Child Hunger: 3 Million Deaths Annually - Essay Sample

Introduction

This paper explores the hunger effects of children around the world. For children to have a brighter and healthier future, they need to eat healthy foods daily to avoid malnutrition and diseases related to unhealthy diets. There are more than 20 million underweight infants born each year In the USA. Nearly more than 50% of deaths of children below the age of 5 are malnutrition and hunger. It is quite overwhelming that the number of deaths of children who die as a result of hunger stands at 3.1 million per year. The means that hunger amongst children is a great pandemic in low-income areas as they cannot afford all the necessities. Nearly 13 million children face starvation, and the majority are not aware of where or what their next meal will come from.

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Hunger

Hunger amongst children doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of access to food; it is a lack of access to the right nutrients. Children need a range of variety of foods with essential health benefits. Several factors can lead to hunger among children in our societies today. They include poor farming methods, unhealthy eating habits, HIV/AIDS, poverty, the inadequacy of clean water and sanitation, lack of proper medication in low-income areas, and unfavorable weather patterns. Most children living in poverty have a higher risk of being malnourished and having a significant risk of developing mental health problems as compared to their affluent counterparts. (Louise,2018).The risk of hunger amongst children can contribute to an increase in the risk of infections, death, and stagnant development, leading to low incomes in adults, derailed economic growth, and intergenerational transmission of poverty. Children who are malnourished are prone to attacks and most likely die from common diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, diseases, and respiratory infections because their immunity is not viable. Furthermore, they are at higher risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension when they grow up.

The UN reveals that under sustainable development if women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced upto150 million. Women are at the frontline in fighting against hunger in children because they are responsible for preparing, growing, and harvesting food and later selling them to developing countries. Unfortunately, therefore are usually underrepresented in making policies at the forums. Furthermore, hunger in children starts at birth. When a lactating mother lacks the required food to process milk, the child will be adversely affected because he will lack the necessary nutrients for the body.

Child hunger mostly affects third world countries of the world that still relies on the developed nations to offer support. These foreign aid assist the vulnerable, worsening the situation due to over-reliance on foreign aid by the affected countries. The relevant authorities should initiate long term solutions to curb this menace. Over-reliance on rain feed farming should be abandoned, and new technology farming e.g., use of irrigation, should be spearheaded, environmental conservation should be adhered to reduce the effects of global warming and desertification. Should all these proposals be implemented, child hunger will be a thing of the past, and children around the world will leave a healthy life free from hunger. Let’s all unite to fight hunger. (William, 2009)

References

Lumbers, W. (Ed.). (2009). Ending World Hunger:School lunches for Children around the World. WPF/Maxime. doi: ISBN-978-0972-462983

Spilbury, L. (2018). Poverty and Hunger children in our world stories. Hachetes children group. doi: 1526300540, 9781526300546