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Hola Pau, ya estamos trabajando sobre la presentación.

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Hola equipo nos vemos mañana 7:45 en K4C, con chromebooks. Mañana es nuestro último día para terminar organizadores!!

Excelente trabajo equipo!!!! 🤩

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Why care about world hunger? Because hunger is a basic human need that everyone deserves to satisfy. Yet too many people around the world suffer regularly from hunger. According to the World Food Programme, more than 345 million people are facing high levels of food insecurity this year. That's more than the population of the United States!

So where does hunger stem from and what can be done to alleviate its effects? Let's dive in.

What is World Hunger?

World hunger refers to the chronic and widespread lack of access to enough nutritious food among populations worldwide. It is a complex problem that affects people of all ages and genders.

The Scope of World Hunger

World hunger affects hundreds of millions of people in different regions, with sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia being the most affected areas. Although most widespread in low-income countries, hunger also affects developed countries, where poverty and inequality persist.

What are the Causes of World Hunger?

What is the Number One Cause of World Hunger: Poverty and Inequality

According to the United Nations, "Hunger is increasing in many countries where economic growth is lagging, particularly in middle-income countries and those that rely heavily on international primary commodity trade." Poverty and inequality are among the leading causes of world hunger. Even though the world produces enough food for our global population, it can be out of reach for people living in poverty either because it quite literally doesn't reach their community or because they can't afford a diet with adequate nutrients. They are also more vulnerable to the effects of economic downturns and natural disasters, which can further exacerbate hunger.

Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

Climate change and environmental degradation, including deforestation and soil degradation, significantly impact food production and availability. Additionally, severe weather events like droughts and floods can decimate crops and contribute to food shortages. According to the World Food Programme, 1.7 billion people have been affected by extreme weather and climate-related disasters over the past decade.

Conflict and Displacement

Conflict and displacement are significant causes of world hunger, especially in regions affected by wars and civil unrest. Marie Haga, the Associate Vice-President of External Relations and Governance the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development notes that, "conflict is the main driver of hunger in most of the world's food crises." Conflict disrupts food production, distribution, and access, leading to widespread hunger and malnutrition.

Economic Factors

Economic factors, including trade policies and market dynamics, also contribute to world hunger. Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference

on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) writes that, "enhanced international and national measures on transparency and regulation are needed to ensure incomes arising from agriculture value chains are fairly shared by all actors. We also need improved market access and risk management tools for smallholder farmers, including for female farmers, to expand opportunities and reduce income volatility." Unequal distribution of wealth, lack of investment in agriculture, and volatile food prices can all affect food availability and affordability.

What are the Effects of World Hunger?

World hunger has far-reaching effects on individuals, communities, and nations.

Physical Effects

Hunger can lead to malnutrition, which can cause various physical health problems, including stunted growth, weakened immune systems, and increased risk of disease.

Almost nowhere are malnutrition's human and economic costs more stark than in Nigeria. The country has the second-highest number of malnourished children in the world. Fifteen million children under the age of five are stunted, and 30 million are anemic, according to figures from UNICEF. Seven percent of women of childbearing age also suffer from acute malnutrition.

As a result, Nigeria loses an estimated $1.5 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually due to diminished productivity and increased healthcare costs caused by malnutrition.

There are solutions to world hunger that can alleviate the burden on hardworking men, women, and families. Fortifying staple foods with essential vitamins and minerals, for instance, is one of the most effective ways of improving a population's nutrition.

The Micronutrient Fortification Index (MFI) developed by TechnoServe is a platform that enables food processing companies to publicly disclose and monitor their staple food fortification levels along with other quality system metrics. This groundbreaking platform is the first to offer a transparent and incentivized method to measure industry-wide progress on fortification.

Mental Effects

Hunger also has significant mental health consequences, particularly for children. Malnourished children may experience cognitive delays, difficulty concentrating, and behavioral problems.

As of November 2021, more than 26% of children under five years suffered from chronic malnutrition in Kenya. This can lead to serious health consequences like anemia, blindness, and brain damage. In addition to its devastating impact on families, malnutrition limits a country's economic potential, decreasing the productivity of its people and increasing healthcare costs.

The Strengthening African Processors for Food Fortification (SAPFF) program - a partnership between TechnoServe, Partners in Food Solutions, and the Bill and Melinda G ates Foundation - is working with food companies in Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania to improve their capacity to produce and sell fortified foods for local markets.

Social and Economic Effects

Hunger also affects social and economic development. It can decrease productivity, lower educational attainment, and increase healthcare costs. Additionally, hunger can perpetuate poverty and inequality, creating a cycle of deprivation.

In Jicarito, Honduras, María Castillo is a bean farmer. While southern Honduras has rich farmland, María and her family still struggled over the years with hunger. "We used to grow bad quality beans and have low productivity because we did not know the best practices," she recalls. Although María eventually worked with TechnoServe to improve her crops and income, her struggle with food insecurity isn't uncommon. Smallholder farms in Latin America and worldwide produce nearly 30% of the world's food supply, and close to 2 billion people depend on those farmers for food.

TechnoServe works with small- and medium-scale coffee and bean producers in Honduras, like María Castillo, to train them in better agronomic techniques. Staff is also working to improve the operations of more than 600 farmer organizations and to facilitate an improved environment for public policies related to climate change resilience.

As a result, nearly 30,000 producers in Honduras have access to $15.5 million in credit for inputs, farm maintenance, and infrastructure investments. After four crop cycles, bean farmers increased productivity by an average of 54%, substantially increasing incomes and reducing food insecurity.

María herself worked with TechnoServe to launch a rural savings and loan association, which sells agricultural inputs such as drought-resistant seeds. This helps prevent other community farmers from facing the same food insecurity that she once did.

How Can We Stop World Hunger?

Addressing world hunger requires a multifaceted approach that considers the complex nature of the problem. Some potential solutions include:

Increasing Agricultural Productivity

Investing in agriculture can increase food production and promote food security. This includes improving access to technology and training for farmers and providing financial incentives to increase production.

Rosa González is one of nearly 9,000 fruit and vegetable farmers in Guatemala and Nicaragua who learned how to improve the value of their produce, connect to new markets, and earn higher incomes.

This income is critical for Rosa, a single mother who relies on her farm to provide for her family, including her son, Ángel. He is "my greatest motivation," she says. "I want to give him an education. I want to teach him many things that I didn't get."

These dreams seem more possible for Rosa and Ángel since she joined TechnoServe's Smallholder Market Access Program with grant funding from the Walmart Foundation. TechnoServe worked with farmers like Rosa to help them escape poverty by providing agricultural training, helping them strengthen farmer business organizations, connecting them with agricultural exporters, and working across the value chains to make them more inclusive for women farmers.

Sustainable food systems can help reduce the impact of climate change on food production while ensuring equitable access to nutritious food. This includes promoting agroforestry, regenerative farming, and sustainable land use practices.

Food processors are the linchpins of the food supply chain and play an essential role in local economic growth, with the potential to drive a positive impact for smallholder farmers, consumers, and other actors across the food system.

