Where does fasting exist in the world today? What are some of the causes of world hunger? Can citizens of developed countries donate a monthly, ongoing relief effort? In this article I will look at these issues with the hope that by creating an understanding of the current situation of world hunger, morally conscious people will do their part to help eradicate this invisible suffering.
It is well known that there is enough food in the world to feed every person on earth. Unfortunately, malnutrition and hunger are still suffering from every seven people in the world today. Or, from a slightly different statistical point of view, the current population of the world is 4,712,200,000 people. The number of undernourished people is 797.9 million. Therefore, 17% of the world's population is currently undernourished or starving. Regardless of how you view the problem, the current crisis is already near. Why is this so?
The reasons for starvation are complex, but there are some common themes that seem to be related to this problem. First of all, hunger is caused by poverty. To solve the problem of world hunger, it is necessary to solve the problem of global poverty. Therefore, the question we must consider is the cause of poverty. A deep discussion of the causes of global poverty is beyond the scope of this article. Whole textbooks have been written on this topic. For our discussion, it is enough to say that one of the main causes of poverty is the management of policies that impede self-sufficiency.
Starvation areas are also characterized by persistent problems in growing food due to the lack of seeds, arable land and tools. Food growers must deal with insects, droughts, floods, and war, which can lead to the complete destruction of crops. Historically, in areas of Africa there have been periodic locust infestations that can completely destroy crops.
Other causes of world hunger are linked to the globalization of the food production system. The globalization of food production and trade contributes to the use of export crops, while at the same time discriminating against small farmers and natural crops. Many third world countries export a lot of food, while not saving enough food to sustain their own people.
AIDS is a serious cause of hunger. In societies affected by AIDS, hunger is more deadly and difficult to fight. Why is this so? AIDS affects the most productive people in society. Fewer productive people in society means fewer people working in the workplace who are involved in food production. This is one of the factors of hunger that is currently happening in Africa.
Weather plays an important role in terms of the prevalence of hunger. Drought areas result in unused land followed by famine. This is well known. But less is known that floods can also lead to famine. Cultures can be flooded and, therefore, destroyed, which, in fact, leads to the same result as drought. In both cases, the weather can lead to a complete lack of self-sufficiency.
Military conflicts, both internal and between neighboring countries, can lead to famine. These conflicts can lead to the destruction of crops. Government money is used to finance the conflict by starving people. Funds are diverted from social and economic development. Military conflicts can also lead to the movement of large groups of people, their removal from their farms and their way of life. People may end up in refugee camps completely dependent on assistance.
The causative factors of world hunger are numerous, and some factors change from year to year, so at any given time some areas may be earlier than others. The degree of drought, floods, internal conflicts and war with neighboring countries may change over time. Therefore, these factors included a variable affect depending on the extent to which people in sensitive countries suffer from hunger.
The combination of these causal factors in a particular region is a formula for disaster. When this happens, large-scale starvation can occur. Example. The Horn of Africa has seen some terrible in combination with internal conflicts. This leads to the development of tragedy. In this region, currently 11 million people are on the verge of starvation.
Historically, hunger and famine prevail in some parts of the world. These areas are the central region of South America, large regions of East, Central and Southern Africa and regions of South Asia. As of 2006, the current hot spots, those areas that suffer the most hunger, are as follows:
Niger:
This area in Central Africa is struggling to cope with the devastating effects of drought and locust.
Haiti:
In this region, extreme poverty is further aggravated by political crisis, floods, tropical storms and hurricanes.
Horn of Africa:
An estimated 11 million people in the Horn of Africa are “on the verge of starvation” due to various droughts and war. Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia need food aid, water, new cattle and seeds. This is a serious crisis of hunger in development.
Afghanistan:
The poverty in Afghanistan, aggravated by the worst, has contributed greatly to their starvation problem.
Pakistan:
A recent earthquake coupled with a harsh winter caused hungry conditions. Recently, mud slides have hampered relief efforts.
North Korea:
Food insecurity caused by the economic problems of countries is exacerbated by unpredictable and severe weather conditions. To date, the North Korean government has not fulfilled its responsibility to provide for its starving people. The North Korean government actually refused foreign aid.
Colombia:
The 40-year civil conflict and drug trafficking have led to massive displacement and poverty.
Democratic Republic of Congo:
3.4 million people were displaced internally as a result of ongoing internal conflict.
Mali:
They are struggling to cope with the devastating effects of the recent drought.
South Africa:
Unexpected weather, lack of seeds and fertilizers, chronic poverty and AIDS are factors contributing to hunger.
These are the areas of the world that are currently suffering from the highest levels of malnutrition and hunger. With this understanding of where relief efforts are needed, we must consider the question of an individual response. Are individuals from developed countries victims of relief efforts? Most morally conscious people donate relief efforts when a problem is presented to them.
The main problem in relief efforts is the total number of developed countries, not knowing about the current famine crisis. News organizations, in particular television news, do not pay enough attention to the global situation of hunger. Although an in-depth discussion of the reasons for this is beyond the scope of this article, several points can be made.
Obviously, American television news organizations do not think that world hunger is a big part of history, because hunger is a daily occurrence. I suspect, from the point of view of these news organizations, that 24,000 people a day, dying of hunger, are not big enough news. When 1,386 people died from Hurricane Katrina, the news coverage was intense. Five months after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, television news organizations still squeezed everything they could from this story. Of course, it was an obvious tragedy, but an even greater tragedy, much more, occurs in Africa, and the general public does not even know about it.
I almost did not see the coverage given by the American television news organizations about the devastating famine crisis in the Horn of Africa. I just found out about this crisis through RSS feeds on the Internet. Television news organizations, such as CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC, have not yet reported this crisis. Hope this will change.
Obviously, American television news organizations do not really give full and complete news, except that they watch the events and only provide what they think might be interesting to their audience. News organizations must submit news and at the same time maintain high journalistic standards. Perhaps these news organizations should include a higher level of moral commitment in the decision-making process, when deciding which stories should cover. In any case, people cannot sacrifice unless they know that the problem exists.
We looked at some key issues to characterize the current status of the world hunger strike. We looked at where hunger is the most common in the world today, and we identified some of the causes that contribute to malnutrition, hunger and hunger. We concluded that the majority of morally conscious people will contribute to the elimination of hunger, if they know about the crisis. Finally, we noticed that there was a shortage of hunger in the world of television news organizations.
Despite the fact that television news organizations do not cover the current crisis of hunger in the world, after reading this article, you have developed an understanding of how widespread hunger is in today's world. If you are reading this in a developed country, which is very likely, since you are reading it on a computer with Internet access, you have a moral obligation to donate either time or money to help eliminate invisible suffering. Winston Churchill once said: "We make a living by what we receive, but we make life by what we give." We must all contribute to eliminating world hunger.
