Was reading the Straits Times yesterday and I couldn't ignore the huge page of statistics on hunger. It startled me that hunger and malnutrition are the number 1 risk to health worldwide- greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined! Ok the following are some of the intriguing stats:
Every 5 Seconds, a child dies because he is hungry
10.9 children under 5 die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition & hunger-related diseases cause 60% of the deaths
684,000 child deaths worldwide can be prevented by giving children vitamin A & zinc
sources: The straits times-> from WFP, WHO, UNICEF
The causes of this pandemic in starvation and malnutrition are poverty, natural disasters, war, agricultural and infrastructural related. Without doubt, poverty is greatest cause of all of this, rendering the victims with no ability and access to food. The sight of the article made me think of Jeffrey Sach's- The end of poverty.
One of the millenium development goals of the UN is to halve poverty in the world by 2015. I can still vividly recall researching evidence for my essay on "How would I solve poverty if I were the President of the World". From the UN site (if I'm not mistaken), projects and progress in the sub-saharan region are behind time and likewise for east asia. The possibility of attaining the goal looks bleak to me at the moment, nevertheless, in this cause optimism is imperative.
It frightens me to know that there are people dying on this planet as I continue to live my life oblivious to their pain and sufferring. As I'm typing this, I just feel this urge to go... stop everything I'm doing with my life and go out there to help these people. But I know it's not possible or maybe inappropriate. The least I can do as a responsible human being would be to share this message with others through my blog here :)
If you notice on the right hand column, there's an advert which flashes "Free Rice; Play and feed a hungry person". Go on right ahead and hone your vocab skills while donating rice to the poor. The sponsors to the website will provide 20 grains of rice to the needy with every correct answer!
AND if you have facebook, join the group "Feed a child with just a click!", there are tons of links to discussions, statistics, facts to do with hunger in this world.