TechnoServe helps processors identify and analyze business constraints and provides tailored guidance to help them improve operations, strengthen supply chains, connect to new markets, and access finance. With our support, food processors are able to grow, increase profits, and strengthen their local food system. Through this growth, they help create jobs, expand markets and trade, and increase access to safer, nutritious foods.

Severina Paul Mwakateba founded AA Nafaka in 2012, excited to help raise the incomes of local farmers and increase the supply of high-quality food available to Tanzanian consumers. This small, woman-owned business provides consumers with nutritious food like fortified flour, polished rice, and sunflower oil. It also provides a reliable market for smallholder farmers selling their crops.

In 2019, AA Nafaka made more than $60,000 in sales, with schools making up an important segment of its customer base. The company had the opportunity to expand even further in 2019 as well, as a result of the installation of additional milling equipment. However, the COVID-19 pandemic would confront the company with serious challenges.

With transportation restrictions and school closures in place, the company experienced both product distribution difficulties and the loss of an important part of its market. With the resulting drop in sales, AA Nafaka had to lay off seven of its employees and decrease its purchases from smallholders and aggregators by 60%.

With the pandemic threatening the operations and survival of food businesses like AA Nafaka, the Visa Foundation stepped in in 2021 to provide resiliency grants to eight African food processors. These grants were complemented by technical assistance from the Coalition for Farmer-Allied Intermediaries (CFAI), a group of pioneering organizations, including TechnoServe, that work with over 600 African food companies to strengthen the continent's food systems. TechnoServe and Partners in Food Solutions provided technical assistance to these firms through the Alliance for Inclusive and Nutritious Food Processing program, which is funded by USAID's Feed the Future initiative. As a result of this partnership, these African food businesses increased their sales by 70%, supporting stable markets for 1,500 farmers and creating new employment opportunities for nearly 100 workers.

In the case of AA Nafaka, TechnoServe's business advisors worked with the company's managers to help improve the company's sourcing and marketing strategies. Like many small food businesses, the company needed to shift its approach in order to survive the volatile market conditions.

TechnoServe also helped Severina and her team to develop an inclusive business plan that would enable the company to purchase its crops. The team also helped the company to improve the utilization rate of its processing facilities and adapt its marketing strategy.

With this support, AA Nafaka was able to persevere through the challenges of the pandemic and even rehire three of its employees who had been laid off. The company was also able to purchase more than $20,000 of crops directly from 112 smallholder farmers-80% of whom were women. And it purchased roughly the same amount from an aggregator that bought directly from smallholder farmers.

Supporting Vulnerable Populations

Targeted support for vulnerable populations, including women, children, and refugees, can help address the root causes of hunger.

When violence broke out in Rwanda in 1994, Athanasie Musabyimana was 20 years old and eight months pregnant. She fled to a refugee camp in Tanzania with her husband and son. The trip was arduous as she was nauseous and could barely walk. When they arrived, conditions were challenging. "We were packed together like blades of grass," Athanasie explains.

Athanasie gave birth to a daughter in the refugee camp. Because food supplies were limited in the camp, she couldn't breastfeed her daughter and feared the baby would die. Three of her children had tragically passed away previously, and so Athanasie named the little girl Nzamwitakuze, or "I will give you a name if you survive."

But her daughter did survive. They returned to Rwanda to settle down as farmers. Shortly afterward, Athanasie's husband died from malaria, leaving her a young widow, now with two children and her parents to support. She constantly struggled to make ends meet and feed her family.

So Athanasie turned to coffee farming. She joined TechnoServe's agronomy and business training program as part of the Coffee Initiative. Using what she learned from the program, Athanasie increased the yields and the quality of her coffee harvest. "From TechnoServe, I learned better composting, better pruning, and how to use fertilizer for coffee."

As her income grew over the years, Athanasie continued to invest in her farm, buying more land and doubling her coffee holdings. By 2014, Athanasie had tripled her income, earning approximately $420 for the year.

Athanasie now runs a successful coffee farm and has expanded into growing maize. The boost in income has enabled her to support her household of six, affording medical insurance for her extended family and school fees for her children. Athanasie's son, Ndimubanzi Jean Bosco, farms with his mother, and her younger daughter, Uwineza Denise, attends school.

Her daughter, Nzamwitakuze Dina, has not only survived but thrived: she recently completed the first phase of secondary school and hopes to attend college. The profits from her farm have also allowed Athanasie to start renovating and expanding her house.

Addressing Climate Change

Addressing climate change is critical to reducing the impact of severe weather occurrences on food production and availability. We can do this by working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote renewable energy, and invest in climate adaptation strategies.

TechnoServe is among many non-profits, businesses, and other groups around the world that are stepping up to meet this challenge. Our Regenerate 30 initiative aims to achieve the following impact by 2030:

30 million people with increased resilience

30% average income increase for farms and businesses

30 million tons of CO2e mitigated or sequestered

30 million acres of land under sustainable management or improved conservation

$300 million in private-sector investment

Find out more by downloading our PDF fact sheet on the initiative and by watching this YouTube Short about Regenerate 30.

Comprehensive Strategies for Addressing World Hunger

Global hunger is a complex problem with far-reaching effects on individuals, communities, and nations. Addressing hunger requires a comprehensive approach considering the various factors contributing to the problem. We can work towards a world free of hunger through targeted interventions and investments in agriculture, sustainable food systems, and vulnerable populations.

Test your understanding of the factors contributing to global hunger, its consequences, and possible remedies. Take our brief four-question quiz to assess your knowledge regarding hunger on a global scale.
RELATED BLOG POSTS:

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World Hunger: Causes, Effects, and Solutions %

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What are the causes and effects of world hunger, as well as possible solutions to stop it? Understand the impact of poverty & climate change.

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Terminar siguiente pregunta en tu tiempo de indagación en clase.

No olvides hacer los dibujos de cada pregunta.

Continuar con organizadores graficos.

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Continuar organizadores graficos

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Q6

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Investigación terminada: 17 de mayo

20- 24 de mayo: presentacion en google slides

27- 31 mayo: ensayos

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Skip to main content

The world produces enough food to feed all 7.5 billion people, yet more than 10% of the population goes hungry each day.

Since 2020, after years of progress towards zero hunger, numbers once again are on the rise.

A lot of this was due to the knock-on effects of COVID-19, but that's not the whole story.

Conflict and the worsening climate crisis, together with the ongoing effects of a global pandemic, have worked together to undermine the fight against hunger.

These issues also underscore some of the other top causes of world hunger.

Here are ten of those causes, what Concern is doing to address them, and how you can help.

Poverty and hunger go hand in hand. Parents and caregivers experiencing poverty usually can't afford enough food to feed themselves and their children - and, if they can, they often aren't able to afford nutrient-rich foods.

In turn, undernourishment makes it difficult for children to focus in school, hindering their chances of breaking what is often an intergenerational cycle of poverty. Parents (especially mothers) who skip meals so that their children have enough to eat may also struggle with working to earn enough money to keep food on the table. It's a vicious cycle.

We can see the link between poverty and hunger play out in larger statistics: The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the world's poorest countries. In 2022, nearly 62% of the country's 60 million residents lived below the poverty line. Earlier this year, the UN estimated that 43% of all Congolese are also living below the hunger line in a crisis that is only expected to grow.

