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Prenatal Sprinkles Offer Easy Solution to Malnourishment

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According to the Hunger Project, a non-profit organization that works to end global hunger, “malnutrition occurs when the variety or quality of food is insufficient to support proper development and health.”

Roughly 15 percent of babies born in developing countries are of low birth weight due to maternal malnutrition, and even those born at a healthy weight are at risk for malnutrition due to insufficient breastfeeding. Malnutrition causes one-third of global child deaths, perpetuated as undernourished women give birth in low-resource settings.

When a malnourished woman gives birth to a low-birth weight baby that has already been affected by her mother’s malnourishment, the child will suffer from a compromised immune system and will most likely stay malnourished, even when she reaches reproductive age. Her child, too, will be born malnourished, and the cycle of malnourishment will continue.

Seeking to break the cycle of malnourishment, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada is developing a daily microencapsulated micronutrient powder through its affiliate SickKids.

Called “Prenatal Sprinkles,” this powder contains iron, folic acid and calcium. Pregnant and lactating women in poor areas can simply sprinkle their food with this supplement in order to combat malnutrition.

Prenatal Sprinkles will help to combat anemia during pregnancy, which often leads to premature birth, and preeclampsia associated with hypertension, which often causes maternal and fetal death.

Prenatal Sprinkles can potentially lower maternal hypertensive disease related mortality by 20 percent and preterm birth by 24 percent. Previously, supplements could not contain both iron and calcium due to poor absorption, but Prenatal Sprinkles contain differential time-release nutrients that increase iron and calcium absorption and prevent calcium-iron interaction. They also have a smooth texture and a pleasant flavor, making them palatable for malnourished women.

The Hospital for Sick Children is partnering with companies in the private sector in order to finance the production of Prenatal Sprinkles, but the projected cost of mass production is very low for the supplement.

Though Prenatal Sprinkles are not yet in wide circulation, they offer a simple and cost effective solution to malnutrition, a problem that cannot be solved by food aid alone.

– Katie Bandera

Sources: Sprinkles (R) 60mg Fe for Pregnant and Lactating Women, Issues: Malnutrition
Photo: Girls’ Globe

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5 Things You Didn’t Know about Hunger

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Did you know that…

  1. Today, 870 million people worldwide suffer from hunger. Despite a 130 million decrease since 1990, progress has been slower since 2008.
  2. 98 percent of the underfed – 852 million – live in developing countries, where almost 15 percent of the population is undernourished. By contrast, in developed countries, 16 million people are underfed.
  3. Gender-related discrimination has repercussions on hunger statistics. Indeed, if women farmers had access to the same resources as men, up to 150 million underfed people would no longer be hungry.
  4. 45 percent of deaths of children under five are due to poor nutrition. This represents 3.1 million children each year.
  5. The World Food Program calculated that only US $3.2 billion is needed to satisfy the 66 million primary school-age children who attend class hungry.

– Lauren Yeh

Sources: WFP, FAO
Photo: Huffington Post

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What Is Global Food Insecurity?

Global Food Insecurity
There really is no formula to defining global food insecurity. Still, many world health organizations use the term to point out deficiencies in global food security. To understand what something is, it sometimes helps to understand what it is not. This may just be the case with food insecurity. To understand food insecurity, that is, one must first define and understand food security and work backwards. If food security does not exist, then, by definition, you have food insecurity.

The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” This definition hinges on three qualifications: namely food availability, food access, and food use. Lacking one of these elements of food security, a population faces food insecurity, which can and does arise in an endless permutation of manners.

 

Global Food Insecurity: Failing Food Security Criteria

 

To establish food security, say, in a developing nation, food must first be available on a consistent basis. Some will argue that there is currently enough food in the world to feed everyone in the world. Nonetheless, people go hungry due to inconsistency in their daily intake of food. For example, one may go days without a meal. In this situation, a cornucopia of food, arriving two weeks later, does nothing to alleviate that person’s current hunger. As such, food security depends on food availability.

Second, the nation’s population must have access to the right kinds of food to sustain a healthy diet. Not only must a person have food available, that is, it must be the right kind of food. For example, a human cannot survive on rice alone. We need all different kinds of food to live healthy lives. The definition of healthy diet here also includes accommodations to particular dietary needs, such as avoiding certain foods or increasing intake of others.

Finally, food security requires appropriate use of food based on adequate knowledge of basic nutrition and care. In order to maintain a healthy diet, one must know how to eat the food that is available to him or her and portion that food out in a way that best serves the needs of his or her body. When USAID drops bags of food over Africa, for example, it will be helpful to also teach those receiving the aid how to ration the food. Basic sanitation and access to water are included in appropriate use to complete the qualifications of food security.

