Category: Hunger

The number of people going hungry everyday has been increasing in the world in the past 3 years. More than 820 million people are going hungry everyday around the world (FAO, 2019). According to Chakona and Shackleton (2017), Drimie & Mclachlan (2013) and Pereira, Cuneo & Twine (2014), South Africa is declared food secure at national level. However, it can be argued that this is not a true reflection because a lot of households are still living below the food poverty line, with 6,8 million people experiencing hunger and 10,4 million people with inadequate access to food in 2017 (Statistics South Africa, 2017). Likewise, the country is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of 36 countries with the highest burden of undernutrition. It is noted, however, that South Africa faces lack of sufficient data to indicate the impact of hunger at provincial level, by sex or age partly due to lack of finance for data collection and resources to collate it. Considering this argument this report explores the challenge of ‘Hunger Must Go by 2030 for South Africans’. It is about whether South Africa can overcome hunger by 2030, given that it is affected by several other factors, such as lack of access to food and nutrition (quantity and diet), prevalence of poverty (affordability, social values and inequality) and biodiversity loss (agriculture/production and distribution). The objective was to review the impact of the parameters in question, review the need for multi-level policies that cover different sectors and finally narrow down key areas and partnerships necessary to implement change now rather than later to meet the goal. The search of literature was undertaken using the Manchester Metropolitan University Library, Google and Science Direct. In the discussion recommendations are made to address poverty and hunger not only from what is lacking but also from effective utilization of existing systems and increase of protectionist policies for producers and the population at large.

Hunger and Lack of Access to Food

Key to reducing hunger and improved nutrition is the ability of people to afford and access food. Studies show that considering national production and imports of food Africa in general, South Africa (SA) included, has enough food to support her population such that hunger should not be an issue. This is supported by statistics in SA which acknowledge that household access to food has improved since 2002 but has not significantly changed since 2011. Around 26% of South African households or 13–15 million people have either inadequate or severely inadequate access to food (Misselhorn and Hendricks, 2017). The problem of hunger in SA does not squarely lie in the amount of food but also in access to the food. However, even when people eventually have access, they do not have enough income to buy due to poverty, huge income gaps and unemployment which in 2017 was standing at 27,5% (Statistics South Africa, 2017; Villasante et al., 2015; Chakona & Shackleton, 2017). Furthermore, when people manage to produce their own food through subsistence farming, they have no access to the markets due to lack of infrastructure or high transport costs. Lack of access to food and hunger is not equally experienced throughout the population; it is highest among black people and those less educated, female headed households and those with large families (The World Bank, 2018). These social disparities further increase the constraints of Hunger Must Go by 2030.

Hunger and Nutrition, Under-/Malnourishment

People who have insufficient food may not necessarily suffer from hunger but lack of enough food and insufficient nutrients results in them being under nourished or malnourished with potential adverse health effects. Besides the challenge of undernutrition, a growing challenge of malnutrition (hidden hunger) manifests in the form of overweight and obesity. Diets in South Africa are highly dependent on cereals, starchy staple food and frequently lack dietary variety. The transition to this diet is mainly because people have moved from food production to food purchasing and thus prefer, or are forced, to rely on the cheaper food which is highly meat-based, with more energy in the form of saturated fats and refined sugars but poor in nutritional value. The implication of this is hidden hunger and a shift in epidemiology from infectious to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The government implemented the Household Food and Nutrition Strategy which is meant to enhance food utilization by looking at the following: governing food prices, providing assistance to farmers, implementation of feeding programs in schools and fortification of staple foods for healthy lifestyle. Research has indicated that these policies are, however, not well implemented; for example, nutritional supplementation programs to provide a nutritious meal to all learners in poorer primary and secondary schools did not meet the nutrient standards for carbohydrate and energy contents. It is also argued that fortification of staple foods to meet nutritional requirements must be reviewed as daily consumption of food among the most vulnerable has significantly reduced and thus consumption is not meeting the RDA of those nutrients.

