, she is no longer able to farm so she depends on the charity of her neighbors and relatives.
Frail and often forgetful, Karuhimbi still remembers the horrors of the genocide. Yet she has more than persevered through tragedy — she has remained optimistic in her outlook on life and humanity. “Love is the most important thing,” she said. “Find someone to love and the future will always be bright.”
– Mari LeGagnoux
Sources: Vice, New Times
Photo: Inside