The photo is the “Pulitzer Prize” winning photo taken in 1994 during the Sudan Famine.The picture depicts stricken child crawling towards an United Nations food camp, located a kilometer away.The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat him. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken.Three months later he committed suicide due to depression.

Food For Thought (or more applicably, no-food for thought)

• 1 child every 5 seconds

• 12 every minute

• 720 will die from hunger related causes, statistically speaking, by the end of this one hour period

• And guess what the hour after that another 720 will die

• At the end of the day – do the math 720 x 24

• 17, 280 will die (could roughly be the equivalent of all students in WRDSB high schools)

• In one day…

• What about a year – wait for it

• 17, 280 x 365 = 6, 307, 200 which is equivalent to everyone living in the Prairie provinces being wiped out (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba)

• Over 22,000 children in th developing world die every dayaround the world due to poverty (disease, hunger, war, etc)

• That is equivalent to:

• A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring almost every 10 days

• A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 10 days

• An Iraq-scale death toll every 18–43 days

If more people die from hunger related diseases than war, then

should we be spending so much on our military budgets? Maybe if people had the basic necessities

in life every day, we wouldn’t have to spend so much on

defense.

Deep Thoughts

• If more people die from hunger related diseases than war, should we then be spending more on aid and changing our policies which keep people in hunger and poverty vs. spending trillions of dollars globally on defense?

• Maybe if people had the basic necessities in life every day, we wouldn’t have to spend so much on defense.

• Just a thought…

Hunger

• Hunger is a term which has three meanings (Oxford English Dictionary)

• the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite.

• the want or scarcity of food in a country• a strong desire or craving

Famine and Starvation• Famine is the temporary failure of food production or

distribution systems in a particular region• Famines can be from natural causes (drought, crop failure)

or human causes (civil war) • Starvation is an extreme form of hunger whereby people

suffer from a total lack of energy and essential nutrients• Malnutrition is a condition in which damage to health is

caused by a diet that has either too much/little of one or more essential nutrients over an extended period of time

• Chronic hunger is when people live in conditions of persistent hunger

• Food security/insecurity refers to a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, economic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for an active and healthy life

Malnutrition in the Developing World

• There are two basic types of malnutrition. • The first and most important is protein-energy malnutrition

(PEM) --the lack of enough protein (from meat and other sources) and food that provides energy (measured in calories) which all of the basic food groups provide.

• PEM can be broken into two main categories: marasmusand kwashiorkor

• The second type of malnutrition, also very important, is micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. This is not the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, though it is certainly very important.

Malnutrition in Developed World?

• Recently there has also been a move to include obesity as a third form of malnutrition. Considering obesity as malnutrition expands the previous usual meaning of the term which referred to poor nutrition due to lack of food inputs.

• It is poor nutrition, but it is certainly not typically due to a lack of calories, but rather too many (although poor food choices, often due to poverty, are part of the problem).

• In the developed world we “live to eat”

• In the developing world they “eat to live”

World Stats• No one really knows how many people are

malnourished. The statistic most frequently cited is that of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which measures 'undernutrition'. The most recent estimate (2006) of the FAO says that 854 million people worldwide are undernourished.

• More recent figures estimate a dramatic increase to 1.02 billion people

• Most of the undernourished live in developing countries.

• What happened between 2006 and 2010 for 200 million more people to go hungry?

Growing Hungry

• Factor #1. - Global recession, means less money from aid has been flowing from core to periphery countries

• Factor # 2. – Uncertainty in world market prices during the world recession, coupled by poor harvests had led to countries “storehousing” their food supply. When the supply side is effected (not enough supply), the cost of food commodities goes up, which then affects the most impoverished people who then can not afford to buy food.

Progress in reducing the number of hungry people

• The millennium development goal (MDG) was to halve the number of undernourished people by 2015 from their number in 1990-92.

• The (estimated) number of undernourished people in developing countries was 824 million in 1990-92, but in 2010 it is over 1 billion

• So, overall, the world is not making progress toward the MDG set 10 years ago

Child Malnutrition

• Children are the most visible victims of malnutrition.• Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160

days of illness each year. • Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9

million child deaths each year--five million deaths.• Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease,

including measles and malaria. (ie) when you are under/malnourshed, fighting other types of ailments becomes that harder

• Malnutrition, as measured by stunting, affects 32.5 percent of children in developing countries--one of three (de Onis 2000).

Birth and Hunger

• In many cases, their plight began even before birth with a malnourished mother.

• Under-nutrition among pregnant women in developing countries leads to 1 out of 6 infants born with low birth weight. (LBW)

• This is not only a risk factor for neonatal deaths, but also causes learning disabilities, mental delays, poor health, blindness and premature death.

Myth - Not Enough Food Produced• World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per

person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase.