If even one of these three elements or qualifications is not met, it is easy to see how even a full plate of food, three times a day, may not be enough to maintain a healthy diet. Food security requires that the food is enough to satisfy the short, mid, and long-term needs of the human body and that the person consuming the food does so in an appropriate manner to maintain him or herself. Global food insecurity, or deficient food security from a worldwide perspective, exists in a world where even one person goes hungry.

Though great strides have been made in alleviating global hunger, the current level of food insecurity is unacceptable. Even in the United States, 1 out of 10 households were food insecure, hence the importance of food provision and education programs, like, local food banks. To learn more about food (in)security in the U.S., you can visit this site.

– Herman Watson

Sources: U.S. Food Aid and Security, World Health Organization, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization
Photo: Security and Sustainability Forum

MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

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The Millennium Development Goals are a set of eight targets agreed upon by almost all countries around the world. (For a more in-depth description of the MDGs, review this excellent post by Delice Williams: https://borgenproject.org/what-are-the-un-millennium-development-goals) Overseen by the United Nations, these goals are to be reached by 2015. Two years out from this deadline, it’s important to recognize how much progress we have made, and how far we have to go. This is the first in a series of posts that will do just that, focusing on each MDG individually in order to better understand the intricacies of each one.

The first MDG states that we will eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. This goal consists of three facets:

  1. Cut the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25/day in half between 1990 and 2015.
  2. Ensure the opportunity for full and productive employment and decent work for everyone, including women and young people
  3. Cut the proportion of people who suffer from hunger in half between 1990 and 2015

The first of these goals, to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, was met five years ahead of schedule. This represents 700 million less people facing extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990. Extreme poverty is falling in every region. It is incredibly encouraging to know that progress is possible everywhere, especially considering that 1.2 billion people around the world are still living in extreme poverty.

In regards to the second goal, 294 million workers have been raised out of extreme poverty as of 2011. However, this still leaves 384 million workers living on less than $1.25 per day. Progress in this area has been made in part through UN partnerships with governments that provide job training for unemployed youth in developing countries. One such program, The Youth Employment Fund, was instated in Serbia, where over 2000 young Serbs were given job training and opportunities for work.

Despite significant progress towards the second goal, a significant gender gap remains. The employment percentage was still almost 25% higher for men than for women in 2012. UN Women, a women’s rights group sponsored by the United Nations, has been working towards this goal by empowering women in the workplace, especially when it comes to food production. Women all over the world are benefiting from their programs, such as those in Timor-Leste and Rwanda. These programs include self-help groups and agricultural training, as well as financial education that gives women more sway when it comes to family financial decisions.

According the UN’s progress report, the goal of halving the proportion of hungry people around the world is within reach by 2015. In fact, 38 countries have already met this target. However, roughly 1 in 8 people worldwide still go to sleep hungry each night, and about 870 million people are still undernourished. While undernutrition is a significant problem, malnutrition affects many more people worldwide, with two billion people suffering from one or more micronutrient deficiencies.

With advancements in each of the three facets of the first MDG, we should celebrate our success. And yet, with billions of people still facing extreme poverty and hunger every day, we must continue to make progress.

This series will continue by considering the significant advancements made and work to be done in regards to the second MDG, the achievement of universal primary education.

– Katie Fullerton

Sources: UN Women, UN NewsCentre, UN MDGs
Photo: Mwebantu,

Global Hunger Statistics in 2013

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For those involved in the fight against global hunger, it is important to remain up-to-date on the numbers of people who are affected by hunger and malnutrition every year. Although global hunger still plagues a large portion of the world, the number of those affected decreases annually. Here are a few current global hunger statistics:

  1. 870 million people do not eat enough every day to be considered healthy.
  2. 98% of the world’s hungry live in the developing world.
  3. 15% of the population in the developing world is malnourished.
  4. One third of children’s deaths in developing countries are due to malnutrition.
  5. Hunger is responsible for more deaths every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
  6. One out of six children (about 100 million) in developing countries are underweight.
  7. One in four children in the world are stunted. This rises to one in three in many areas of the developing world.
  8. 80% of stunted children live in just 20 countries.
  9. If women received equal treatment (access to land, education, etc) as men, 100-150 million fewer cases of hunger would occur every year.
  10. By 2050, an additional 24 million children could fall into hunger because of climate change.

The good news: the amount needed to provide a child with a healthy diet of vitamins and nutrients is merely 25 cents per day. World hunger is 100% solvable.