Poverty and Food Price Volatility

Key to reducing hunger and improving nutrition is the ability of people to afford and access food. Affordability is governed by both food prices and purchasing power. South Africa has made progress in reducing poverty since 1994 (The World Bank, 2018). Despite these noted improvements poverty is still one of the main causes of South Africa’s hunger and food insecurity. According to Statistics South Africa (2017), nearly 13.8 million people are extremely poor and 25.2% of the population lives in extreme poverty. Malnutrition and hunger are high among the poor who lack safety nets to absorb income or price shocks and high change environments from retailers (FAO, 2019). They therefore continue to rely on the most filling, affordable but unhealthy staple starch diets with little fruits and vegetable. The impact of food price changes has the potential of increasing hunger and reducing dietary quality. Social protection remains important in reducing extreme poverty, but the budgetary room for further expansion is not there and so is low growth expectations in the coming years which suggest poor prospects of eliminating poverty and hunger by 2030 (The World Bank, 2018). Poverty in South Africa was to some extent shaped by pre-1994 patterns of spatial development and standard of education to which South Africa adopted several policies to address this among which are the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), employment tax incentives and minimum wage laws. Research indicates that the policies have not been well implemented evenly throughout the country with the resultant status of hunger which is highly uneven among its population and creating a huge gap between the rich and the poor hence the need to review and relook at the policies. Currently South Africa has established policies to improve access to food through social protection and development schemes as highlighted in the National Food and Security Policy. According to Misselhorn and Hendricks (2017), the significance of the role of social grant cannot be denied as it is playing a pivotal role in providing social protection and some measure of poverty relief at household level in South Africa. High unemployment rate, inadequate social welfare systems, unstable household food production has resulted in households which are highly reliant on social grants. Pereira, Cuneo & Twine (2014) and Nhlapo et al. (2015) argue that a sustainable food system cannot be built upon reliance on external social assistance, and that although it is true that there is need for safety nets to protect against changing prices, losses of employment, and poverty, social grants alone do not constitute a sustainable intervention.

Hunger and Loss of Biodiversity (Agriculture Production and Distribution)

According to Misselhorn and Hendricks (2017), the people in South Africa have transitioned to an increased dependence on purchasing food from large retailers as there has been a decrease in own production. Misselhorn and Hendricks argue that as much as 49.6% of total expenditure can go to purchasing food increasing hunger among the poor people. Even rural South Africans have migrated to relying on purchased food. Only 15,6% of South African households are still involved in agricultural production. This set back is leading to deagrarianization as urbanization is becoming more rapid, poor affordability of inputs against high production costs, poor access to farms and climatic conditions, drought and lack of suitable land to produce. The policies implemented by government, for example, the structural adjustment programmes, have not been effective. They brought changes which included removal of subsidies for agricultural inputs, negatively pricing them out of range of small farmers and made the market uncertain due to lack of set prices or marketing boards. This is quite significant as it has resulted in more migration away from agriculture, lack of income diversity and productivity and thus more hunger particularly for the rural population. Traders have also not come on board to assist as they are hesitant to travel long distances to the farms with no proper transport infrastructure in place and the farmers also are not willing or are unable to meet the high transportation to agents against uncertain prices. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) drafted the National Food and Security Policy which serves as a guide to national, provincial and local government in pursuit of food and nutrition security at every level. Department of Social Development implemented the National Development Plan which addresses food security, but goes beyond an agricultural focus by making recommendations for expanding the community works program for rural infrastructure development, ensuring all eligible households have access to social grants and implementing measures to ensure that vulnerable groups have access to nutrition.

Conclusion

Evidence from the foregoing reviews above shows that although declared food secure at National level, South African food policies have not been well implemented throughout the country to achieve the Hunger Must Go by 2030 target. The status of hunger and food security is highly uneven among South Africa’s population creating a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Prevalence of poverty, and inaccessibility of food amid projected low growth economic perspectives in the coming years suggest poor chances of hunger going or meeting goals of Sustainable Development Goal 2 if South Africa continues with business as usual. The majority of South Africans are now dependent on buying food instead of own production and affordability of this food is fundamental to curb hunger. Not many people are immune to the effects of increasing food prices especially considering high unemployment rate and low incomes in South Africa. There is high dependency on government food grants among the poor which is preventing engagement into sustainable initiatives such as food gardens. The poor majority are living with barely enough money to afford a balanced meal daily and thus rely mostly on consuming staple food starches, very little fruits and most affordable vegetables, which are often low in nutrients and lack variety. As affordability reduces due to inflation and increased prices of production and final products, households with low incomes will eat less and less such that even the efforts by government to fortify food will not assist in reducing malnutrition. Without intervention, South Africa will not be able to say Hunger Must Go by 2030.

