World Food Day October 16

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

JC Jones MA RN

Today is World Food Day, an international event to increase awareness to alleviate hunger. This year the focus is on the issue of climate change and its impact on the poor. Food security for millions is an increasingly urgent global public health issue due to climate change. Each year, hunger claims as many lives as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Hunger and malnutrition are the number one risk to health worldwide.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) states that 854 million people do not have enough food to support health. Half of those are children The agency is placing increased emphasis on sustainable development and human rights. The number of people going hungry continues to rise, despite pledges at the 1996 World Food Summit to decrease the number.

• Every five seconds a child dies of hunger
• One in four children in developing countries is underweight
• Malnutrition in early life wreaks havoc on the developing brain, diminishing hope for success in later life. 70% of brain development occurs in the first two years of life.
  

Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Columbia are areas of the world where mass hunger and malnutrition are rampant. Pockets of hungry people exist all over the world, even in the wealthiest nations.

Test your knowledge about this important subject on the BBC News website: World Food Day Quiz.









Thank you World Food Day and ConAgra, Inc. for use of WHEAT by Thomas Hart Benton.

Labels: climate change, food security, global warming, hunger

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