How many hungry people are there in the world and is the number going down? What effect does hunger have on children and what can we do to help them? Here are 10 facts that go some way to explaining why hunger is the single biggest solvable problem facing the world today.
- Approximately 870 million people in the world do not eat enough to be healthy. That means that one in every eight people on Earth goes to bed hungry each night. (FAO, 2012)
- The number of people living with chronic hunger has declined by 130 million people over the past 20 years. For developing countries, the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 23.2 to 14.9 percent over the period 1990-2010 (FAO, 2012)
- Most of the progress against hunger was achieved before 2007/08. Since then, global progress in reducing hunger has slowed and leveled off. (FAO, 2012)
- Hunger is number one on the list of the world’s top 10 health risks. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. (UNAIDS, 2010; WHO, 2011).
- A third of all deaths in children under the age of five in developing countries are linked to under nutrition. (IGME, 2011)
- The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from pregnancy through age two, are the critical window in which to tackle under nutrition. A proper diet in this period can protect children from the mental and physical stunting that can result from malnutrition. (IGME, 2011)
- It costs just US $0.25 per day to provide a child with all of the vitamins and nutrients he or she needs to grow up healthy. (WFP, 2011)
- If women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men, the number of hungry people could be reduced by 100-150 million. (FAO, 2011)
- By 2050, climate change and erratic weather patterns will have pushed another 24 million children into hunger. Almost half of these children will live in sub-Saharan Africa. (WFP, 2009)
- Hunger is considered the one of the biggest solvable problems facing the world today.
The Hunger Project’s mission specifically focuses on leading sustainable lives of self-reliance to end global hunger. Three major movements our organization has implemented to contribute to the fight against hunger are:
- Specifically targeting communities who suffer from chronic hunger, not acute. This long-term approach involves extensive follow-up establishing a relationship between THP and the communities it is involved with.
- Focusing on a new strategic initiative that focuses on maternal and child health through our 1,000 Days Initiative. Launched by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this campaign focuses on ensuring proper maternal and child nutrition that supports the first 1,000 days of a child’s life- from pregnancy to the age of 2.
- Focusing on rural women through the Epicenter Strategy in Africa, THP gives women access to a number of basic services such as education, health and microfinance. This empowers women and their communities to reduce hunger in themselves and their communities, contributing to an overall change in global hunger.
Edited by: Krisha Patel