Recommendations

• If hunger has to go by 2030 food has to be made affordable and accessible to the greater population more sustainably through capacity building and employment creation. Individuals should look at investing in nutritional improvement programs that do not necessarily depend on high income investment. These include alternative food sources to increase diet diversity with foods such as edible wild plants, wild insects, birds, and reptiles, as an important protein and nutrition source for the children particularly in the poor rural and peri urban areas. Sustainability of this food source is debatable since availability is markedly seasonal and could cause land degradation due to unlimited harvesting. However, it is a good nutritional source, cheap and accessible and the authorities can educate the people and put measures to strictly control harvesting in localized areas.
• Studies by Chakona and Shackleton (2017) have shown that community gardening projects by locals can reduce hunger and food insecurity by improving micro-nutrient intake through consumption of fresh vegetables, furthermore contributing to household food security through increasing availability, accessibility, and utilization of food. Municipalities must therefore look at making land available for such projects and consider allocation to women of reproductive age who are most vulnerable.
• The government must address the issues around nutrition transition by promoting the food-based dietary guidelines and supplementary feeding. There are currently two important guidelines aimed at preventing NCD’s on sparingly consuming fats, food, and drinks. It’s noted however their messages may not be reaching the public at large, a situation relevant authorities need to evaluate. Nutrition supplementation through fortification programs also needs to be reviewed as consumption has significantly reduced. Government intervention is also required in lowering the food prices to allow consumption of a variety of foods other than staples. This can be achieved through control of food pricing, food stamps and subsidized balanced food baskets.
• It is not debatable that grants such as the child support grants, and nutritional supplementation programs prevent absolute hunger. Government should consider an increase of social protectionist policies in the context of these social grants with close monitoring against corruption. Surveys should be conducted to assess supplementary programs to ensure participating schools serve meals that include whole grains, meat / other protein alternatives, fruit, and vegetables. Attention should also be paid to daily food consumption rates and the stability of fortification mix to increase the benefits of fortification programs. This will improve macro- and micro-nutrient benefits in school children and women of reproductive age benefitting from these projects.
• There is need to increase support to subsistence/smallholder farmers to reduce dependence on buying instead of growing food through sustainable intensification, well-functioning input and output markets, and reduce transaction costs and risks. To curb the challenges of unavailability of arable land and impacts caused by drought to food production, health authorities should further invest in research and development into drought resistant crops and climate-smart agriculture approaches to maximize on these areas.

It has been a problem for years, but only a few have decided to join and support the cause to solve the world problem. Focusing on America, one sixth of the population in the country suffers from hunger. This starts to become a bigger issue as climate change starts permanently affecting agricultural and leaving less food. However, there is a simple, but complex way to fix this problem and that is realizing and manipulating other beneficial food sources and creating organizations such as the Hunger Project. The Hunger Project was founded in 1977, during the beginning rise of world hunger triggered by the first Rome World Food Conference. Rather than simply being another relief organization to temporarily prevent the situation, The Hunger Project was created as a strategic organization. Over the years, this organization has come in and out of situations to adjust and meet each challenge along the path of ending hunger (Denver et al.). The Hunger Project carried out the world’s largest public education and advocacy campaign on the issue of hunger, designed to motivate the entire world to help end hunger. There are many organizations like this and what better way to start than our own country rather than holding all the eggs in one basket. Process of solving hunger will take extraordinarily long, but can happen with the help of others donating to the poor. Hunger is becoming a larger problem in America due to laziness, global warming, and outdated food being thrown away.

A known but hard-to-change factor for hunger in America is laziness. We can say help hungry people all we want, but typically known acts towards their remarks. Approximately 40% of Americans in 2016 had a struggle to feed their families due to laziness, which results in poverty and leaves a bad reputation to the overall country. Everyone must work individually to earn the standard of living, but people are often drifted away from drug addiction and overall bad choices. A mediocre population of America will buy as much food as they think they need to last a long period of time. The food ends up going bad because they didn’t account the expiration date, and eventually throw the food out. Annually, America produces 430 billion pounds of food, which could feed the approximate 319 million people living in the country (Stanley). However, food being delivered to hunger organizations is often heavily-processed food, typically made to last long with hardly any health benefits, and is not efficient for the world or a single country alone.

