HUNGER FACTS

Hunger: the hard truth isn’t a statistic

It’s someone’s daughter, sister, brother . . .

Fact: A child dies from hunger-related causes every 8 to 12 seconds.*

That’s as many as 11,000 children younger than 5 — killed every day. Some actually starve. The immune systems of others are powered down by malnutrition, leaving the door wide open for deadly diseases.

And hunger is only one threat facing kids. In all, more than 22,000 die every day — almost all of them from simple causes with existing cures: diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia, hunger, and more. That’s the real injustice — that the vast majority of these deaths are 100% preventable.

Fact: Globally, 925 million people are hungry.

That’s roughly 3 times the population of the U.S. going to bed hungry every night.

Why so hungry? Many families depend entirely on what they can grow, so they’re never more than one natural or manmade disaster away from hunger. Others work day and night, but still can barely afford enough food for their children.

Fact: The poor spend most of their money trying not to starve.

Around 2.6 billion people live on less than two bucks a day. They’ve got to feed their families on this — not to mention pay for shelter, school, healthcare, and clothes. And guess what? Food prices just hit their highest level in history.

Faced with these realities, the poor are often forced to make difficult decisions. Buy medicine for their 3-year-old who has malaria, or food for the whole family? Send the kids to school or have them work to help earn money? Go from two meals a day to one? For many, these aren’t one-time choices. They’re life sentences — and the prison is poverty.

Fact: We can overcome hunger.

Hunger is bigger than us, but it’s not bigger than God. Jesus fed thousands of people with one boy’s small lunch. Imagine what he can do when we come together in his name to fight hunger.

You see, there is enough food in the world. But there’s also injustice, because that food is not equally available — even when people work hard for it. The poor need an advocate — someone who is willing to rise up, speak out, and serve the hungry. That’s where we come in. Together, our voices and actions can make a difference. And that’s why we go hungry … so others don’t have to.

*According to UN estimates, hunger is a direct or contributing cause in one-third to one-half of preventable child deaths.

Sources: 

"Hunger Facts." 30 Hour Famine. Web. 17 Nov. 2011 <http://www.30hourfamine.org/hunger/hunger-facts>.