No one need die of HUNGER!

H ow would you react if a grubby (dirty), malnourished child tugged at your clothes, begging for money to buy food? Shoo the child away, like a parasite or dig into the wallet and drop a coin into the dirty little hand? The reaction is certainly hard to predict; certainly not because people are reluctant to part with a rupee or two to help the little child, but because a majority of the beggars are not genuinely in such a dire need as they imply. Most often, children are used by unscrupulous adults to collect money.

Even though this is the truth, a child begging for money to appease his hunger pangs, never fails to pull at our heart-strings. Hunger pangs are hard to bear, especially if one has not eaten a morsel of food, leave alone a proper meal, for days!

Many of you may not be able to even imagine how hard life could be, if one had to struggle daily to find some food to eat. But, that's what most people have to face today, especially those who are extremely poor. Many children come to school without eating anything and sometimes go to bed, hungry too. It's a pathetic situation no one can or should turn away from simply because it does not affect us. Poverty is of course the main cause for this.

Even though poverty and hunger are two different issues that need to be dealt with they are inter connected; they go hand-in-hand to bring a lot of misery and strife into the lives of millions of people around the world.

Would you believe that the number of hungry people in this world passed the one billion mark this year? It has been estimated that about 1.02 billion people are struggling globally without food and are facing chronic hunger. Even in one country, one third of the children are malnourished.

It is indeed hard to imagine that a world that has made such vast strides in technological development and progressed to the point of exploring life on other planets in outer space, is finding it hard to feed the hungry and prevent deaths which occur as a result of it.

No one should die because of hunger - but unfortunately it's happening and is the shocking truth. Every six seconds a child dies in some part of this world either due to hunger or hunger related causes. There are over 400 million children in the world blighted by malnutrition. Hunger negatively affects brain development in children setting back their chances of achieving successful lives as adults. These are some of the hard facts we've got to face as we deal with man's battle against hunger.

However, man's battle against hunger is not something new. It's not something we are facing because of the growing population and scarcity of resources. No, it's something that began from the time man first stalked the now extinct mammoth and started prodding the soil to grow some measly plants that produced food.

Even in ancient times man was plagued by famines which led to the death of both man and animal. Without any food to eat, man has been driven in the past to eat cats and dogs, bird droppings and even human flesh. Cannibalism was nothing strange in some parts of the world where food was scarce. But let's certainly hope it would never come to that in this modern world where chronic hunger has raised its ugly head once more.

Feeding the world's hungry people is no easy task and even the United Nations' main component responsible for ensuring world food security - the World Food Programme (WFP) is facing a 'moment of crisis' as they claim, in this connection due to lack of funds. Billions of dollars are needed to ensure that the countries depending on foreign aid to feed the hungry are not left high and dry.

With the current global economic recession, high commodity prices, climate change and weather related disasters adding to the economic crisis, the WFP is struggling to collect the funds needed to meet the 2009 budget of about 6.7 billion US dollars needed to ensure world food security. Presently not even half of it has been collected.

So, let's focus on this problem of hunger faced by millions of people around the world. Before you waste food, think twice. Stop grumbling about the food you are given to eat even though there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, except your desire to eat something defferent".People are dying of hunger in our world today. NO one need die due to lack of food when there's plenty to go around. It's up to us to make the difference, now.

When is the World Food Summit?

The FAO Council, meeting in Rome from 15-19 June, this year has agreed to hold the third World Food Summit in November 2009 in order to strengthen commitment from world leaders to eradicate hunger by 2025 and to address the root causes of the present situation through the full implementation of the Human Right to Food

The costs of hunger

8 million people die from lack of food and nutrition every year - about 24,000 deaths each day.

Every year, 5.8 million children die from hunger related-causes. Every day, that's 16,000 young lives lost.

* For the first time in history, over 1.02 billion people do not have enough to eat. That's one sixth of humanity - more than the population of the United States, Canada and the European Union combined.

907 million of the 1.02 billion are from developing countries.

Source: FAO Hunger Report 2008

Fast facts

*One in seven people in the world go to bed hungry.

* Over 20 million people in East African countries depend on international food aid.

* The world's hungry people is expected to reach a historic high this year with 1.02 billion people going hungry every day.This is roughly an increase of 100 million more than last year, representing one-sixth of all humanity.

* According to FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf, many of the world's poor and hungry are smallholder farmers in developing countries

* The global food insecurity situation has worsened and continues to represent a serious threat for humanity, with food prices remaining stubbornly high in developing countries

* The world population is expected to grow by 50 per cent and reach 9 billion by 2050.

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world Food Day

Let;s be prepared for a crisis

In four days time, we will be observing a very important world day that affects the entire world. That is World Food Day Which is annually held on October 16 to commemorate the founding of the United Nations' (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Each year it is held under a different theme. With the present economic crisis that has had a strong impact on the food security of the world, especially the countries which are dependent on international food aid, this years's theme is "Achieving food security in times of crisis"

What do people do?

Many events are organised on and around World Food Day. A wide-ranging programme is organised at The World Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy aimed at leaders of political and non-political organisations at all levels and at increasing press attention on topical issues around food supply. .

Across the globe, many different events are organised to raise awareness of problems in food supply and distribution and to raise money to support projects to aid in the cultivation of food plants and the distribution of food. The FAO aims to raise levels of nutrition across the globe, improve agricultural productivity at all levels, enhance the lives of rural populations and contribute to the growth of the world economy. It also provides assistance to countries changing their agricultural policy, to aid regions out of famine situations, to help implement appropriate technology and facilitate a neutral environment to discuss issues around food production.

At the FAO's 20th session in Rome, Italy, in November 1979 the conference called for the observance of World Food Day on October 16, 1981, and on the same date each year.

The UN General Assembly ratified this decision on December 5, 1980, and urged governments and international, national and local organizations to contribute to observing World Food Day which has been held each year since 1981.

Fact: With an estimated increase of 105 million hungry people in 2009, there are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger.

Facts and pix :Internet