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Header: Hunger and Malnutrition Around the World

Hunger and Malnutrition Around the World

Community Problem Report
Christina Pickett

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Hunger and Malnutrition Around the World

Christina Pickett
MWF

RWS 8:30

Hunger and Malnutrition Around the World

World hunger has a large number of causes and effects. If one is to study the prevention
of world hunger then only one focus can be taken at a time and with much consideration. This
community problem report mentions a few main points including causes and effects as well as
certain actions people can take to fight against the issue. The issue of hunger and malnutrition is
what people try to prevent and at the same time contribute to every day. There are many causes
to world hunger, and this community report highlights the main topics that confers the most to
hunger and malnutrition. Waste and over consumption of food products has increased greatly
over the years. The results of hunger and malnutrition lead to weakness of the immune system to
those affected by hunger, as well as the lack of energy to learn and develop especially among
children.
What is the State of World Hunger and what are the effects?
The state of world hunger is that many people are suffering from food shortage, food
poverty, or food deprivation and people of the world are aware of it and how it can be stopped,
but yet the world continues with its habits as if there is no consequences against the earth and the
people living on it. These particular habits are known as the
over consumption and the waste of food. This sort of issue
is brought to the peoples attention often, but, the amount
of waste is staggering says a reporter in the video Half
the Worlds Food is Wasted Specially In the West quoting
Tim Fox. Wasting food and consuming more than necessary

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may not affect those that do but it does effect the starving millions who do not have the luxury to
waste food. This issue is brought to peoples attention often, but the question is it enough? is
asked.
In result of the current state of hunger, many children find themselves unable to perform
tasks that children should be able to, such as playing, growing, and learning. The effect
malnourishment has on a child can result in the lack of ability to develop as necessary. Many
people have the theory that in order to end world hunger, the education of men, women, and
children is the key component. The current issue is that because of the lack of energy that the
people being effected by malnutrition have, being able to concentrate is very difficult and the
learning ability is slowed down creating this cycle between education and hunger.
Are there issues that cause world hunger, if so, in what ways might those issues contribute
to the matter?
World hunger is a result of certain practices man believe is necessary to survive. Such
practices consist of over cropping, food over production, lack of resources, and lack of
education. In the article, Inside the Looming Food Crisis by Dennis Demick, the views of over
cropping and food over production are expressed as contributors to world hunger. The author
displays the conflict between cropping and the environment by stating, between a rising world
population that wants to eat more high-quality food such as meat and dairy. This quote helps
explain that the world cannot completely meet the demands of the mass cropping taking place
trying to meet the demands of the growing population.
The worlds human population is growing at a rapid pace as Mr. Quinn expresses, But
the six billion is not nearly as alarming as the twelve billion that we well be in your lifetime if we
go on growing at this rate. (Quinn, 1998). The growing population is a large contributor to the
issue of world hunger. As the population grows the world needs to produce enough food to meet
the demands. To accomplish this, every year the production of food is increased by two percent.

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This increase of food production is not necessary. The constant increase of food production leads
to the constant increase in human population. The reason the increase of the production of food
is not necessary is because most of it is thrown out, either by the farmers because they do not
meet the standards as Kashmeri explains, 30% of vegetables are junked because they are
deformed (Half the worlds food is wasted specially in the west, 2013) or because families throw
away what they do not eat or because it is expired. Yet still, many believe the production food is
necessary to keep up with a growing population.
Could world hunger cause long term effects on people and the environment? If so then
what sort of effects?
Hunger and malnutrition effect people and many areas of the world in many different
ways. The effect on people is rather obvious, but there is much more effects than just being
hungry. In the article The Long Term Effects of Hunger the author considers that hunger can
cease a child from growing and learning and the author provides a list of effects hunger can
have on a child and begins by stating, In laymans terms, hunger can: Reduce a childs motor
skills, Lower their activity levels, rob them of the motivation required to explore and learn, etc.
From these effects listed one can see that because hunger has such an intense effect on
children specifically, the issue is not going to reduce because the child has a massive lack of
energy to learn and develop.
The environment has an effect on world hunger as does hunger have an effect on the
environment. The over cropping and deforestation has caused many issues with the Earths
ecosystem all around. The climate is drastically changing around the world, including rising
temperatures, changing precipitation regimes, and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels
(Perry, 2004). Climate change can drastically effect a farmer in Dadaab, Kenya trying to feed a
family or a community. The land may be dried up as most parts of Africa are. The domino effect
is what mostly takes place within the issue of world hunger. Again the issue of overpopulation

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comes up again because, the more the human population grows the more food is going to be
produced. If more food is produced than more crops are going to be cultivated. More crops leads
to erosion of land. The climate is then effected by this especially if it is dried up and there is no
more nutrients available to the land.
Are people trying to eliminate world hunger and, if so, how might that be fulfilled?
Fortunately there is and effort to ending hunger and malnutrition around the world with
systems to assist the less fortunate. with the help of systems such as Climate Smart Agriculture farmers
are able to intelligently grow crops that are healthy to the environment. In the video about Climate
Smart Agriculture the narrator states, "healthy farmland captures carbon and vegetation and in the soil
as well," showing that the Climate Smart Agriculture system teaches the farmers how to grow certain
plants and the reason for the growth of those certain plants.

The issue of world hunger is becoming more recognized by people. The public is
taking more action, but the issue is still present and could be getting worse. There is more
participation and alliance of people voting to encourage more action to be taken against
poverty and malnourishment in the world. In New Attitudes About Poverty and Hunger the
authors explain how people of even different political parties come together to give voice to
world hunger by stating, "We call these voters the 'Do Right' voters. They can be in either
political party and are often open to different solutions to the problem." (New attitudes about
poverty and hunger, 2007). From these words one can see that there is more involvement from
citizens as well as more persuasion towards politicians to take more action on the issue of hunger
and malnourishment no matter what party they are in.
For some a solution to world hunger would be to simply increase the production of food
in order to meet the demand of all of the starving in the world. Increasing the production of
food, though, can have a very negative impact on the starving millions and on the Earth. Daniel
Quinn gives a speech that suggest other solutions such as simply giving certain things up rather

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than increasing the amount, which he explains here, That piece of double fudge chocolate
cake is out of our lives as a daily treatbut of course we're still nowhere near starvation.
Quinn is explaining how him and his family give up certain things to make accommodations
rather than increase the amount of food they eat to meet the needs of a growing family.