Across regions like the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, farming families experience periods before harvests known as hunger seasons. These are the times of year when food supplies from the previous harvest are exhausted, but the next harvest is still a ways off. This leaves families forced to skip one (or more) meals each day in the period before the next harvest, which could be months away.

We've also seen food shortages increase in the last few years as the results of COVID-19 and the crisis in Ukraine. Border closures intended to curb the pandemic and trade routes interrupted due to conflict have prevented critical supplies from getting where they're needed most. Read on to learn how the situation in Ukraine, for instance, has fed the hunger crisis in Somalia.

Conflict and hunger form another vicious cycle.

A history of conflict has played out in tandem with a history of hunger in South Sudan. More than a decade of civil war has led to mass displacement and abandoned fields, meaning crops and harvests have failed. Conflict also has an economic impact: It often leads to soaring inflation rates that make imported (or even local) foods unaffordable for many residents.

International conflicts also carry a large impact. Pre-war, Ukraine and Russia exported 25% of the world's wheat supplies. Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan rely on this region - more than 8,000 km away - for staples. Those supply chains have been interrupted due to the conflict, and have left millions of people, including those affected by the ongoing drought in Horn of Africa, without a key lifeline.

Countries like Malawi enjoy relative peace and political stability. However, climate change is also a major cause of hunger, with each shock setting the most vulnerable people and communities further and further back.

Too little - or too much - rainfall can destroy harvests or reduce the amount of animal pasture available. These fluctuations are made worse by the El Niño weather system, and are likely to only get worse in the future. Extreme climate patterns also tend to affect the poorest regions of the world the most: The World Bank estimates that climate change has the power to push more than 100 million people into poverty over the next decade.

In order to thrive, humans need a range of foods providing a variety of essential health benefits. We mentioned above that families living in poverty often get food lower in nutrients. That's because many of these families rely on just one or two staple foods, like corn or wheat, for the majority of their meals. As a result, they don't get enough critical macronutrients and vitamins. Even if they feel full, they may still be suffering the effects of hunger, particularly malnutrition.

Nutrition is especially important for pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as young children. Mums-to-be who don't get enough vitamins and minerals during their pregnancy may "pass on" malnutrition to their children. If a child does not have the adequate nutritional support during their first 1,000 days between conception and their second birthday, they may also suffer lifetime health and developmental ramifications.

Systemic problems, like poor infrastructure or low investment in agriculture, often prevent food and water from reaching the populations that need them the most. This is especially true in fragile contexts. Many of the world's hungriest countries also experience some form of political instability or conflict. Political leaders often focus limited resources on these emergencies rather than the silent ones like hunger.

This can become further exacerbated if another disaster hits, creating a complex humanitarian crisis. With decades of crisis in Somalia, the latest drought to affect the region is one example of a complex emergency, one that - even with the long spring rain season delivering water to the area - could still lead to a famine.

After two civil wars and the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak, Liberia 's economy was left weakened by back-to-back crises.

Seven years after the end of the Ebola epidemic, more than 50% of Liberians still live below the poverty line. It also ranks as the eighth hungriest country in the world, with a 2022 Global Hunger Index score of 32.4.

Inflation as the result of a bad economy means that, even if food is available and people have jobs, they may not be able to afford even the most basic staples. Last year, the cost of a food basket rose by 66% in Ethiopia, and 36% in Somalia.

According to the World Food Programme, over 1 billion tonnes of food produced is never consumed. That's equivalent to us throwing out one-third of the global food supply every year.

What's more, producing this wasted food also uses other natural resources that, when threatened, have a ripple effect in the countries that are already hit hardest by hunger, poverty, and climate change. Producing this wasted food requires an amount of water equal to the annual flow of Russia's Volga River, and nearly 3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

The UN notes that if female farmers had the same access to resources as their male counterparts, the number of hungry people in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million. Female farmers are responsible for growing, harvesting, preparing, and selling the majority of food in poor countries, and they're just one example of the many ways that hunger is a women's issue.

Women are on the frontlines of the fight against hunger, yet they are frequently underrepresented at the forums where important decisions on policy and resources are made.

Hunger can be a cause of forced migration. Forced migration can also be a cause of hunger. Refugees and internally-displaced people living in displacement camps or informal communities are often legally or linguistically prevented from getting work to support their families while away from home (many refugees are also women and children, which means their options are even more limited).

Many refugees live in neighbouring countries, countries with limited resources to begin with. Some of the hungriest countries in the world are also among the largest host communities or have high rates of internal displacement. Food aid helps, but the problem of hunger and migration can only be resolved with a political solution.

How Concern addresses the causes of world hunger

From Afghanistan to Ukraine, Concern's Health and Nutrition programmes are designed to address the specific, intersectional causes of world hunger in each unique context. We work with displaced communities to deliver food supplies, as well as to help migrants build skills (including home gardening) and find sources of income that empower them to keep food on the table.

Programmes like Lifesaving Education and Assistance to Farmers (LEAF) support farmers affected by climate change to improve their harvests using Climate Smart Agriculture techniques, while also addressing existing cases of malnutrition in the community via our standard-setting programme, Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM). Thanks to LEAF, food aid was not needed in one region of Kenya for the first time in 30 years.

You can help us in the fight against hunger. Last year alone, Concern was able to reach 8.3 million people with lifesaving and life-changing Health and Nutrition initiatives. With $0.93 out of every dollar going directly into our programmes, your tax-deductible donation to Concern means that we can reach even more next year.

The causes of world hunger in context

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1 in 9 people go hungry each day - but why? Learn about the top 10 causes of world hunger, and what we're doing to solve them.

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The Root Causes of Global Hunger

The planet produces enough food to feed everyone on earth. Yet more than 3 billion people can't afford to eat a healthy diet.

Why?

Interconnected issues of poverty, inequity, conflict, climate change, gender discrimination, and weak government and health systems all play a role in keeping nutritious food out of reach for millions of families around the world.
Download 10 Facts About Hunger >>
When children don't have enough food, their brains and bodies suffer. It stops them from growing, learning, and working - from reaching their full potential. Without treatment, severe hunger can take children's lives.

It doesn't have to be this way: hunger is predictable, preventable, and treatable. With the right tools, we can save the lives of malnourished children and help them get the nutritious food they need to thrive. We can create a world free from hunger, for everyone, for good - first, we must tackle its root causes.

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Causes of Hunger | Action Against Hunger

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Poverty, inequality, conflict, climate change, gender discrimination, and weak government and health systems all play a role in driving hunger.

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John Saunders, Specialist registrar in clinical nutrition and gastroenterology and Trevor Smith, Consultant in clinical nutrition and gastroenterology

Key Points

Malnutrition is a common, under-recognised and undertreated condition in hospital patients

Disease-related malnutrition arises due to reduced dietary intake, malabsorption, increased nutrient losses or altered metabolic demands

Wide-ranging changes in physiological function occur in malnourished patients leading to increased rates of morbidity and mortality

Routine nutritional screening should be undertaken in all patients admitted to hospital using a validated tool such as the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool

Healthcare costs are significantly increased in malnourished patients

The term 'malnutrition' has no universally accepted definition. It has been used to describe a deficiency, excess or imbalance of a wide range of nutrients, resulting in a measurable adverse effect on body composition, function and clinical outcome.1 Although malnourished individuals can be under- or overnourished, 'malnutrition' is often used synonymously with 'undernutrition', as in this article.