Laziness used to be considered a luxury, but could be considered a world issue in itself. There is no start to laziness, however in the 21st century there was mixed feelings over how to spend leisure time. Some Americans used free time to be productive such as attend night school, practice religion, and participate in sports. Others pass this time in a more efficient, but less beneficial way. Taking naps or playing video games to take a break from the real world was their idea of passing the time. Some believed that the Internet was making us lazier others saw it increased out productivity (Weeks).

Besides lacking in productivity, global warming is also a cause of hunger in America. Global warming is an environmental threat unlike any other the world has faced. Global warming is a world issue in itself, but there is a way to help avoid the harm it deals. First, global warming is the increasing of greenhouse gases, resulting in a rise of their concentrations in the atmosphere. This creates the greenhouse effect which traps gases inside the atmosphere, slowly heating up the Earth and tempering with climate. Overall weather patterns start to change according to the effects, and it is destroying important farmlands. It could vary from torrential downpour in any season to long droughts in the summer. Not only is the weather affecting the environment, it is affecting crucial food sources used to feed thousands, including people suffering from hunger (Tacio). However, an alternate way to provide a certain food that is close to becoming the highest nutritional food could revolutionize hunger.

Instead of the stereotypical ‘farm to table’ the idea of ‘boat to plate’, which was using fish as a main source of food, is a beneficial way to provide food and save the land from being used for some farming. However, tracking fish is important because many fish are frequently mistaken for other species of fish. In 2013, approximately 59% of tuna were mislabeled as a different fish. The Safety Fraud and Enforcement for Seafood Act basically decreased the likelihood of fish to be mislabeled or treated in an unsanitary way. Fish do not take up any land, therefore already benefitting the environment, as well as preventing weather to flood them out permanently (Savitz). Sustaining a healthy ocean could benefit by feeding people everywhere in the world rather than creating less healthy ‘stay on the shelf meals’.

Expiration dates are frequently seen and talked about as the day that food expires. Most of the time the label reads ‘sell by’ and never says ‘expiration date’. There are one of four types of labels put on every food in some way. Approximately 91% of consumers throw out food based on packaging dates ‘sell by’ date indicates how long a store should display a product on its shelves. But foods are still flavorful and safe to eat several days after this date if you store them properly. ‘Best if used by’ date comes straight from manufacturers. The product will be freshest and have the best taste and texture if you eat it by this date. But this date does not refer to food safety. ‘Use by’ date also comes from manufacturers. It’s the last date for peak quality. After this date, taste, texture and quality may go downhill, even if food safety does not. The ‘expiration’ date is the only packaging date related to food safety. If this date has passed, throw the food out (Kirkpatrick). On top of the food labels is also individual food spoil average time. An example of this is dry pasta can last 2 years before beginning to lose peak freshness.

Federal law does not require food to be dated or labeled in most cases. However, there are close to 20 states that have laws about the dates. On most occasions, manufacturers add dates voluntarily. In general, perishable foods such as meat, poultry, eggs and dairy get dates. But those dates aren’t always about spoilage. Some dates simply inform retailers when products are at their best for freshness, taste and texture. A problem between people not wanting to waste food, but save themselves from the risk of food poisoning keeps many from choosing the easier way out, which is simply throwing the food away (Kirkpatrick). Food poisoning is a serious illness and 1 in 6 Americans die every year by receiving food poisoning. E.coli is the direct result of food poisoning and has several ways to avoid simply by looking at your food. Raw meat is the most common cause of E.coli, but fruit and vegetables covered in animal fecal matter can result in the illness as well. Most symptoms are followed by stomach cramping or diarrhea. So, it is important to make sure the food we receive is safe to eat, but does food always need to be tossed out? The key to keeping a healthy diet is reducing sugar consumption, lowering cholesterol and not using substitutes. Food can be judged by the consumer on whether it is edible or not, but it should be taught during a young age to create a healthy living along with making smart choices (Kirkpatrick).

