Worldwide Hunger & Starvation News – December 31, 2010
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Furaha ya mwaka mpya! (Swahili) ¡Feliz Año Nuevo ! (Spanish) Bon Ane! (Haitian Creole) In the language of those that you have done so much to help feed in 2011, Happy New Year! We join with you in “hope”, that 2012 will be a year that far fewer people will know the pangs of hunger and the scourge of starvation.
We thought we’d end this year starting with a few links of progress that has been made towards the eradication of world-wide hunger. First, from Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor, an update on the United Nations Millenneum Development Goals and their current status targeting completion by 2015.
“Two-thirds of developing countries are on track or close to meeting the Millennium Development Goals,” begins the World Bank’s “Global Monitoring Report 2011.” Consider hunger, for instance. It’s obvious that as the world’s poorest people gain more money, food is one of the first things they spend it on. Indeed, the world is on track to halve extreme hunger in many of the same places where poverty is declining…..
U.N. Poverty Reduction Goals on Track
Many of you can recall the dire situation that existed in Ethiopia, on a scale equivalent to what happened this year in the Horn of Africa. Ronan Scully of Self Help Africa recounts for us the progress that has occurred, since he first became involved in that country in 1984.
Hunger, starvation and utter despair – will it ever end? Has nothing been achieved for all the money, time and effort that has gone into trying to end this kind of African human tragedy?… I should say now however that I know from my own experience that things have changed in Africa a great deal over the past 25 years, and that even in the tragedy and suffering that we saw recently in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, there are signs of hope for the future…..
Reasons for Hope, because of people’s resilience
From the Financial Express of Dhaka, India, a promising report on the reduction of food insecurity in the Bangladesh area.
Some 23 ethnic community villages comprising 4810 people in Godagari upazila of the district eradicated poverty and hunger by dint of local resource mobilisation with their own efforts. “We are now free from starvation as we have built food security to mitigate our sufferings during the lean period,” said Sudokshan Toppo…..
Ethnic Community People Eradicate Poverty and Hunger in Rajshahi
Of course, not all of the news has been encouraging. From Daniel Rook of the AFP, another sad report of North Korean starvation, even as they lay to rest Kim Jong-II.
While North Korea prepares a lavish funeral for late leader Kim Jong-Il, outside the showpiece capital people are struggling to survive and so hungry they even eat grass, observers say. Since Kim’s body was laid out in a glass coffin, official television has shown a procession of smartly-dressed, well-fed members of the country’s privileged elite paying their respects. But away from the television cameras, whose lenses are largely focused on Pyongyang, many North Koreans are trapped in poverty, malnourished or even starving to death, according to aid workers and defectors…..
Beyond Propoganda, North Koreans Quietly Starving
Charles Mkula of Newstime Africa, uncovers for us disturbing information on food insecurity in Malawi.
As millions around the world cerebrated Christmas – the birth of Jesus Christ- on Sunday, thousands of Malawians wringed with starvation while many more suffered from cholera contracted from eating wild plants as about ten districts of the southern African country face food shortages with Mwanza and Chikwawa reaching crisis points…..
Christmas on Empty Stomachs in Malawi
There are multiple ways that Americans can join in the worldwide effort to reduce food insecurity. Our prototype “community garden” (Numana Gardens) is one initiative that you can work towards in your own city. And believe it or not, what you eat at home does have an impact. Guest Blogger (Huffington Post) , David Kennedy, urges us towards a healthier lifestyle in what we choose to eat.
And when our pattern of eating fails to supply the right balance of essential nutrients that our bodies require we become malnourished. Now, there are a few different ways we can become malnourished: There’s chronic hunger, and nearly a billion people in the world have poor health because they just don’t get enough food. Then there’s overnourishment, and over a billion people are overweight or obese mainly from consuming more calories than their level of activity requires……
Eat More Greens in the New Year
Americans throw out (waste) 15 to 25 percent of our food annually. Allison Arieff of GOOD, reviews for us a few quick tips on reducing this waste.
But, as Bloom points out, there are incredibly simple things we all can do to break the cycle of throwing out an average of 15 to 25 percent of our food annually per household (and the $1300 to $2200 we spend on it)…..
The U.S. Wastes 40 Percent of All Food Produced Per Year. How About We Stop Doing That?
The opinions expressed in these links are only that of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of Numana.