The size of the problem

Malnutrition is a common, under-recognised and undertreated problem facing patients and clinicians. It is both a cause and consequence of disease and exists in institutional care and the community. Approximately 5% of the UK population are underweight with a body mass index (BMI) below 20 kg/m2, although obese individuals who unintentionally lose weight and subsequently have a BMI within the normal range are also at risk of malnutrition. Other patients become at risk as a result of an acute event (eg small bowel infarction), leaving them unable to meet their metabolic requirements both in the short and longer term. The prevalence of malnutrition increases by at least twofold in the elderly and those with chronic disease, and threefold in individuals living in institutional care.2

The prevalence of malnutrition in UK hospitals reported over the last 15 years ranges from 13-40%, many patients seeing a further decline in their nutritional status during hospital admission.3 A large survey conducted by the British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) in 2008 found that 28% of inpatients were at risk of malnutrition. The prevalence was higher in specific subpopulations: for example, 34% of all emergency admissions and 52% of admissions from care homes.4

Specific micronutrient deficiencies are also common, especially in the elderly: for example, folate deficiency has been described in 29% of the independent elderly population and 35% of those in institutional care.5

Causes of malnutrition

Malnutrition in developed countries is unfortunately still more common in situations of poverty, social isolation and substance misuse. However, most adult malnutrition is associated with disease and may arise due to:

reduced absorption of macro- and/or micronutrients

increased losses or altered requirements

increased energy expenditure (in specific disease processes).2

Dietary intake

Probably the single most important aetiological factor in disease-related malnutrition is reduced dietary intake. This is thought to occur due to reductions in appetite sensation as a result of changes in cytokines, glucocorticoids, insulin and insulin-like growth factors.6 The problem may be compounded in hospital patients by failure to provide regular nutritious meals in an environment where they are protected from routine clinical activities, and where they are offered help and support with feeding when required.7

Malabsorption

For patients with intestinal failure and those undergoing abdominal surgical procedures, malabsorption represents an independent risk factor for weight loss and malnutrition.

Increased losses or altered requirements

In some circumstances, such as enterocutaneous fistulae or burns, patients may have excessive and/or specific nutrient losses; their nutritional requirements are usually very different from normal metabolism.

Energy expenditure

It was thought for many years that increased energy expenditure was predominantly responsible for disease-related malnutrition. There is now clear evidence that in many disease states total energy expenditure is actually less than in normal health. The basal hypermetabolism of disease is offset by a reduction in physical activity, with studies in intensive care patients demonstrating that energy expenditure is usually below 2,000 kcal/day. The exception is patients with major trauma, head injury or burns where energy expenditure may be considerably higher, although only for a short period of time.8,9

Consequences of malnutrition

Malnutrition affects the function and recovery of every organ system.

Muscle function

Weight loss due to depletion of fat and muscle mass, including organ mass, is often the most obvious sign of malnutrition. Muscle function declines before changes in muscle mass occur, suggesting that altered nutrient intake has an important impact independent of the effects on muscle mass. Similarly, improvements in muscle function with nutrition support occur more rapidly than can be accounted for by replacement of muscle mass alone.2,9

Downregulation of energy dependent cellular membrane pumping, or reductive adaptation, is one explanation for these findings. This may occur following only a short period of starvation. If, however, dietary intake is insufficient to meet requirements over a more prolonged period of time the body draws on functional reserves in tissues such as muscle, adipose tissue and bone leading to changes in body composition. With time, there are direct consequences for tissue function, leading to loss of functional capacity and a brittle, but stable, metabolic state. Rapid decompensation occurs with insults such as infection and trauma. Importantly, unbalanced or sudden excessive increases in energy intake also put malnourished patients at risk of decompensation and refeeding syndrome.6

Cardio-respiratory function

Reduction in cardiac muscle mass is recognised in malnourished individuals. The resulting decrease in cardiac output has a corresponding impact on renal function by reducing renal perfusion and glomerular filtration rate. Micronutrient and electrolyte deficiencies (eg thiamine) may also affect cardiac function, particularly during refeeding. Poor diaphragmatic and respiratory muscle function reduces cough pressure and expectoration of secretions, delaying recovery from respiratory tract infections.

Gastrointestinal function

Adequate nutrition is important for preserving GI function: chronic malnutrition results in changes in pancreatic exocrine function, intestinal blood flow, villous architecture and intestinal permeability. The colon loses its ability to reabsorb water and electrolytes, and secretion of ions and fluid occurs in the small and large bowel. This may result in diarrhoea, which is associated with a high mortality rate in severely malnourished patients.

Immunity and wound healing

Immune function is also affected, increasing the risk of infection due to impaired cell-mediated immunity and cytokine, complement and phagocyte function. Delayed wound healing is also well described in malnourished surgical patients.2,9

Psychosocial effects

In addition to these physical consequences, malnutrition also results in psychosocial effects such as apathy, depression, anxiety and self-neglect.

Malnutrition, clinical outcome and the health economy

Clinical outcome

The consequences of malnutrition on physiological function have an important impact on clinical outcome. In the 1930s surgeons observed that patients who were starved or underweight had a higher incidence of postoperative complications and mortality. A large number of studies have subsequently supported this original observation. Malnourished surgical patients have complication and mortality rates three to four times higher than normally nourished patients, with longer hospital admissions, incurring up to 50% greater costs. Similar findings have also been described in medical patients, particularly the elderly.2,10 It is often difficult to separate the deleterious effects of malnutrition from the underlying disease process itself, especially because each can be a cause and/or consequence of the other. However, there is clear evidence that nutrition support significantly improves outcomes in these patients; it is therefore vital that malnutrition is identified through screening.11

The cost

Malnutrition is also a major resource issue for public expenditure. BAPEN has recently calculated that the costs associated with disease-related malnutrition in the UK in 2007 were over £13 billion (greater than that for obesity). This calculation involved the summing of treatment costs for both the underlying disease process and malnutrition. The potential cost savings associated with prevention and treatment of malnutrition are considerable: a saving as small as 1% represents £130 million per year. There is evidence that for specific situations treating malnutrition produces cost savings of 10-20% or more.12

Assessment of nutritional status

Identification of patients at risk of malnutrition at an early stage of hospital admission (or attendance to the outpatient clinic) allows for early intervention with nutritional therapy.

The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST)

MUST is a simple, rapid and easy method to screen patients and has been proven to be reliable and valid.11 It aims to identify those at risk by incorporating:

history of recent unintentional weight loss

likelihood of future weight loss.

Figure 1 provides a guide for using MUST. The total MUST score is a better predictor of outcome than scores from the individual components.