There are plenty of programs striving to help hungry people across the globe, but what better way to start then their country. 20 million people are fed free or reduced lunch in school, and only 10% of that population has access to meals over the summer. Everyone wakes up with the feeling of being hungry, but that’s a different hunger. The real definition of hunger is not knowing when the next meal will be served to eat. A proposed solution supported by many is that of gleaning, which is collecting leftover crops on farmland left by the farm vehicles, and providing a healthier, more efficient food source. To accomplish this, take away the food meant for lasting on the shelves, specifically for hungry people, and produce fresh foods or collect it through gleaning. There is already a surplus in food in America, it just takes time to collect which means to avoid becoming lazy and salvaging what is possible, meanwhile the idea of fish farming begins to rise in popularity. Fish farms create nutritional food and because the oceans are so vast, it is possible to have many self-sustaining farms that will produce unlimited food at a slight pace.

There are many organizations working to change our food choice, but one major problem is distributing the food out to multiple places at once. Many people suffering from hunger are only suffering because they cannot afford food. Organizations and soup kitchens do a good job at locally helping homeless or hungry people with free food, but the food being distributed can be multiplied and produced healthier if we can time actions correctly. Gleaning is an important and beneficial way to prevent food being wasted and provide it to people in need of food. The proposal is to ensure fish farms come about to create extra food sources, and with the extra food sources, pass a law similar to the Safety Fraud and Enforcement for Seafood Act on multiple food along with another law preventing stores from tossing food only slightly damaged or past the ‘sell by’ date. With extended food dates and more sources to get food, hunger in the country could begin to decrease.

Hunger in America has always been a problem, and the country had refused to fix it quickly, which was a lack of responsibility, resulting in a major increase in hungry people. It is said that hunger in America can be solved by 2030, but the likelihood of all these proposed ideas turning into actions are unlikely due to our lack of productivity. The world is left with this problem, but can only be saved if other worldly problems begin to become solved. Hunger in America is truly caused by laziness, global warming, and the judgement of expiration dates.

After a calculated and convincing survey, the United Nations have narrowed it down to 17 salient Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs in the year 2015. Among them, what might be often overlooked is the second goal. Which, according to me, can put an end to the global crisis. So, what is the second SDG? ‘Zero Hunger’ is what the UN aims to achieve by the year 2030. The goal targets to eradicate hunger and all forms of malnutrition and to double the agricultural productivity on this planet. Along with this, the genetic diversity of the flora and fauna is said to be taken care of.

Hunger is on the rise again globally as well as nutritionally, especially at this time where due to Covid-19, a lot of workplaces and factories are shut down and many daily wage workers must be going through the most difficult time of their life. If we look at it, on an average 25,000 people die on a daily basis because of hunger. That makes it 9.1 billion people die out of sheer necessity, i.e., food every year.

In schools we’re taught the importance of food and good health. Now, health doesn’t always mean physiological, but also cannot not be downright traced to a healthy diet. Good food indicates good living, which further ensures a functioning well-being of our internal and external system. And in a world of 7.58 billion people, finding sufficient and nutritious food can be an onerous thing to do. Every person out there is trying to feed themselves or their family in some ways. And when we zoom out of this whole belief system, we can easily scrutinize how everything is linked to one another. A money-oriented world makes it exasperating for one to consume nourishing food. Those who don’t have money, steal or resort to other illegal means to fill their empty stomachs. In a society where money overlooks education, food is an insignificant cause of concern. But even if society is educated, we cannot fail to notice the fact that employment opportunities are limited to a few. And this is a circle, never-ending.

Our diet impacts our physical and mental health. Lack of adequate and nutritious food prevents students from excelling in academics, and the workers – giving out their best at the workplaces. We need to set up more agriculture-based platforms near the urban settlements which can drive investment into our poor neighborhood. This will help not only in creating job opportunities for the less fortunate, but also will provide ample food supplies. Our current policies make healthy food inaccessible to millions of people all over the world, whereas subsidized and ubiquitous food, which are the primary cause of health issues such as diabetes, heart attacks, blood pressure, etc., costs down the line.

