Opportunity International Australia Blog

The new report states that child malnutrition is largely a hidden problem with few physical symptoms; unlike starvation, it goes largely unnoticed at a global scale. Malnutrition leaves children more susceptible to disease and illness, as well as causing mental and physical stunting.

In India, findings state that 24% of children go hungry every day. While India has seen significant economic growth in recent years, poverty, illness and malnutrition are still rife. Many families can’t afford to give their children milk, bread or meat and many go to bed hungry. Often parents are forced to take their children out of school prematurely so that they can begin working to help support the family’s food supply.

Hunger and malnutrition in young children have enormous ramifications for their future quality of life. Opportunity International Australia understands that to curb malnutrition and illness in children, it is important that they receive adequate and nutritious meals. By providing small microfinance loans to people living in poverty in developing countries such as India, families are able to start a small business, earn a regular income and afford proper meals. Improved financial security also means that they are able to withstand volatile food prices and have a greater chance at leading a life free from poverty.

With your support, Opportunity can help secure the futures for more families living in poverty. Click here to donate today.

Sources:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/one-in-four-children-malnourished-report/story-e6freonf-1226272278073

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/24-per-cent-indian-kids-go-hungry-daily-survey/230602-3.html

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/12919454/malnutrition-puts-450m-children-at-risk-of-stunting/

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/02/easily-affordable-to-save-2-million-children-report-says.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9696000/9696493.stm

http://www.economist.com/node/21547771

Food is a fundamental resource, yet it is unevenly and irregularly distributed throughout the world. Professor Dumont, Director of Sydney University’s Centre of International Security Studies, states that the growing pressure on global food supplies will threaten to cause social and political unrest within countries and increase the likelihood of conflict within and between countries.

The benchmark food prices index, published by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (UNFAO), has reached a record high for the second time in three years, and highlights a dangerous structural shift in the global food market. There are already millions of people dying of starvation and according to UNICEF, approximately 30,000 children die each day due to the effects of poverty.

There are approximately1 billion people around the world going to bed hungry each night – they simply cannot afford to buy nutritious food or safe drinking water. Increasing food prices add to this burden. With food playing an important role in the development of the human body, poor nutrition magnifies the effects of disease and various health and wellbeing concerns. 

Throughout Australia’s neighbouring countries, there are 540 million people who do not receive the minimum food requirement (as advised by UNFAO) and in India, 2.1 million children under the age of five die annually, usually from diseases that could be prevented with a better diet and basic healthcare. With food security remaining a critical issue for both developed and developing countries, it is imperative that global health concerns are addressed.

Accessing nutritious food is extremely difficult for people living on less than one or two dollars a day. An effective tool to reduce poverty is to provide access to basic financial services, such as small loans. This can enable a person living in poverty to start a business, earn an income and afford the nutritious food their family needs to stay healthy and strong. If you would like to help provide a loan to a person facing poverty and food insecurity, please click here.

Sources:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/deadliest-form-of-food-fight-20110626-1glvg.html

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm

A recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has reported that 29 countries, primarily in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, have ’alarming‘ levels of hunger. The report’s release coincides with United Nations World Food Day, which was observed on 16 October. The theme for this year was ‘United against hunger’, recognising the efforts that have been made in the fight against hunger. The 1 Billion Hungry Project was also launched to draw attention to the observance. The project invites people to sign a petition at www.1billionhungry.org with the aim of putting pressure on governments to end hunger.

Hunger levels in 2009 reached one billion people, thought in part to be a repercussion of the global economic crisis and rising food costs. There have never been so many hungry people in the world, and as Food and Agriculture Organisation Director-General Jacques Diouf put it, that is a “tragic achievement in these modern days”. With the global economy recovering, figures for 2010 are slightly lower – estimated at approximately 925 million.

According to the report, one factor exacerbating hunger levels in South Asia, particularly child malnourishment, is the low educational, nutritional and social status of women. At Opportunity International Australia, 94% of the people we serve with microfinance loans are women. Through the support provided by our partners in the field, our clients are able to feed their families, educate their children and save for the future. If you would like to help and provide microfinance loans to families facing hunger, please click here.  

According to a report released by ActionAid, the cost of hunger is estimated at US $450 billion a year (approximately A$482 billion). To quote ActionAid’s CEO Joanna Kerr, “Fighting hunger now will be ten times cheaper than ignoring it.  Every year, reduced worker productivity, poor health and lost education costs poor countries billions.”