Screening. The screening process identifies patients who require a more detailed assessment and formulation of an individualised stepwise management plan by a nutrition specialist. In vulnerable patient groups the simple provision of regular meals or food with better nutritional content may be enough to address nutritional risk. Additional measures may include broader menu choices or providing assistance with feeding. Patients in whom these 'social' interventions are insufficient to ensure that nutritional requirements are met need the addition of oral nutritional supplements or enteral tube feeding under dietetic supervision. Patients rarely require parenteral nutrition (PN). Need for PN usually occurs in the context of an inaccessible or non-functioning GI tract. Rescreening of inpatients at seven-day intervals throughout a hospital admission alerts clinicians to those who have lost weight and require greater intervention.

Initiatives to improve nutritional care

Several publications 7,13,14 from professional and patient organisations, including the Royal College of Physicians, have highlighted the problems associated with malnutrition. Unfortunately, standards of care in many institutions remain poor. Therefore, a collaboration between the Department of Health and stakeholders with an interest and expertise in nutritional care has published the Nutrition Action Plan which sets out key priorities15 including:

ensuring access to guidance

promoting screening and training

The Care Quality Commission has identified nutritional care as one of the core standards which all acute trusts are required to deliver, but not all services are inspected annually and patients continue to die as a consequence of malnutrition. As a result, nutritional care has been included in a new regulatory framework introduced in April 2010 for health and social care services, which will ensure that more attention is focused on nutrition.16 At a local level, all hospitals should have an established multidisciplinary nutrition support team for managing patients with complex nutritional problems. Within each organisation there should also be a nutrition steering committee to develop policies for nutritional care, which should be regularly audited as part of clinical governance frameworks.

Conclusions

Malnutrition, which is often overlooked by clinicians, is common and has wide-ranging effects on physiological function. It is associated with increased rates of morbidity and mortality in hospital patients and significantly increases healthcare costs. Implementation of a simple screening tool identifies patients at risk and allows appropriate treatment to be instituted; this can significantly improve clinical outcomes and reduce healthcare expenditure. Every doctor should recognise that proper nutritional care is fundamental to good clinical practice.14 By addressing deficiencies in education of all healthcare professionals and exerting influence through clinical leadership there can be genuine improvements in nutritional care.

References

1. Elia M, editor. [ Guidelines for detection and management of malnutrition. Malnutrition Advisory Group, Standing Committee of BAPEN. Maidenhead: BAPEN, 2000. Google Scholar]

3. Elia M, Stratton RJ. How much undernutrition is there in hospitals?. Br J Nutr 2000;84:257-9. 10.1017/S0007114500001525 [[ PubMed] [ CrossRef] Google Scholar]

6. Jackson AA. Severe malnutrition. In: Warrell DA, Cox TM, Firth JD, Benz EJ, Oxford textbook of medicine 2003. 4th edn vol 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1054-61. 10.1093/med/9780199204854.003.1103 [[ CrossRef] Google Scholar]

8. Elia M. Changing concepts of nutrient requirements in disease: implications for artificial nutrition support. Lancet 1995;345:1279-84. 10.1016/S0140-6736(95)90929-X [[ PubMed] [ CrossRef] Google Scholar]

9. Green CJ. Existence, causes and consequences of disease-related malnutrition in the hospital and the community, and clinical and financial benefits of nutrition intervention. Clin Nutr 1999;18 (Suppl 2):3-28. [ Google Scholar]

10. Stratton RJ, King CL, Stroud MA, Jackson AA, Elia M. 'Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool' predicts mortality and length of hospital stay in acutely ill elderly. Br J Nutr 2006;95:325-30. [[ PubMed] Google Scholar]

11. Elia M, Russell CA, editors. on behalf of BAPEN and collaborators. The 'MUST' Report. Nutritional screening for adults: a multidisciplinary responsibility. Development and use of the 'Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool' (MUST) for adults. A report by the Malnutrition Advisory Group of the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 2003.

12. Elia M, Russell CA, editors. [ Combating malnutrition: Recommendations for action. A report from the Advisory Group on Malnutrition, led by BAPEN. London: BAPEN. 2009. Google Scholar]

13. Leonard-Jones JE, editor. [ A positive approach to nutrition as treatment. King's Fund Report. London: King's Fund Centre, 1992. Google Scholar]

14. Royal College of Physicians . [ Nutrition and patients: a doctor's responsibility. Report of a working party of the Royal College of Physicians. London: RCP, 2002. Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical Medicine are provided here courtesy of Royal College of Physicians

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John Saunders, Specialist registrar in clinical nutrition and gastroenterology and Trevor Smith, Consultant in clinical nutrition and gastroenterology Malnutrition is a common, under-recognised and undertreated condition in hospital patients Disease-related malnutrition arises due to reduced dietary intake, malabsorption, increased nutrient losses or altered metabolic demands Wide-ranging changes in physiological function

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We know about the causes of hunger - but what about the effects?

At the macro-level, there's the obvious connection between hunger and poverty. At the micro-level, Concern has also worked with millions of parents and children whose individual lives have been hit hard by hunger and malnutrition, and have heard many of those specific stories.

In this piece, we meet in the middle and look at the main effects of hunger - for adults, children, and even societies.

The effects of hunger on adults

There's no single effect or set of effects of hunger in adults - in some cases, when an adult becomes malnourished (such as when they are pregnant or breastfeeding), it can have even an bigger impact on their children. The stakes are also higher for adults who are older or have a chronic illness or comorbidity. Generally, however, adult cases of hunger and malnutrition follow the same steps, to varying levels of severity.

The physical effects of hunger

If a human adult is keeping hydrated, estimates generally agree that they can live for up to two months without eating (if they're not keeping hydrated, then they're only likely to survive a few days). However, after a day or two, the body enters what's known as "starvation mode." In this time, the body goes through its glucose storage (what's readily available when a person eats three meals a day at regular intervals). It then turns to glycogen from the liver and muscles. By day three, the body goes into ketosis - a point at which it begins to use fat stores for energy.

This leads to one of the most obvious physical effects of hunger in adults: weight loss due to the depletion of fat and muscle mass. This is a key symptom of malnutrition. It also affects muscle and organ function: People who are malnourished or going without food will feel overall weaker, more fatigued, and experience sensations like lightheadedness and dizziness.

Hunger also affects adult immune systems, making people more susceptible to disease. This is one of the reasons that famines can become so deadly: It's not just about hunger; it's also about the prevalence of illnesses (such as cholera or COVID-19). This also holds true for recovering from injuries, as the body also relies on energy stores to heal a wound or broken bone.

A 2010 paper published by the Royal College of Physicians also points to organ and system failure as a key effect of hunger. Reduced cardio-respiratory function leads to adrenal failure, largely impacting the heart, lungs, and kidneys. Gastrointestinal functions are also compromised. Paper authors John Saunders and Trevor Smith note that this includes an impact on the colon's ability to function, which often leads to diarrhoea. Even in adults, this is "associated with a high mortality rate in severely-malnourished patients." Without enough - and consistent - food, one of these health issues will generally prove fatal.

How hunger affects the brain

In 2018, researchers at Canada's University of Guelph proved that "hanger" isn't just an invented catchphrase. They linked depleted glucose levels to increased stress and depression, concluding that "hypoglycemia is a strong physiological and psychological stressor."

