Causes of Hunger Essay Sample

Despite record food output globally, hunger - an uncomfortable or painful feeling caused by insufficient consumption of calories - and malnourishment are still two of our main issues of humanity. Hunger becomes chronic when the person does not consume the necessary calories on a regular basis and it can then lead to malnourishment. Malnourishment occurs when the body is lacking the necessary vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that your muscles, organs and other tissues rely on to function properly. Malnourishment often goes undiagnosed as its symptoms include feeling depressed, hopeless, and moody - which are common in lots of other illnesses.  

Some causes of hunger include poverty, climate change, natural disasters, socio-economic conflicts, and mental illnesses.9.9% of the world is malnourished and 720-811 million went hungry in 2020 which is a growth of 118 million from the previous year and was the cause of 45% of all children's deaths in 2011./ 

o have a healthy diet a person must meet their macronutrient and micronutrient needs, which often can’t be met in middle and low-income countries or households. The cost of a diet that fulfils the recommended macro- and micro-nutrient intake is much higher than the international poverty line - established at 1,9 USD by the World Bank. This figure can potentially put healthy living beyond the reach of those living in poverty or just above the poverty line. Oftentimes, the fact that they are unable to afford a healthy diet means they are unable to meet their daily requirements. There is a positive relationship found between a countries GHI (Global Hunger Index) and their percentage in extreme poverty. Nutritional needs don’t change according to social class and in 2017 35.2% of children in low-income households were affected by undernourishment as opposed to the 6.4% of upper-middle income households. According to the 2018 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Africa is the most undernourished continent. When people are in a state of poverty, they lack the resources to cover their basic needs such as food, water, and shelter.  For this reason, the eradication of poverty in the areas/countries engulfed by it could mean the absence of hunger malnourishment and their food insecurity.    

Lacking access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and an active and healthy lifestyle is called being food insecure. Food insecurity levels have been growing due to climate change, socio-economic conditions, natural disasters and have gotten exponentially worse due to COVID-19's reduced incomes and disrupted supple chains. There has also been a 11% and 21% increase in maize and wheat from January 2021 to September 2021 which makes affording food even harder for poor countries. According to phone surveys done by the World Bank, 72 countries show a significant number of people running out of food or reducing their food consumption. World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 272 million people are already or are at risk of being acutely food insecure, meaning that their lives are at stake because of the lack of food. Even though it is importance diminishes as a country's economy grows, agriculture is highly beneficial in reducing poverty which in turn reduces that countries hunger. A community can create food security by creating seed, grain, and water banks to store their excess and use it when necessary. 

Recent years have seen a reversal of the decades old trend of falling starvation, alongside the re-emergence of famine. National and worldwide evidence shows that ensuring an adequate food supply is still an important contribution to eradicating hunger. In any case, creating more nourishment within the form of staple grains or tubers isn't enough. Ending hunger requires everybody to have both a suitable diet and good nutrition. By investing in nutritional agriculture and reducing taxation of nutritional foods, we would be able to boost the availability and lower the prices of nutrition packed food. Another great way to end hunger would be to create policies to reduce food waste as well as policies on reducing poverty and creating income equality. And most importantly, creating awareness on malnourishment and educating people on proper diets and how to feed yourself properly.