Poverty is a direct cause of malnutrition, even in the countries where supermarkets are available. People who cannot afford healthy food, or food in general tend to come in contact with illness. Such illness or causes stop them from growing as a person, both physically and mentally. Achieving ‘Zero Hunger’ also shows how we can achieve other goals. Without food, one cannot attain education or good health; which further spoils the chances of them developing a livelihood for themselves and their generation. All in all, when many such cases are combined together, thousands of people are sitting inside their houses with no job and no source of income because of poor or unfortunate upbringing. This certainly affects the GDP of the country because the manpower that could be used to eradicate hunger is not put to use in a reliable or sustainable way.

So, basically what I’m trying to say is that we reap what we sow. If we’re not going to invest in the agriculture field in a sizable amount for the upcoming few years, we might not be able to increase our economy in an imperishable way.

In terms of employment, food habits play a major role. With proper and adequate healthy food provided, there’s a remarkable difference between the employees, who consume it and the ones who don’t. It increases productivity of the employee and decreases the turnover rates. A healthy lifestyle is the key to social and economic progress. A person with a healthy and fresh mind will be able to kindle ideas and find out profitable solutions. A healthy body, at the same time, will build up a steady metabolism and reduce the chances of the person falling sick. When a workplace with all of its employees follows a healthy routine, they are destined to their success.

Economic growth is often the key to help countries out of hunger and vice versa.

Another such benefit of ‘Zero Hunger’ is reduction in global warming. Every kid who has passed 5th grade knows what global warming is and how to tackle it. We have been overlooking the effect of climate change over the past few years. Pollution has brought a drastic change in the weather pattern, which now is unpredictable to certain extents. When the famine hits us, the farmers and the people below the poverty line are affected the most, leaving scarce food resources to them. Rising temperature affects the earth dramatically and may result in the soil losing its fertility. The world has warmed up to 1 degree Celsius, above pre-industrial levels due to human activity and is affecting our livelihood and food security throughout the world. The most obvious solution to this is plantation of trees in a pensive manner. We need to enforce a limit on consumption of the wood and simultaneously find an alternative source to replace wood. A numerous amount of cultivations can be executed, which interests both food sources and global warming. And with the increase in the number of trees planted each year, the habitat loss will be recovered soon, thus restoring the biodiversity of our planet.

So, as we take notes, we can conclude how by focusing majorly on the second SDG, ‘Zero Hunger’, we can overcome so many global crises one at a time. Not only by demolishing hunger we can save lives, but the lives saved will be healthy, progressive and will work for the betterment of our society.

You might think that America with a highly developed economy would have no issue with hunger, but you will be shocked by lots of findings. The myth of hunger, stating that ‘there’s a hunger crisis in other parts of the world – not in America’ should be shattered because of the statistical evidence of the presence of hunger in America and anecdotal experiences of families facing hunger in the United States. Even if the media has failed to help disseminate information about the immense presence of hunger in the country, the society needs to create not just awareness of the presence of hunger, but to ensure more people provide profound solutions in order to resolve this crisis. Lack of knowledge of situations surrounding hunger is the main reason for the presence of hunger in America. Hence, due to the lack of information on hunger we should all go out and get ourselves more informed.

A lot of statistical evidence of the presence of hunger in America is very alarming. Allison Weber provided an article on Feeding America that states that “37 million people face hunger in the United States”. If the United States has over 37 million hungry people among its population, it shows that hunger is not just present, but the rate of hunger is alarming due to the statistics because that means one out of ten Americans is hungry and this implication on the state of New Jersey shows that one out of five people is hungry. The statistics of hungry people in America, is more than the population of other countries like Canada, Poland, and Malaysia. This shows how high, people are hungry in America. The presence of ‘food desert’ which means areas that have limited or little access to supermarkets or nutritious, food also contributes to the presence of hunger in America. It is estimated that more than 23 million people are living in a food desert in America, according to a report prepared for Congress by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture. The city of Camden in New Jersey, America, is a good example of a food desert city because according to Alex Law who wrote an article ‘The Most Severe Food Crisis in New Jersey’, there are over 80,000 residents in Camden city, with just one supermarket to provide for the whole city. People have to walk over one mile to get healthy food like organic foods to eat. Larry Milmore, another reporter, did a short video of how he had to walk over five miles to get organic food also in Camden.

