Hunger and poverty
“On February 20, 2017, the world
awoke to a headline that should have never come about: Famine had been declared
in parts of South Sudan, the first to be announced anywhere in the world in six
years. This was on top of imminent famine warnings in northern Nigeria,
Somalia, and Yemen, putting a total of 20 million people at risk of starvation.
The formal famine declaration in South Sudan meant that people were already
dying of hunger. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s political turmoil created massive food
shortages in both the city and countryside, leaving millions without enough to
eat in a region that, overall, has low levels of hunger. As the crisis there
escalated and food prices soared, the poor were the first to suffer. Despite
years of progress, food security is still under threat. Conflict and climate
change are hitting the poorest people the hardest and effectively pitching
parts of the world into perpetual crisis. Although it has been said that
“hunger does not discriminate,” it does. It emerges the strongest and most
persistently among populations that are already vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Hunger and inequality are inextricably linked. By committing to the UN
Sustainable Development Goals, the international community promised to
eradicate hunger and reduce inequality by 2030. Yet the world is still not on
track to reach this target. Inequality takes many forms, and understanding how
it leads to or exacerbates hunger is not always straightforward. For example,
women and girls comprise 60 percent of the world’s hungry, often the result of
deeply rooted social structures that deny women access to education,
healthcare, and resources. Likewise, ethnic minorities are often victims of
discrimination and experience greater levels of poverty and hunger. Most
closely tied to hunger, perhaps, is poverty, the clearest manifestation of
societal inequality. Threequarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas,
where hunger is typically higher. This year’s essay, authored by Naomi Hossain,
research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, focuses on the
relationship between hunger, inequality, and power. Underlying nutritional
inequalities, Dr. Hossain argues, are inequalities of power—social, economic,
or political. The 2017 Global Hunger Index, jointly published by the
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and
Welthungerhilfe, tracks the state of hunger worldwide, spotlighting those
places where action to address hunger is most urgently needed. This year’s
index shows mixed results: Despite a decline in hunger over the long term, the
global level remains high, with great differences not only among countries but
also within countries. For example, at a national level, Central African
Republic (CAR) has extremely alarming levels of hunger and is ranked highest of
all countries with GHI scores in the report. While CAR made no progress in
reducing hunger over the past 17 years—its GHI score from 2000 is the same as
in 2017—14 other countries reduced their GHI scores by more than 50 percent
over the same period. At the subnational level, inequalities of hunger are
often obscured by national averages. In northeast Nigeria, 4.5 million people
are experiencing or are at risk of famine while the rest of the country is
relatively food secure. This year’s report also highlights trends related to
child stunting in selected countries including Afghanistan, where rates vary
dramatically—from 24.3 percent of children in some parts of the country to 70.8
percent in others. While the world has committed to reaching Zero Hunger by
2030, the fact that over 20 million people are currently at risk of famine
shows how far we are from realizing this vision. As we fight the scourge of
hunger across the globe, we must understand how inequality contributes to it.
To ensure that those who are affected by inequality can demand change from
national governments and international organizations and hold them to account,
we must understand and redress power imbalances. This is crucial if we are to
reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and end hunger forever ” ( http://www.globalhungerindex.org/pdf/en/2017.pdf)
References
2017 Global Hunger Index. Retrived from http://www.Globalhunge
rindex.org/pdf/en/2017.pdf.27,01,2018
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