The Current Status of the World in Hunger

Where does starvation exist in the world today?"are on the brink of starvation" because of the
What are some causes of hunger in the world?severe drought and war. Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and
Citizens of developed countries donating monetarilyEthiopia need food aid, water, new livestock and
to the ongoing relief efforts? In this article I willseeds. This is a major food crisis in development.
address these issues with the hope that by creatingAfghanistan:
an understanding of the current situation of hunger inPoverty in Afghanistan, exacerbated by drought, has
the world, people morally conscious on their part tocontributed greatly to their hunger problem.
help eradicate this unseen suffering.Pakistan:
It is well known that there is enough food in theThe recent earthquake, with a severe winter have
world to feed every human being on earth.produced starvation conditions. Recently, landslides
Unfortunately, malnutrition and hunger still affectinghave hampered relief efforts.
one in seven people in the world today. Or, from aNorth Korea:
slightly different statistical perspective, the currentFood insecurity caused by the country's economic
world population is 4,712,200,000. The number ofproblems are exacerbated by unpredictable and
malnourished is 797,900,000. Therefore, 17% of thesevere weather conditions. To date, the North
world population is currently malnourished or starving.Korean government has failed in its duty to provide
No matter how you consider the matter, the currentfor their people starve. The North Korean
crisis is at hand. Why is this so?government has actually refused foreign aid.
The causes of starvation are complex, but there areColumbia:
some commonalities that seem to be associated withA 40-year civil conflict and the illegal drug trade have
this problem. First, hunger is caused by poverty. Tocaused massive displacement and poverty.
address the problem of hunger in the world, then theDRC:
problem of global poverty must be addressed.3.4 million people have been displaced as a result of
Therefore, the question we must analyze is what arean ongoing internal conflict.
the causes of poverty. A thorough discussion on theMali:
causes of global poverty is beyond the scope of thisThey are struggling to cope with the devastating
article. Entire books have been written on theeffects of a recent drought.
subject. For our analysis, is sufficient to say that oneSouth Africa:
of the main causes of poverty are governmentsErratic weather, lack of seeds and fertilizers, chronic
implement policies that impede self-sufficiency.poverty, and AIDS have been factors contributing to
Famine areas are also characterized by persistentstarvation.
problems in cultivating food for lack of seed, arableThese are the areas of the world are currently
land, and tools. Those who can grow food, must dealsuffering the highest levels of malnutrition and hunger.
with insects, drought, floods, and war, which canWith this understanding that relief efforts are
result in complete destruction of crops. Historically,needed, we must address the question of individual
parts of Africa have experienced periodic locustresponse. Are individuals in developed countries
infestations, which can completely destroy crops.donating to relief efforts? Most morally conscious
Other causes of hunger are related to the system ofindividuals donate to relief efforts when the problem
globalization of food production. The global system ofis presented to them.
food production and trade in favor of a reliance onA major problem in the relief efforts is the general
export crops, while discrimination against small-scalepopulation in developed countries do not know about
farmers and subsistence farming. Many third worldthe ongoing hunger crisis. News organizations, and
countries export food to much but not concomitantlyparticularly television news, are not giving enough
keeping enough food to feed its own people.attention to the situation of hunger in the world.
AIDS is a major cause of hunger. In societiesWhile a full discussion on the reasons for this is
affected by AIDS, famine is more deadly and difficultbeyond the scope of this article, some points can be
to combat. Why is this so? AIDS attacks the mostmade.
productive individuals in society. Less productiveObviously, news organizations of America TV, do not
people in society means fewer people to work jobsbelieve that world hunger is a great story and that
that involve food production. This is a contribution tohunger is a daily occurrence. I suspect that from the
the famine that is taking place in Africa.perspective of these news organizations, that 24,000
Weather plays an important role in terms of thepeople a day die of hunger is not great news enough.
prevalence of hunger. Drought areas leads toWhen 1,386 were killed by Hurricane Katrina, the
unusable land with famine. This is well known. Lessnews coverage was enormous. Five months after
known is that floods can also lead to starvation.Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans news organizations
Crops can be flooded and destroyed so thatwere still squeezing TV all I could get out of this
essentially the same result of drought. In both cases,story. Granted this was a tragedy obviously, but an
time can produce a complete lack of self-sufficiency.even greater tragedy much larger is going on in
Military conflicts, both internal and betweenAfrica and the general public even knowing it.
neighboring countries can lead to starvation. TheseI've seen little to almost no coverage given by news
conflicts can lead to destruction of crops.organizations of America TV in the devastating
Government money goes to fund the conflict at thehunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. I only learned of
expense of starving people. Funds are diverted fromthis crisis through RSS feeds on the Internet. The
social and economic development. Military conflictstelevision news organizations including CNN, ABC, CBS
can also result in the displacement of large groups ofand NBC are so far not reporting on this crisis.
people out of their lands and way of life. People canHopefully this will change.
end up in refugee camps, totally dependent on reliefIt is clear that news organizations of America TV
aid.news does not really provide full and complete, but
The factors responsible for world hunger arethe events screen and only offer what they feel
numerous, and some factors change from year tomay be of interest to your audience. News
year, therefore at any given time, some areas mayorganizations should present the news and,
be more sensitive then others. The extent ofsimultaneously, maintain high standards of journalism.
drought, floods, civil conflicts and war withMaybe these news organizations need to incorporate
neighboring countries can vary over time. Therefore,a higher level of moral obligation in their decision
incorporating these factors affect a variable in themaking when deciding which stories to cover. In any
degree to which the inhabitants of the countries likelycase, people can not donate if they know the
to suffer from hunger.problem exists.
A combination of these causal factors in a particularWe have addressed some key issues in order to
region is a recipe for disaster. When this occurs, largecharacterize the current state of the state of world
scale starvation can take place. An example of this.hunger. We have examined where hunger is most
The Horn of Africa has experienced a severeprevalent in today's world, and have identified some
drought, coupled with internal conflicts. This is leadingof the causal factors that contribute to malnutrition,
to the development of a tragedy. In this region,hunger and starvation. We have concluded that most
currently 11 million people are on the brink ofmorally conscious individuals would contribute to the
starvation.elimination of hunger, if they knew of the crisis.
Historically, certain areas of the world have a highFinally, we observed that the degree of coverage of
prevalence of hunger and starvation. These areasworld hunger by news organizations of television is
include the central South America, large areas ofmuch to be desired.
eastern, central and southern Africa and South AsiaWhile the television news organizations have not
regions. In 2006, the current hot spots, areasbeen covering the ongoing crisis of hunger in the
experiencing the greatest degree of hunger, are:world by reading this article have developed an
Niger:understanding of the extent to which hunger is
This area of Central Africa has been struggling toprevalent in today's world. If you're reading this in a
cope with the devastating effects of drought anddeveloped country, which is very likely since you're
locust invasions.reading on a computer that has Internet access,
Haiti:have a moral obligation to donate time or money to
In this region, extreme poverty has beenassist in the elimination of suffering invisible. Winston
exacerbated by a political crisis, floods, tropicalChurchill once said, "we make a living by what we
storms and hurricanes.get, but we make a life by what we give." We must
Horn of Africa:all do our part to end hunger in the world.
An estimated 11 million people in the Horn of Africa