PhD student Thomas Horman, who led the study, adds that "poor mood and poor eating can become a vicious cycle in that, if a person isn't eating properly, they can experience a drop in mood, and this drop in mood can make them not want to eat.

For many people in the world's hungriest countries, additional anxiety and stress come from hunger being an issue that affects families and whole communities. "I don't have enough food to feed myself, but it makes me feel even worse when I see the children going hungry," says mum-of-four in drought-choked northern Kenya Lokaale Ekiru. In a response to the Horn of Africa drought and COVID lockdowns, she has been trying to make ends meet by making and selling charcoal on the roadside. Still, it only goes so far. "They always cry and follow me wherever I go if they are hungry," she adds. "But I don't have anything to give them so I have to escape and go and make charcoal again."

Effects of hunger on children

The first 1,000 days between a mother's pregnancy and their child's second birthday are a critical window for growth and nutrition, which makes hunger and malnutrition in this time all the more dangerous.

When a mother is undernourished during pregnancy, their own nutritional health isn't the only health at stake. Complications brought on by low nutrition during pregnancy include anaemia, hypertension, miscarriages, premature delivery, and maternal death.

Effects of hunger on child development

Many children born to mothers who are undernourished will likely grow up stunted or with malnutrition themselves. Other key effects of hunger on young children include wasting (low weight for wage), low birth weight, and - in extreme cases - infant and child mortalities.

As the UNFPA points out, as these children grow up (especially girls), their options and autonomy will be equally compromised.

How does hunger affect school performance?

Education is another main concern when children go hungry. Part of the reason for this is the simple fact that it's harder to concentrate and learn when you're hungry. But beyond those moments in the classroom, children who suffer stunting, wasting, or other health issues that come with a lack of proper nutrients are also more likely to develop lower cognitive skills. They also are more likely to miss out on school due to chronic health issues that come from their bodies not developing properly in those critical first few years.

The cycles of hunger and poverty

All of this can lead to a cycle of both hunger and poverty. Girls who don't get proper nutrients during adolescence and into adulthood are likely to pass on malnutrition and related deficiencies to their children.

Poverty also becomes intergenerational thanks to hunger. According to one study, children who aren't stunted earn 22% more in their lifetimes. Another study, conducted in 2011 by Sue Horton and Richard Steckel for the Copenhagen Consensus on Human Challenges, suggests that well-nourished children are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults.

Effects of hunger on society

Hunger's effects go beyond individuals and families. Communities and even entire countries can suffer more during a hunger crisis.

Hunger can escalate violence and conflict

Conflict leads to hunger, but hunger can also lead to conflict. As violence escalated in Haiti through 2019, for example, the UN predicted a nearly 10% increase in hunger levels for 2020. This was before COVID-19, and by the beginning of 2021, the increase in Haitians without adequate food was closer to 20%.

Hunger breaks up families and communities

Hunger is a key cause of forced migration, influencing a family's decision on when and where to move. In some cases, one or two family members (usually fathers and older sons) will leave in order to make money to send home, creating a knock-on effect of challenges for those they leave behind. In other cases, entire families will move and live in tenuous circumstances (often without the full legal rights and protections of refugees).

A hunger crisis can threaten local infrastructure and public health

When hunger reaches crisis levels in a region or country, the resources needed to address that emergency often go beyond what that country's infrastructure can offer. This is especially true for health systems, which are often faced with an influx in nutrition-related cases, as well as other diseases (which, as noted above, become more frequent and severe in people who are undernourished).

Hunger can impact an entire country's economy

In countries with high rates of hunger (many of which also have high rates of poverty), hunger can have an effect on the national economy. In Ethiopia, for example, it's estimated that hunger contributes to GDP losses as high as 16%.

The effects of hunger: Concern's response

We won't end poverty until we end hunger. Stark evidence now demonstrates the enormous scale of nutritional issues in low-income countries, as well as their human and financial costs. As a result, Concern - like many other NGOs, as well as governments and UN agencies, has made unprecedented commitments to prioritise nutrition in our work around the globe.

Currently, our nutrition strategy is to focus efforts on reducing hunger and malnutrition among adolescent girls, women of reproductive age, and children under the age of 5. We work with adolescent girls to understand how to take care of themselves and advocate for their health and nutrition so that those who eventually become mothers bring a solid nutritional foundation to their pregnancies. We do the same with pregnant and lactating mothers, working with them to track and maintain their vitamin and nutrient levels. Some of our projects focus specifically on the first 1,000 days between conception and a child's second birthday to prevent malnutrition in this critical time. Other programmes, like Community Management of Acute Malnutrition, screen and treat children up to the age of 5 (and even older) with overwhelmingly positive results and standard-setting cure rates.

A few other ways Concern fights hunger include:

Supporting nutrition-sensitive agriculture and crop diversity to ensure that families have the full range of nutrients they need

Promote nutrition-sensitive social protection and natural resource management, placing nutrition and health at the forefront of responses to other emergencies such as climate change and conflict

Working towards gender equality and gender transformative programming

Working towards improving access to water and sanitation services, while also promoting optimal nutrition, health, and hygiene behaviors

Increasing access to quality education, especially for girls

Strengthening local and national health systems so that they can deliver integrated nutrition services (such as CMAM) without ongoing support from Concern

Fighting the effects of hunger: Your concern in action

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We know about the causes of hunger - but what about the effects? At the macro-level, there's the obvious connection between hunger and poverty. At the micro-level, Concern has also worked with millions of parents and children whose individual lives have been hit hard by hunger and malnutrition, and have heard many of those specific stories.

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La Cruzada Nacional Sin Hambre, es una decisión presidencial que busca garantizar el derecho al acceso permanente a una alimentación adecuada de los 7.01 millones de mexicanos que viven en pobreza extrema de alimentación (pobreza extrema y carencia alimentaria).

Comedores Comunitarios, Escuelas de Tiempo Completo, Tarjeta SinHambre, Huertos Familiares, Suplementos Alimenticios, Nuevas Tiendas Diconsa, Nuevos Afiliados a Liconsa, son algunas de las acciones más importantes en este rubro.

Los objetivos de la Cruzada son:

Cero hambre a partir de una alimentación y nutrición adecuadas de los mexicanos en extrema pobreza y con carencia alimentaria severa.

Eliminar la desnutrición infantil y mejorar los indicadores de crecimiento de niños y niñas en la primera infancia.

Aumentar la producción y el ingreso de los campesinos y pequeños productores agrícolas.

Minimizar las pérdidas post-cosecha y de alimentos durante el almacenamiento y transporte, así como en los comercios.

Promover la participación comunitaria.

Si quieres saber más sobre la Cruzada Nacional contra el Hambre visita: http://sinhambre.gob.mx/

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La Cruzada Nacional Sin Hambre garantiza el derecho al acceso permanente a una alimentación adecuada de los 7 millones de mexicanos que viven en pobreza extrema de alimentación.

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10. Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone's progress on the Global Hunger Index illustrates the long-term impacts of hunger and conflict. In 2000, the country was in the final years of a decade-long civil war. Its GHI score that year was second only to Angola. While peace was declared in January of 2002, the lingering effects of conflict are felt in food systems and - most importantly - families most vulnerable to food shortages and high inflation.