The lack of awareness of the presence and formidable problems posed by food desert has largely prevented the efforts of community activists, entrepreneurs, and government officials to help create more food options for food desert areas. Presence of food desert shows that people who might have the means like money or food stamps to buy affordable and healthy food options have limited or nonexistent access to those foods. Even the limited food there can have access to is unhealthy because most of them are processed foods; with a series of mechanical or chemical operations performed on them with high sodium, high cholesterol, high sugar, and fewer nutrients. Lack of unhealthy food has a drastic side effect on the health of people, thus making millions of people hungry in America.

Moreover, not only do food desert shows the presence of hunger but food wastage contributes a lot to the presence of hunger in America. America has more than enough food to feed everyone in the country, but this abundance is accompanied by tremendous waste. By estimates, nearly half of the food grown, processed and transported in the United States goes to waste. While 37 million people struggle with hunger in the United States, at the same time seventy-two billion pounds of good food goes to waste each year in America, which is equivalent to $165 billion each year—and more than enough to feed every hungry person in the country (Lauren Flick, CNBC). Food wastage is majorly caused by the ignorance of people about the situation of hunger in the country because lack of knowledge of how people are suffering from hunger makes people trash food without a second thought.

The myth of hunger stating that ‘there’s a hunger crisis in other parts of the world – not in America’ has blindfolded people to waste food because people feel no one is hungry in the country and do not know that even a can of food will go a long way for a hungry person. That is why I am always shocked by the contents of trash cans in the country, leaving the hungry people with no choice than to dive their hands into those trash to get something to eat. So, if you know that your neighbor or someone out there is hungry will you waste or trash some of the good food you feel no one will eat?

The act of people wasting food only deprives other people or someone somewhere of food to eat leading to hunger in almost everywhere in America, and due to food waste being widely practice, which shows the presence of hunger in America. The lack of knowledge of the situation of hunger in the country has initiated wide practice of food waste in the country. I once went to Trenton Area Soup Kitchen to assist as a volunteer after reading articles and seeing videos on hunger in America just to assist in the fight against hunger. During my service at this place, I noticed that a significant portion of people being served are the elderly, physically challenged, mentally ill, and few suffering from substance abuse. This made me realize that they are not lazy or do not want to work, but their current situation does not permit them to work in order provide for their needs. What shocked me the most was the familiar face I recognized, who works as a cashier at a supermarket I regularly visit. So, I approach her, we exchange pleasantries and she showered me with lots of appreciation for my help, but was forced to ask her if she had been fired or what could have brought her to the place, she laugh and said: “I have been eating here with my family for many years now and my check is not enough to pay the house bills”. So, after much discussion with her and other people, I came to realize that some people work but still cannot afford to put a meal on their table due to other expenses, and they still do not qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as Food Stamps from the government. If not for my participation, I would not have known of their situation. This brings me to the point that lack of knowledge of the crisis has hidden lots of things about the situation of hunger in the country. Indeed, SNAP is a solution to hunger in the country, but these benefits are not always enough to solve the crisis of hunger in families in this country. Nearly one-third of households on SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, still have to visit a food pantry to keep themselves fed, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Beneficiaries still have limited food consumption, usually by skipping meals, to make it through the month. This can be clearly seen in the anecdote of the Williamsons family carried out by Pam Fessler on a live radio on NPR Newscast about ‘A Daily Fight to Find Food: One Family’s Story’. This SNAP benefits are considered not enough because about $126 is the average SNAP benefits provided by the government for one person, which works out to about $1.40 per meal. So, my question is ‘Can you live on $4 a day?’. Now we see that prior to reading this paper, the lack of this information made us feel that SNAP beneficiaries are well taken care of, so now we know that is not the case. SNAP beneficiaries are not free from hunger, showing there is hunger in the country and more help is needed towards this crisis.