– Mary Penn

Sources: World Food Programme, Stop Hunger Now

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Fighting Hunger With Hunger: The Fast-a-Thon

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Hundreds of organizations around the world work to raise awareness of world hunger. “Nearly 870 million people, or one in eight people in the world, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012.” Statistics such as this, along with photographs and true stories of the world’s hungry have found their way to people who can help. But what these figures and images cannot do to a person is allow them to know what hunger really is—to move one beyond sympathy and allow them to possess real comprehension of what hunger feels like. This is the premise upon which the “Fast-a-Thon” was laid.

For years, college campuses across the U.S. and Canada have held annual “Fast-a-Thons” in an effort to fight hunger, both locally and internationally. The idea was coined by the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and has since been taken on by hundreds of college campuses, charity organizations, and businesses across continental America.

Here’s how it works: a group of students, community members, co-workers, etc. pledge to fast for a day (some for 24 hours, some from morning to evening). For each pledge, a business sponsor donates a certain amount of money to a charity of the group’s choosing. At the end of the day, Fast-a-Thon participants come together to share a meal to break their fast. In solidarity with those in hunger and in support of alleviating their pain, Fast-a-Thon participants have raised hundreds to thousands of dollars to feed the hungry.

Interested in hosting a Fast-a-Thon in your community? Follow this easy step-by-step guide:

1. Find the beneficiary to whom all donations will go towards. This could be a local soup kitchen or an umbrella organization fighting hunger.

2. Find businesses that will sponsor your Fast-a-Thon or, in other words, agree to donate a certain amount of money to your chosen beneficiary for every Fast-a-Thon pledge made.

3. Spread the word and encourage everyone to pledge and participate!

4. Host a dinner where participants can break their fasts together.

– Lina Saud

Sources: World Hunger, MSA Texas
Photo: Stephen Leahy

Hunger Photography Competition

Heifer International has teamed up with high-class fashion magazine Hunger to conduct a photography competition aimed at raising awareness of hunger. Founded in 1944, Heifer International is a non-profit that aspires to raise people out of poverty by providing them with livestock and agricultural training. Now, they are trying to get new circles of society talking about hunger.

According to President and CEO Pierre Ferrari, the contest’s goal is to “get a new segment of society talking about a sensitive subject” using the power of imagery. He believes, “A single image can raise awareness, capture the essence of what we are trying to do, and possibly end the plague of poverty.” Specifically, he is hoping that the competition will help start conversations in upper-class social circles, where it can be easy to ignore poverty in our own society and around the world. Hunger magazine provides the perfect platform for these discussions. “A place of culture like Hunger magazine,” Ferrari said, “enables [Heifer International] to reach out to people with different perspectives on humanity, and it gives us an ability to start a new discussion.”

All photographers, from amateurs to professionals, were asked to submit images that they felt portrayed the word “hunger.” Submissions were taken online through a creative platform Talenthouse between May 21 and July 2, 2013. During the following two weeks, a public vote determined the finalists.

Submissions came in from all over the world. They include a confronting still life contrasting a barren table with an opulent one, an image of silverware with bites taken out of them, and numerous shots of extremely skinny women with bones protruding. Some critics have raised the concern that such images contribute more to the glorification of eating disorders as something necessary to reach the peak of fashion, and accuse them of diverting attention away from world poverty. However, Ferrari trusts his audience to draw their own connections, suggesting that “the reader/audience is a lot more intellectual than in the past” and that integrating the fashion world into the realm of fine art photography can widen the competition’s potential audience.

The winner will be chosen by renowned fashion photographer Rankin, who oversees the production of Hunger magazine. His decision was supposed to be announced on July 23, but he has requested additional time, citing the large quantity of excellent submissions.

This competition is an excellent illustration of high-class society effectively using its resources to benefit the greater good. It is imperative to get people talking about and working against hunger, and the high-class fashion circles represent a largely untapped resource on this front. Hunger magazine is commendably using its reputation as a platform for activism, an example that other corporations would do well to emulate.

– Katie Fullerton

Sources: Mail Online, Heifer International, Hunger TV, Talenthouse
Photo: Facebook

Rwanda: Sustainable Solutions for Hunger

Rwanda: Sustainable Solutions for HungerHead of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin shed some light on the programs in Rwanda that are working on solutions for hunger. She highlighted the specific solutions supported by the WFP that focus on long-term development and sustainability.

“Here in Rwanda, WFP is providing life-saving food assistance that we are known for to tens of thousands of refugees, but we and our partners are also supporting community-based agriculture and livelihoods projects that assist the poorest and most vulnerable Rwandans as they build a brighter future for their families,” said Ms. Cousin.

Ms. Cousin stressed the importance of effective partnerships between UN agencies, communities and the government to empower Rwandans to lift themselves out of poverty. One of the most successful WFP sustainable solutions for hunger is called Purchase for Progress, known as P4P. P4P is a program out of eastern Rwanda that works with local farmers to buy their surplus maize and beans. P4P aims to use WFP’s purchasing power to connect smallholder farmers to the market. P4P has grown nationally and now, some smallholder farmers have found other customers besides WFP to purchase their surplus crops. Since its implementation in 2011, WFP has purchased 33,000 metric tons of combined food commodities through P4P.

