World Food Day is held on 16 October each year, remembering the day in 1945 when the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was set up. The day is used throughout the world to raise awareness about those living in hunger all over the world.
With an estimated increase of 105 million hungry people in 2009, there are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger.
The first Millenium Development Goal is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. That means halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger over a 25 year period. With only 6 years to go, the figures are still astonishing.
- 10 million people still die every year of hunger and hunger-related diseases.
- According to the UN, rising food prices may push 100 million people deeper into poverty.
- And although fewer children below five are undernourished, malnutrition still accounts for about one third of childhood deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Let us reflect on these numbers and the suffering behind them. The FAO states that they have the know-how to do something about hunger and the ability to find money to solve problems when considered important. Let’s make sure this recognized as a big problem. There is a World Summit on Food Security proposed by FAO for November. Let’s hope that our world leaders come up with good solutions. And in the meantime, let’s do what we can…
“There is enough food grown in the world for everyone. And yet we remain stuck in a food crisis. Half the world’s food is lost as waste and a billion people – one in every six of the world’s poorest – cannot access enough of the other half and so go hungry every day.” – Oxfam
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