There have been ongoing challenges to progress since then: Sierra Leone was at the epicenter of the 2014-16 West African Ebola virus epidemic. One year later, it had the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic was another hit to the country's economy, shrinking growth to -2% in 2020. A rebound in 2021 was shortly-lived as the conflict in Ukraine has once again led to inflation - with high costs impacting access to some of life's most basic necessities.

Collection of wild foods in rural Sierra Leone. (Photo: Kieran McConville)

9. Liberia

Much like neighboring Sierra Leone, Liberia suffered a 14-year-long civil war, which ended in 2003. A decade later, it was also hit by the world's largest Ebola epidemic. One of the biggest challenges facing Liberians today is hunger and malnutrition, which spiked in part because of these events from the country's recent history.

While many farms in Liberia have good conditions and soil for growing rich harvests, they often lie fallow due to a limited availability of equipment and supplies. The country is therefore dependent on imported staples, which have risen in cost in recent years due to the pandemic. With approximately 50% of Liberians living below the poverty line, this has created a dire situation.

Rebecca Suah of Benson River Community in her home garden. Photo: Josephine Drobia/Concern Worldwide

8. Guinea-Bissau

Not too far from Sierra Leone and Liberia is the west African nation of Guinea Bissau, whose progress towards reducing hunger levels roughly 15 years ago has been undone in the last decade. This is largely due to rising rates of malnutrition. While overall, 11% of the country's population is food-insecure, that figure can be as high as 51% in some areas of this agriculturally-centered country. Political instability, irregular rainfall, and the effects of inflation are all fuelling a hunger crisis that affects tens of thousands of people.
Download the 2023 Global Hunger Index
7. Chad

Ranked as the world's hungriest country in 2020, Chad is a mainstay on the Global Hunger Index, although it has made progress over the last two decades, despite a deadly combination of conflict and climate change. Chad is also a major host community for those fleeing conflict and instability in neighboring countries, and displacement numbers have grown this year thanks to the crisis in Sudan. Getting adequate food and nutrition is a major challenge for the growing number of refugees living in some of the most climate-worn parts of the country and remains a concern as we head into 2024.

A mobile health and nutrition clinic visits residents of displacement communities in the Lake Chad Basin.

Before we get to Number 6...

Several countries are not included on the 2023 Global Hunger Index due to insufficient data to support calculating their GHI scores (this includes some countries that have appeared on past rankings of the world's hungriest countries). Based on available data, however, we estimate that Somalia, Burundi, and South Sudan would each rank somewhere within the top six hungriest countries for 2023.

6. Niger

Niger was excluded from recent Global Hunger Indexes due to insufficient data, but estimated to be somewhere among the top ten hungriest countries in that time. Last year, it re-entered the ten hungriest countries in the world list at number 7, and has moved up in 2023. Unfortunately, the latest developments of a protracted crisis in the country threaten to push more Nigeriens into hunger.

Production of enriched flour in Niger. (Photo: Ollivier Girard / Concern Worldwide)

Despite these challenges, community groups have come together for several initiatives and projects to address some of the challenges facing food systems in Niger, supported by the High Commission for Nigeriens Nourishing Nigeriens. Activities include providing nutritionally-fortified flour at affordable prices and consistent quality and identifying areas of action for local policymakers to pursue.

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These are the hungriest countries in the world in 2023

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Global hunger levels remain too high, and the progress we've made is not enough - especially in these 10 countries

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Who Does Hunger Affect? - Donate to Save Lives Today | Action Against Hunger

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The world’s hungriest people live in developing countries, where extreme poverty and lack of nutritious food contribute to malnutrition, especially in children.

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Child hunger is a problem across the globe, affecting millions of children ev ery day . It is particularly prevalent in low-income countries and those experie ncing conflict, but it also exists in wealthier nations.

As a Christian charity , we help hungry children and young people access nutritious foods so they can experience fullness of life. In this artic le we explore t he effects of child hunger around the world and how you can help end hunger.

What is child hunger?

The United Nations defines hunger as an uncomfortable or painful physical sensation caused by insufficient consumption of the right food.

Children's hunger refers to a serious condition that occurs when a child's diet lacks essential nutritious foods needed for growth and overall well-being. Child hunger can have significant and long-lasting negative effects on a child's health, cognitive development, and future opportunities.

Is there enough food to feed everyone in the world?

The world produces around 8 billion tonnes of food per year, ENOUGH food to feed every girl, boy, man and woman in the world. Yet 783 million people in the world faced hunger last year.

Children are too hungry to focus at school or they're married off so there's one less mouth to feed. We're facing a generation of disadvantaged children who will die or not be able to reach their full potential.
That's why we're saying ENOUGH is ENOUGH to child hunger.
Every child deserves nutritious food no matter what crises they face or where they live. Every family deserves to produce or buy ENOUGH of the right foods to eat.

Everyone can get involved in the ENOUGH movement. Donate to help hungry children, pray for them or join us in demanding the UK government to act now, without delay, to make a real impact on the lives of hunger children worldwide. You can help us put a stop to child malnutrition.

Why are children going hungry?

The answer is a simple, yet complex one: poverty.

The largest global hunger crisis of modern history is unfolding before our eyes, with over 45 million children wasting (low weight-for-height).

Every day, families around the world have to choose how to use the little money or resources they have. Pay the rent? Keep the electricity on? Get their medication? Buy healthy food for three meals a day for the whole family?

Poverty has so many complex causes and affects every aspect of family life.

Here are just a few:

Sudden unemployment (how many redundancies have you seen recently?).

A rise in the cost of living (rent, food prices etc), which means money won't stretch as far.

An emergency (such as a natural disaster or conflict) forcing you to leave your home or workplace - or both.

The climate crisis leaves families with failed crops, water scarcity and loss of livestock which directly impacts people's livelihoods and ability to feed themselves.

Insufficient - or non-existent - welfare system, meaning children are faced with limited access to healthcare and nutritious food.

Loss of the family breadwinner (whether through death or separation) leaves - most often - mothers with a much larger financial burden and less free-time to earn a living.

Often, families facing poverty are experiencing a combination of these - and other - factors.

A growing number of families at home and abroad are dealing with at least one of the above. It could happen to anyone.

Five effects of hunger on children

1. Malnutrition: There are many forms of malnutrition. In essence, it's the physical effects caused by not having enough nutrients for healthy growth. This can be due to a lack of food, eating foods that aren't nutritious, or certain illnesses. Malnutrition can affect children in several ways, including: stunted growth and, in case of sudden and severe lack of food, wasting (defined as low weight-for-height).

2. Impaired development: If a child doesn't take in enough micronutrients, their intellectual and physical development can be harmed. This can cause lifelong disability, developmental delays and mental disorders. For example, iron is key in a baby's brain development, as is iodine. An iodine deficiency before birth can cause irreparable brain damage.

3. Low immune system: Higher risk of other diseases.

4. A stunted future: Children's hunger can result in stunting, which is defined as low-height-for-age. It can impact brain development, making it hard for them to concentrate with an empty stomach or causing sickness which keeps them from going to school. Hunger robs a child of a good education - and limits their prospects for the future.