• The requirement for a healthy individual is 2, 000 kcal per person per day

• This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO)

• The problem is the unequal distribution of food in the world (developed world averages 3400 kcal vs. developing world often with less than the required 2000 kcal/day)

• Even in countries that have excess food, large numbers are starving. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 78 percent of all malnourished children aged under five live in countries with food surpluses

• The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina

Food expenditure for one week: $341.98Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

United States: The Caven family of California

Food expenditure for one week: $159.18Favorite foods: beef stew, berry yogurt sundae, clam chowder, ice cream

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide

Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs

and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding

France: The Le Moines of Montreuil

Food expenditure for one week:315.17 euros or $419.95Favorite Foods:Delphine Le Moine's Apricot Tarts, pasta carbonara, Thai food

Canada: The Melansons of Iqaluit, Nunavut Territory

Food expenditure for one week:US$345Favorite Foods:narwhal, polar bear, extra cheese stuffed crust pizza, watermelon

Greenland: The Madsens of Cap Hope

Food expenditure for one week:1,928.80 Danish krone or $277.12Favorite Foods:polar bear, narwhal skin, seal stew

Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City

Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips

Australia: The Browns of River View

Food expenditure for one week:481.14 Australian dollars or US$376.45Family Recipe:Marge Brown's Quandong (an Australian peach) Pie, Yogurt

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca

Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

China: The Dong family of Beijing

Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo

Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53Family recipe: Okra and mutton

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village

Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

India: The Patkars of Ujjain

Food expenditure for one week:1,636.25 rupees or $39.27Family Recipe:Sangeeta Patkar's Poha (Rice Flakes)

Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar

Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02Family recipe: Mutton dumplings

Turkey: The Celiks of Istanbul

Food expenditure for one week:198.48 New Turkish liras or $145.88Favorite Foods:Melahat's Puffed Pastries

Guatemala:The Mendozas of Todos Santos

Food expenditure for one week:573 Quetzales or $75.70Family Recipe:Turkey Stew and Susana Perez Matias's Sheep Soup

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo

Food expenditure for one week: $31.55Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage

Mali: The Natomos of Kouakourou

Food expenditure for one week:17,670 francs or $26.39Family Recipe:Natomo Family Rice Dish

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp

Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

Poverty is the principal cause of hunger.

• The World Bank estimates that there are over 1 billion poor people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a day or less

• Progress in poverty reduction has been noticed in Asia, and especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China.

• In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people living in extreme poverty has increased.

Conflict as a cause of hunger and poverty.

• Most people become refugees or are internally displaced as a result of conflict; many end up in refugee camps where they suffer malnourishment

• In times of conflict, food can also be used as a weapon. Governments or rebel groups can burn warehouses and crops to keep people weak to prevent them from revolting.

• Countries with unstable governments may choose to spend their money on the military than on issues such as hunger, poverty and diseases

THE COST OF 1 MISSLE MAY FEED A SCHOOL FULL OF CHIDLREN FOR 5 YEARS

Natural Factors

• Hunger can be caused by natural causes such as drought, earthquakes, and flooding.

• In these cases, developed nations may provide temporary emergency aid to help provide food and water to those in need

Increasing emphasis on export-oriented agriculture

• Many farmers in the developing world have been forced into cash cropping versus growing food for their immediate family

• Often times the price that they are paid for their crops are very low which keeps them in poverty and in turn not being able to afford to buy food

Hunger is also a cause of poverty.

• By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people's ability to work and learn.

Effects of Chronic Hunger

• High infant-mortality rates • Increased vulnerability to common illnesses• Acute vulnerability in times of natural

disasters• Poor physical and mental development of

children• Poor economic growth of society• A source of potential conflict

Micronutrients

• Quite a few trace elements or micronutrients--vitamins and minerals--are important for health.

• 1 out of 3 people in developing countries are affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies, according to the World Health Organization.

• Three--perhaps the most important in terms of current health consequences for poor people in developing countries--are:

Vitamin A

• Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness and reduces the body's resistance to disease.

• In children Vitamin A deficiency can also cause growth retardation.

• Between 100 and 140 million children are vitamin A deficient.

• An estimated 250,000 to 500 000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight. (World Health Organization)

Xerophthalmia. Also known as xerophthalmus. The dry cornea and conjunctiva found in vitamin A deficiency.

Estimates predict that more than five million children develop xerophthalmia annually and that a quarter million or more become blind from the effects of vitamin A deficiency.

Keratomalacia – Vitamin A

Vitamin A – World Deficiency Map

Iron• Iron deficiency is a principal cause of anemia (lack of

energy)• Two billion people—over 30 percent of the world’s

population—are anemic, mainly due to iron deficiency, and, in developing countries, frequently exacerbated by malaria and worm infections.

• For children, health consequences include premature birth, low birth weight, infections, and elevated risk of death. Later, physical and cognitive development are impaired, resulting in lowered school performance.

• For pregnant women, anemia contributes to 20 percent of all maternal deaths (World Health Organization).

Iodine

• Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) jeopardize children’s mental health– often their very lives.

• Serious iodine deficiency during pregnancy may result in stillbirths, abortions and congenital abnormalities such as cretinism, a grave, irreversible form of mental retardation that affects people living in iodine-deficient areas of Africa and Asia.

• IDD also causes mental impairment that lowers intellectual prowess at home, at school, and at work. IDD affects over 740 million people, 13 percent of the world’s population. Fifty million people have some degree of mental impairment caused by IDD (World Health Organization).

Scurvy – Vitamin C

Pellagra – niacin/tryptophan (amino acid)

Beriberi – B1

WHAT ABOUT THE

SOLUTIONS?