Efforts to reduce world hunger were seriously compromised by rising food prices and the global financial crisis. The report reveals that 12 of the 28 developing nations that pledged to halve hunger by 2015 actually backtracked in 2009, when over a billion people still went to bed hungry. 

More recently, the floods in Pakistan have ruined vast tracts of arable farmland, while in Russia, drought has destroyed a quarter of the country’s crop, forcing it to ban grain export. A food crisis in Niger has left over seven million people vulnerable to famine.

Despite these grim trends, the situation in 2010 has seen some improvement. According to a report by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN, the number of undernourished has dropped by around 9.6% from the previous year. The FAO says that this decline is explained primarily by the economic recovery in 2010. 

However, “the fact that nearly a billion people remain hungry, even after the recent food and financial crises have largely passed, indicates a deeper structural problem,” the FAO report said. The agency also urged governments to “encourage increased investment in agriculture, expand safety nets and social assistance programmes, and enhance income-generating activities for the rural and urban poor.”

In India, a lack of investment in agriculture has meant that the numbers of hungry grew by 40 million between 1990 and 2006, and according to UNICEF, a further 20 million were added to this total by 2008.

Among the countries that remain on track to halve hunger by 2015 are Brazil, China, Ghana, Malawi and Vietnam.  China, for instance, has cut poverty from 84% to 15%, according to UN figures, well ahead of its Millennium deadline. Their success is due to the increased investment in small farms, and the introduction of social protection schemes. 

Jacquez Diouf, Director General of the FAO, said the continuing high global hunger level “makes it extremely difficult to achieve not only the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) but also the rest of the MDGs.”

For hunger reduction to be sustainable, people in poverty need to be able to feed themselves. At Opportunity International Australia, we provide small loans, helping people work their way toward a better future. Please visit https://www.opportunity.org.au/Donations---Events.aspx to help today.

Global food prices increased by an average of 43% between 2007 and 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund. During this period, food most commonly consumed by those in developing countries – including wheat, soybeans, corn and rice – saw the greatest price rises globally, with wheat prices increasing by a staggering 146%. Data from a recent United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) report (released 15 June 2010) now suggests that global food prices could potentially increase by a further 40% in the coming decade as the global population continues to soar.

Worst hit by the price rises will be those in developing countries, specifically the poor, contributing to the ongoing food crisis in 31 countries worldwide, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines and 20 African nations. At the household level, increasing food prices have the greatest effect on underprivileged and food-insecure populations. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, these households spend 50% - 60% or more of their income on basic food commodities.

Consider the implications for the 2.7 billion people who the World Bank report live on US$2 a day or less. According to the UN Human Development Reports from 2007 and 2009, that’s 75.6% of Indian people, 54% of Indonesian people and 45% of the Filipino people spending at least half of their income on food – a huge proportion when your daily income is only US$2. When food prices go up, people living in poverty are forced to use more of their daily income on food, leaving less for other necessities such as school fees, healthcare or proper shelter. Alternatively, they are forced to purchase less food, and with the United Nations estimating 1 billion go to bed hungry every night, malnutrition is often an inevitable result.

The impact of the crisis can be seen in the reality that a child dies from hunger every five seconds (according to the UNFAO). In the countries where Opportunity International Australia operates, the need is clear. The World Health Organization states that “about 49% of the world’s underweight children, 34% of the world’s stunted children and 46% of the world’s wasted children live in India.” Similarly, the World Food Programme asserts that the nutritional status of children under five in Indonesia has steadily declined since 2003, while in the Philippines, approximately 30% of children under five are stunted as a direct result of hunger and malnutrition.

Feeding people in crisis is undoubtedly a crucial priority, and while aid can have a significant impact, it is increasingly apparent that this help needs to be supplemented with a long-term solution to prepare those in greatest need for the predicted inflation in food prices. Microfinance can help provide families in developing countries with hope for a more secure and sustainable future. Loans as small as $100 through Opportunity International Australia help families start or grow a small business and create a sustainable income, necessary for families having to cope with price fluctuations.

If you would like to help those facing the hunger crisis help themselves by starting a small business, please click here to provide a small loan to someone in need today.