WUNRN
WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME
WHAT IS HUNGER?
Hunger and malnutrition are still the number one risks to health
worldwide.
In the final quarter of the 20th century, humanity was winning the war on
its oldest enemy. From 1970-1997, the number of hungry people dropped from 959
million to 791 million -- mainly the result of dramatic progress in reducing
the number of undernourished in China and India.
In the second half of the 1990s, however, the number of chronically hungry in
developing countries started to increase at a rate of almost four million per
year. By 2001-2003, the total number of undernourished people worldwide had
risen to 854 million: 820 million in developing countries, 25 million in
countries in transition and nine million in industrialised countries.
Today, one in nearly seven people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead
an active life, making hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health
worldwide -- greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
HUMANITY'S OLDEST ENEMY
Acute
hunger or starvation
are often highlighted on TV screens: hungry mothers too weak to breastfeed
their children in drought-hit Ethiopia, refugees in war-torn Darfur
queueing for food rations, helicopters airlifting high energy biscuits to
earthquake victims trapped in Pakistan or
Indonesia.
Such dramatic images are the result of high profile crises like war or natural
disasters, which starve a population of food. But emergencies account for less
than eight percent of hunger's victims.
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Malnourished child. Horn of Africa drought, 2006 |
Daily undernourishment is a less visible form of hunger -- but it affects many
more people, from the shanty towns of Jakarta in Indonesia and the Cambodian
capital Phnom Penh to the mountain villages of Bolivia and Nepal. In these
places, hunger is much more than an empty stomach.
For weeks, even months, its victims must live on significantly less than the
recommended 2,100 calories that the average person needs to lead a healthy
life.
The body compensates for the lack of energy by slowing down its physical and
mental activities. A hungry mind cannot concentrate, a hungry body does not
take initiative, a hungry child loses all desire to play and study.
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Hunger:
how much food for a healthy life? |
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The
total amount of energy and protein needed by different individuals varies
greatly according to age, sex, body size, the amount of physical activity
and, to some extent, climate |
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On
average, the body needs more than 2,100 kilocalories per day per person to
allow a normal, healthy life |
Hunger also weakens the immune system. Deprived of the right nutrition, hungry
children are especially vulnerable and become too weak to fight off disease and
may die from common infections like measles and diarrhoea. Each year, almost 11
million children die before reaching the age of five; malnutrition is
associated with 53 percent of these deaths (source: Caulfield et al., The American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition. 2004 July), claiming one child's life every five
seconds.
QUALITY NOT JUST QUANTITY
Labelled
as the largest single contributor to disease by the UN's standing committee on
nutrition, malnutrition is the result of inadequate dietary intake,
infection, or both. It is more about quality than quantity of food.
Even if people get enough to eat, they will become malnourished if the food
does not provide the proper amounts of micronutrients - vitamins and minerals -
to meet daily nutritional requirements.
Each form of malnutrition depends on what nutrients are missing in the diet,
for how long and at what age.
The most basic kind is called protein energy malnutrition . It results
from a diet lacking in energy and protein because of a deficit in all major
macronutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Marasmus is caused by a lack of protein and energy with
sufferers appearing skeletally thin. In extreme cases, it can lead to kwashiorkor,
in which malnutrition causes swelling including a so-called 'moon face'.
Other forms of malnutrition are less visible - but no less deadly. They are
usually the result of vitamin and mineral deficiencies (micronutrients),
which can lead to anaemia, scurvy, pellagra, beriberi and xeropthalmia and,
ultimately, death..
Deficiencies of iron, vitamin A and zinc are ranked among the World Health
Organization's (WHO) top 10 leading causes of death through disease in
developing countries:
- Iron deficiency is the most prevalent form of malnutrition worldwide,
affecting billions of people.
Iron forms the molecules that carry oxygen in the blood, so symptoms of a deficiency include tiredness and lethargy. Lack of iron in large segments of the population severely damages a country's productivity. Iron deficiency also impedes cognitive development, affecting 40-60 percent of children aged 6-24 months in developing countries (source: Vitamin & Mineral Deficiency, a global damage assessment report, Unicef). - Vitamin A deficiency weakens the immune systems of a large proportion of
under-fives in poor countries, increasing their vulnerability to disease.
A deficiency in vitamin A, for example, increases the risk of dying from
diarrhoea, measles and malaria by 20-24 percent.
Affecting 140 million preschool children in 118 countries and more than seven million pregnant women, it is also a leading cause of child blindness across developing countries (source: UN Standing Committee on Nutrition's 5th Report on the World Nutrition Situation, 2005) - Iodine deficiency affects 780 million people worldwide. The clearest
symptom is a swelling of the thyroid gland called a goitre. But the most
serious impact is on the brain, which cannot develop properly without
iodine.
According to UN research, some 20 million children (source: Vitamin & Mineral Deficiency, a global damage assessment report, Unicef) are born mentally impaired because their mothers did not consume enough iodine. The worst-hit suffer cretinism, associated with severe mental retardation and physical stunting. - Zinc deficiency contributes to growth failure and weakened immunity in
young children. It is linked to a higher risk of diarrhoea and pneumonia,
resulting in nearly 800,000 deaths per year.
GLOBAL COST OF HUNGER
Hunger
not only weighs heavily on the individual. It imposes a crushing economic
burden on the developing world.
Economists estimate that every child whose physical and mental development is
stunted by hunger and malnutrition stands to lose five to 10 percent in
lifetime earnings.
Disability-adjusted years or DALYs measure the number of years lost as a
result both of premature death and of disabilities, adjusted for severity.
According to the 2004 FAO Food Insecurity Report, childhood and maternal
undernutrition cost an estimated 220 million DALYs in developing countries.
When other nutrition-related risk factors are taken into account, the toll
rises to 340 million DALYs -- equivalent to having a disaster kill or disable
the entire population of a country larger than the United States.
CHILD HUNGER
An estimated 126.5 million children in developing countries are underweight - the result of acute or chronic hunger (source: UN Standing Committee on Nutrition's 5th Report on the World Nutrition Situation, 2005). This means that 25 percent of all hungry people are children.
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Mother and child at the
Tahoua feeding centre run by CONCERN in Niger |
All too often, child hunger is inherited: up to 17 million children are
born underweight annually, the result of inadequate nutrition before and during
pregnancy. Undernourished infants lose their curiosity, motivation and even the
will to play. Millions leave school prematurely.
Chronic hunger also delays or stops the physical and mental growth of children.
Poor or insufficient nutrition over time means some 147 million children are
too small for their age. Most tragically, diseases such as measles or
dysentery, can kill undernourished children.
According to the FAO, every year that hunger continues at present levels costs
five million children their lives.
In adult life, child hunger gnaws away at the productivity of entire countries'
workforces. Economists estimate hunger is responsible for reducing the GNP of
some developing countries by two to four percent.
WOMEN
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Woman sifts sorghum delivered by WFP at Krinding shelter
in west Darfur. |
Women
are the world's primary food producers, yet cultural traditions and social
structures often mean women are much more affected by hunger and poverty than
men.
Around 50 per cent of pregnant women in developing countries are iron deficient
(source: Unicef).
Lack of iron means 315 million women die during childbirth every day. As a
result, women, in particular, expectant and nursing mothers, often need special
or increased intake of food.
Maternal stunting and underweight are also among the most prevalent causes of
giving birth to a low birthweight child.
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