The UN, WFP and the Rwandan government are looking for sustainable solutions to link the P4P program to food-for education initiatives. They hope to be able to provide students a daily meal and also give local farmers regular customers.

Ms. Cousin saw the success of these solutions for hunger on her visit to Rwanda. “I met one woman farmer who started with nearly nothing, and now has become so successful that she’s been able to build her family a new house, and put her children through school.”

“While speaking with small-scale farmers and rural families, I could see very clearly the difference that rural development initiatives have made in helping people improve their lives,” she said.

Currently, WFP provides food assistance to 173,000 people in Rwanda, including refugees and primary school children. This month, the WFP has collaborated with UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, and UNWOMEN to launch a Common Country Programme. The hopes are that together these agencies can prevent chronic malnutrition, improve livelihoods and food security, and enhance government capacity on food assistance, food security analysis, disaster risk management, P4P and school feeding.

– Catherine Ulrich

Sources: UN, WFP
Photo: Flickr

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5 Facts About World Hunger

5 Facts About World Hunger

When most people think of world hunger, they picture the emaciated children shown on television commercials or news footage of refugees lining up for food rations. The media portrays hunger as a dire emergency directly resulting from natural disasters, war, or some other kind of unrest. These graphic examples of acute hunger do portray actual people and circumstances, but they fail to account for 92 percent of the world’s hungry who suffer from chronic undernourishment rather than food emergencies. Though the number of people living with chronic hunger has decreased by 130 million people over the past two decades, one in eight people in the world still goes to bed hungry each night. Listed below are five facts about world hunger.

5 Facts About World Hunger

  1. Hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Listed as the number one health risk on the WHO’s list of the world’s top ten threats to health, hunger causes 10 million deaths each year. That is roughly equivalent to the number of people killed in the Holocaust.
  2. If female farmers had the same access to resources as their male counterparts, the number of the world’s hungry could be reduced by 150 million people. Though women often hold responsibility for feeding their families, they face severe constraints in accessing the materials and markets needed to contribute successfully to the agriculture sector.
  3. 870 million people currently suffer from hunger. 98 percent of these people live in developing countries, with the largest proportion living in Asia and the Pacific. While the number of hungry people is declining in Asia and Latin America, it is steadily rising in sub-Saharan Africa.
  4. Another 24 million children could be hungry by the year 2050 due to climate change and irregular weather patterns. $7.1-7.3 billion is needed in order to offset the negative impact of climate change on world hunger.
  5. According to the World Food Programme, hunger is the “single biggest solvable problem” facing the world today. It costs just $0.25 per day to provide a child with the nutrients he or she needs to live, and $3.2 billion is needed to feed the 66-million school-age children who are currently hungry. While this may seem like a large amount of money, the U.S. spends more than 200 times that amount on the military alone.

– Katie Bandera

Sources: WFP, World Hunger

What Does Hunger Cost Swaziland?

What Does Hunger Cost Swaziland?Swaziland was the fourth African country to release “The Cost of Hunger in Africa” report, which stated that 3.1% of Swaziland’s GDP goes towards long-term hunger impacts. The government of Swaziland working with the World Food Program (WFP) estimated that the US $92 million per year was lost in worker productivity. Prince Hlangusemphi, the country’s minister of economic planning and development, said that eradicating hunger was a “tangible goal” that Swaziland was committed to achieving.

The study draws on data from 2009 that measures several different long-term effects of hunger. The first economic impact is stunting. Stunting results when children are denied nutrition and vitamins necessary for developing their bodies. Around 40% of Swaziland workers suffer from stunting. People who suffer from stunting are more likely to get sick, fair poorly in school, are less productive at work, and have shorter lives.

Treating hunger-related problems such as diarrhea, anemia, and respiratory infections have cost Swaziland around $6 million a year. The report estimated that 37 million working hours were lost in 2009 to hunger-related deaths, which cost the economy 1.4% of GDP.

The study reported that by reducing the rate of stunting from 40 percent to 10 percent by 2025, Swaziland could reduce its losses to the economy by $60 million per year.

“The Cost of Hunger in Africa” report is conducting research in a total of 12 African countries. Currently, four studies have been released including Ethiopia, Uganda, Egypt and Swaziland. Ethiopia reported a loss of 16.5% of its GDP to hunger, which is around the US $4.7 billion per year. Later this year the study will release reports on Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, and Rwanda.

– Catherine Ulrich

Sources: World Food Programme, African Union Commission
Photo: Flickr