World hunger is a real problem facing many countries. People hate worrying about the source of their next meal; however, over 800 million people worldwide, with the majority from developing countries, battle with chronic food deprivation every day.
Global hunger is difficult to escape, causing individuals to become prone to disease and less productive, and making them unable to better their income and improve their livelihoods.
With people worldwide producing food that can feed everybody, why are numerous people still hungry?
Read on to discover everything you need to know about world hunger and what world hunger charities are doing to help fight this menace.
You can assist these organizations through donations, support, and by leaving a bequest to charity. Consider reading the leaving a bequest to charity: article to learn more.
Why World Hunger Is a Problem
According to the FAO, while the world managed to reduce hunger considerably from 1991 to 2004, it has witnessed an increase since then.
To understand why there’s still global hunger, you’ll need first to identify some leading causes of hunger in underdeveloped countries.
Conflict: Conflicts often lead to people abandoning their homes and sometimes their countries, affecting the displaced’ right to work. Regardless of whether you move or remain in your home, conflict still disrupts the supply chain and livelihood.
Horrifyingly, hunger is sometimes used as a war weapon, resulting in intentional blockage of supply chains, stolen livestock, and destroyed land.
According to an OECD report, 76.5 percent of impoverished people live in economies affected by violence, conflict, and fragility. After the COVID-19 pandemic, about 120 million more people continue to fall into extreme poverty due to the pandemic’s socio-economic impact.
Extreme Poverty: Six hundred and eighty-nine million people are extremely poor, according to a World Bank report. That’s almost one in ten people surviving on below $1.90 each day. Therefore, these people lack the money to buy enough food for their family.
Gender Inequality: Women often make up half of developing countries’ agricultural workforce. Yet, they don’t have equal access to the resources and tools men have, including land, credit, water, raw materials, and organic inputs.
When women are adequately educated, it reduces infant mortality risk by five to ten percent. A report on “Education for All Global Monitoring” from UNESCO shows that if every woman went through secondary education, it’ll reduce child deaths by half and save close to three million lives each year. Sadly, in Sub-Saharan Africa, only eight percent of girls complete secondary school education.
Climate Change: About 80 percent of the extremely poor stay in rural areas and depend on their ability to grow sufficient food for their households.
Thus, they’re more vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters like flooding and drought. These disasters occur more frequently, destroying crops. More so, the communities are left with nothing to eat and no seeds for next year’s planting.
The FAO report on Work on Climate Change estimates that about 133 million additional people might go into extreme poverty before 2030 due to the climate crisis.
Strategies for Ending World Hunger
Global hunger is a severe issue; thus, several world hunger charities employ different strategies to tackle this menace. Sometimes, it involves working with government agencies or embarking on sensitization programs.
The following are ways food donation charities help to tackle world hunger:
Access to Credit: Many hunger relief organizations help people in underdeveloped countries gain credit access. They also help repay these credit loans sometimes and create industries, such as agricultural processing plants, to develop nations economically and ensure sustainable provision for the people.
When people don’t have credit access, they can’t create industries to combat industry.
Sustainable Food: Many world hunger organizations focus on agriculture and funding projects to enable people to procure food for themselves but in a sustainable manner. That way, many impoverished countries won’t need aid from foreign countries and can start controlling their regular food supply.
Transitioning: Several families battling poverty often need help moving into a self-dependent state. Some world hunger relief organizations help with that transition.
From providing food for the families, they work to find solutions to make families self-sufficient and empower them. That way, they wouldn’t always rely on donations, which often doesn’t guarantee food.
Food Donations: Although it’d be best to make the whole country self-sustainable, it won’t happen overnight. So food charities lend a helping hand till self-sustainability is achieved.
Cash and food donations have had massive impacts on world hunger. However, more effort is needed. Organizations like Food for Life Global have made considerable strides in combating world hunger, especially in Africa and Asia. Last year alone, they raised millions of dollars to fight hunger in Africa.
Access to Education: One significant way to tackle hunger and poverty is through adequate education. Education is a powerful tool to create more access to food, income, and better opportunity in underdeveloped countries.
Some countries run food-for-education programs for students to enjoy free food in school. While this might appear like a basic idea in developed nations like the United States, it’s lifesaving in several underdeveloped countries.
Birth Control Education: Population bursts constitute a significant problem when fighting to eradicate world hunger. Most people can’t access contraceptives or aren’t educated on reproduction. Therefore, world hunger organizations help people get access to contraceptives for family planning.
Empowering Women: There’s a direct correlation between gender inequalities and hunger. When you empower women to be providers, get access to food, and lead their families, there’ll be a significant impact on changing their financial situations and food access.
Urban Farming: Nearly one-quarter of impoverished people live in urban environments. Presently, world hunger charities are pushing for urban farming. Urban farming helps empower families to control their food sources; that way, they’ll have enough for their households.
Government Intervention: Aid to underdeveloped countries needs to be focused on government intervention, such as programs providing food to children in poor homes.
While developed countries like the US have similar feeding programs, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa suffering from extreme hunger need to adopt these programs. And food relief organizations need to work with the government to achieve this goal.
Social Change: Many social issues like war are a significant problem in stopping world hunger. However, social change can only happen when these humanitarian organizations pressurize their governments to work hard in ending conflicts.
Often, when countries engage in war, people get displaced, agricultural produce is destroyed, and people’s livelihood is affected.
Final Thoughts
World hunger is a severe issue affecting almost all countries. With the Covid-19 pandemic disrupting the whole economy, people struggle to live above $1.90 per day, especially in underdeveloped countries.
Hunger relief organizations have a considerable role to play in feeding the hungry and ending global hunger. That’s why Food for Life Global commits millions of dollars towards feeding the poor in Africa and other continents ravaged by extreme poverty. You can also be part of this mission by becoming a sponsor. Check out their website for more details.