5. Reinforcing poverty: If a family is forced to use the resources they have on health costs to make their child well, they'll have even less for housing and food.

Child hunger in the UK

The cost-of-living crisis is increasing household food insecurity in the UK, with recent studies showing that four million children in the UK are affected by food poverty.

With food price increases, the Trussell Trust saw more than 760,000 people forced to turn to the charity's food banks for the first time between April 2022 and March 2023.

In July and August 2023, 97% of adults in Great Britain noticed a price increase in their food shopping, and 47% admitted to spending less on essentials, including food.
Household food poverty or food insecurity can be defined as lacking an adequate quality or enough food.
How can I help protect hungry children in the UK?

While we don't have programmes in the UK, many of the methods we use can work here too.

When it comes to keeping children fed and healthy, here are some of the ways our communities are helping each other:

Community kitchens: Community members come together to share resources and recipes, feed their more vulnerable neighbours and build stronger relationships.

Vegetable gardens: Families - and even schools - grow fresh, nutritious fruit and vegetables to feed and nourish their children with.

Better family incomes: Through training in a new skill or strengthening their business practices, families can generate more income

Savings and Loans groups: Small groups each contribute to a pot every month. They're able to take loans from this fund and pay it back at low interest. In some of the communities we work with, successful groups have been able to help families in their area hit by hard times. Similar community savings groups and credit unions have been growing here in the UK over the last few decades.

School meals: Making sure all schoolchildren can have at least one nutritious meal a day.

How World Vision is helping end hunger

When disaster strikes, we respond quickly by reaching children and their families with life-saving food. We partner with the World Food Programme to support families to feed their children nutritious food, and we help them rebuild after crises. Thanks to donations, we can provide immediate relief and train communities in climate-resilient farming and business skills, helping them to increase their income and become self-sufficient.

How can I protect hungry children around the world?

As a children's charity, World Vision is working in nearly 100 countries across the globe, tackling malnutrition, providing life-saving food, clean water, protecting children from harm and improving livelihoods. And we've been doing it for more than 70 years. We know that there is no one-size fix for poverty. Instead, there are often many things that need to change or improve.
Together, we can reach more children with life-saving food.

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Effects of child hunger | World Vision UK

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Why are children going hungry? World Vision explores why it happens, the effects of malnutrition and how you can help.

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According to the latest estimates, as many as 9 million children in the United States live in "food insecure" homes. That phrase may sound mild, but it means that those households don't have enough food for every family member to lead a healthy life.

The number of children living with hunger had fallen steadily over the past decade, but the coronavirus pandemic dealt a terrible blow to our progress as a nation - one that No Kid Hungry and other organizations will work to reverse during the long recovery ahead.

Poverty and Childhood Hunger

As you might imagine, hunger is a problem that most often affects children from low-income families. A common way we measure poverty is the federal poverty level, a number set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The federal poverty level is the minimum amount of money a family needs each year to afford the necessities of life: food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.

In 2021, the federal poverty level was $26,500 for a family of four. Of course, this number is a minimum. Families making twice that much are still considered low-income by most experts, and many struggle to make ends meet.

How many Americans live in poverty? 37 million, or 11.4% of all Americans, according to 2020 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. 12 million of those were children. This number, though shockingly high for a country of such enormous wealth, had fallen in recent years, but the coronavirus pandemic put a huge burden on already-struggling families, and the impact of that is not yet fully known.

For a more comprehensive understanding of food insecurity, we recommend the USDA's annual report on Household Food Security in the United States.

Federal Food Programs

One of the most effective ways to help families and children is through federal nutrition programs.

Some of the nutrition programs you may be familiar with are SNAP, WIC and the national school lunch program. These are critical lifelines for families in need.

No Kid Hungry supports these important programs, though we focus our efforts on other federal programs that we know can make an enormous difference for hungry kids, such as the school breakfast program, the national summer meals program and the afterschool meals program.

School Breakfast

Making breakfast part of the regular school day, just like lunch, has a powerful effect on kids. That's why we work with educators, political leaders and local nonprofits across the country to change the way schools serve breakfast.

Summer Meals

Millions of kids rely on school for regular meals. But in the summer, those meals disappear. No Kid Hungry is helping community leaders with the funding and know-how they need to start summer meals sites, as well as advocating for needed changes to the national summer meals program.

Currently, the national summer meals programs reaches just a fraction of the children who need help when school is out of session.

Afterschool Meals

The Afterschool Meals Program, part of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), helps kids get the nutritious meals they need in a safe, supervised location after the school day ends. This program is the newest federal child nutrition program, so No Kid Hungry is working to ensure that more kids, families and teachers know about it and are able to take advantage of it.

SNAP & WIC

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), sometimes known as food stamps, provides low-income families with money to purchase food each month.

What is SNAP and why is it so important?

SNAP is one of the most effective and efficient federal programs, as well as one of the most responsive, providing additional assistance to needy families during economic downturns. It's also one of the most-needed: 41 million Americans rely on SNAP benefits to buy food each month, according to the USDA. Two-thirds of these benefits go to households with children.

What can you buy with SNAP benefits?

SNAP benefits are used to purchase food, including things like bread, cereal, fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy products and snacks. You can't use SNAP benefits to purchase alcohol, cigarettes, pet food, paper products and household supplies.

What is WIC and who is it for?

In addition to SNAP, one of the largest and most effective federal nutrition programs is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC benefits are primarily for children under the age of five or women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. WIC serves 53 percent of all infants born in the United States, according to the latest figures from the USDA.

Through WIC, moms can get nutritious foods for their young children, as well as access to important services at WIC clinics, including nutrition education, counseling and referrals to local health and welfare agencies.

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Child Hunger in America Statistics & Facts | No Kid Hungry

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Child hunger in America statistics unveil a significant concern. More than 13 million children in the United States live in "food insecure" homes, according to recent research from the USDA. Learn how No Kid Hungry is solving the issue of child hunger.

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Lo sentimos pero tu petición ha sido bloqueada por razones de seguridad.

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Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI)

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Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutrición (ENSANUT) 2018

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La Encuesta se levantó durante el periodo del 30 de julio de 2018 al 28 de junio de 2019, y tiene como objetivo conocer el estado de salud y las condiciones nutricionales de diversos grupos de población en México.

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It's important to know that money isn't the only thing we have to offer. We can also donate our time. Take a little time each week to learn more about the problem and what others are doing to help.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uzcN0N1airER9L6YCm5Uit9yQGqwM5XuFt1sKAhSlWk/edit

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End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

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Imprimir foto grupal y acuerdos (firmar)

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¡Bienvenidos al Proyecto PEP! Estoy emocionada de ser parte de su aventura de aprendizaje. Juntos vamos a explorar, descubrir y divertirnos mientras aprendemos cosas nuevas todos los días. ¡Vamos a empezar esta increíble aventura juntos!

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Pendientes:

✅Terminar con la indagación de todas las preguntas.

✅Termina dibujos de las pregutas en carpeta

✅Trabajar organizador gráfico de cada pregunta ( a mano)

✅Puedes consultar pinterest para ver ideas.