World Hunger Day 2023: Shedding light on a global crisis

May 28th is World Hunger Day, an annual event aimed to shed light on an alarming fact: More than 820 million people worldwide live in chronic hunger.

Allow me to paint a picture: A massive slice of the global population – approximately 10.5% – struggles with hunger on a daily basis.

World Hunger Day

Why does World Hunger Day exist? Because millions of people are unable to meet their nutritional needs due to physical or financial constraints.

This translates into malnutrition, wasting, stunted growth, and in extreme cases, even death.

In fact, according to John Holmes, the United Nations Secretary-General on the Global Food Security Crisis, it claims more lives than Aids, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.^[1]

Why is Africa so hungry?

Meanwhile, the 2021 Global Hunger Index highlights how Somalia suffers the greatest impact from hunger and malnutrition, followed by Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen._[2]

Poverty is the primary culprit behind Africa’s hunger crisis.

This is closely followed by climate and weather changes, conflict, unstable markets, and inadequate agricultural investments.

Unsettling facts

• 17 million babies are born undernourished due to their malnourished mothers, annually;
• Around 805 million people go to bed hungry every night;
• As a species, we produce enough food globally to feed seven billion people. Yet, hunger persists;
• Economic growth does not necessarily correlate with reduced hunger, as demonstrated by India where about 14% of its population remains undernourished despite recent economic progress;
• Approximately 98% of worldwide hunger exists in underdeveloped countries.

Make a difference on World Hunger Day

There are many ways to make a difference on World Hunger Day, such as volunteering at a local food bank or soup kitchen.

When volunteering, there are many roles to choose from, including but not limited to:

• Volunteering your time;
• Fundraising;
• Social media management and awareness campaigns;
• Organising food drives;
• Donating to a charity.

You could also contribute towards a non-profit organisation, and if you have large social media following, use your online footprint to raise awareness.

This can also be done by encouraging sustainable eating habits, donating excess food to soup kitchens, and pressuring governments to take more substantial actions against hunger.

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References:

_{[1] Losing 25,000 to Hunger Every Day; John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
[2] 2021 Global Hunger Index: Hunger and Food Systems in Conflict Settings; Klaus von Grebmer, Jill Bernstein, Miriam Wiemers, Tabea Schiffer, Asja Hanano, Olive Towey, Réiseal Ní Chéilleachair, Connell Foley, Seth Gitter, Kierstin Ekstrom, and Heidi Fritschel; October 2021.}