In conclusion, before migrating to America, my peers and I in Africa, where hunger is well-known, learned from a young age that the best way to forget about hunger and get a better future is to migrate to a developed country with no knowledge of hunger. America topped the list because of the social safety nets provided by individuals, organizations, and the government. Contrary to the belief of most people like me when I was in Africa, hunger is present in America with over 37 million hungry people with lack of access to food, high housing costs, rising food prices, tremendous food wastage, and unexpected expenses. The media, who always shows hunger crisis of other countries, ignores their obligation to help disseminate this information to tap into a long-held distrust of claims of hunger in America, create awareness and attract people to help reduce the hunger situation in the United States. Since the media does a horrible job doing a positive job then I employ people to go out and get more information by participating in social activities involving hunger or volunteer in any soup kitchen of food pantry. One of the simplest ways to combat hunger in America is to initiate more food donation. A can of food may seem like a small step, but even a small step can make a huge difference in someone’s life. Everyone can also rescue food before it winds up as trash, and we need to make sure that it reaches those who most need it. If everyone does their part to spread the word, prevent food wastage and assist in any form, we can all make a significant change towards hunger. Together, we can build a world where meals are shared, everyone has a seat at the table, and there is always enough food to go around.

Hunger is defined as short-term physical distress caused by persistent food scarcity. People suffering from chronic hunger do not have the privilege to access nutritious food often due to food insecurity and poverty. When chronic hunger gets aggravated to a global level, it is referred to as world hunger. Hunger can lead to poor nutrition and stunt growth. There is enough food produced to feed the global population; however, in 2019, around 690 million people suffered from hunger and malnutrition (‘Action Against Hunger’, 2020). Countries such as Yemen, Chad, and Zimbabwe have the highest hunger rates globally, followed by some South Asian countries such as Afghanistan and India (Statista, 2019). Hunger can severely impact an individual’s physical, mental, and social health, negatively affecting all dimensions of health. Care Australia and Food for All are some foreign aid projects provided by Australia to reduce world hunger. These organizations focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and incorporate them with improving primary health care of these less developed countries to reduce the rates of hunger and poor nutrition.

The United Nations defines hunger as periods when populations experience severe food insecurity or lack adequate access to nutritious and affordable food. A lack of proteins and fat mainly causes hunger. Poor nutrition includes undernutrition and overnutrition; however, global hunger centers around undernutrition. Undernutrition or malnutrition can be further categorized into protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) and micronutrient deficiency (WHO, 2020). PEM can be either acute, chronic, or acute and chronic and is caused by a deficiency in all nutrients, while micronutrient deficiency is caused by the deficiency of specific vitamins and minerals. PEM is the more common type of malnutrition that affects the population globally as proteins and fats are more satiating than carbohydrates (Streit, T., 2018).

The world agricultural system produces approximately around 4.18 x 1017 kJ per year, which is sufficient to feed around 10 billion. However, since the system produces excess carbohydrates and not enough protein and fats, around 690 million people still suffer from hunger (Hunger Math, 2012). Due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the rates of global hunger and poor nutrition as gone up, especially in less developed countries. Before the pandemic, Yemen, Chad, and Madagascar had the highest Global Hunger Index in 2019 (45.9, 44.2, 41.5 respectively). In the Asian-Pacific religion, around 516.5 million individuals are malnourished, and around 239 million malnourished individuals were living in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally around 821.6 million are considered starving, malnourished, or both (Statista, 2019).

Hunger is a chronic condition that severely impacts the physical, mental, and social dimensions of the health of the population of LDCs. Children of these countries are at higher risk of development and growth issues that can occur prenatally, perinatally, and during the early years. The devastating consequences on their physical health can continue and last throughout adolescence and adulthood. These include low birth weight, stunted growth, poor cognitive development, and malnourishment. The low development and growth can develop into chronic conditions such as gastritis, diabetes, strokes, and heart conditions later on in their life span.

Around 734 million people worldwide live under $1.90 a day, and a majority are unaware of what their next meal will be. This constant worry negatively affects their emotional health, eventually developing into chronic anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research has shown that hunger can also trigger behavioral changes and mood swings, making the individual easily irritable and aggressive. This can make an individual emotionally unstable, making it difficult to complete day-to-day tasks efficiently. It can also lead to poor decision making as it hinders their ability to think coherently. Individuals may even get involved in conflicts and violent situations due to the desperate need for food due to extreme starvation. This can negatively affect the individual’s social health as they can destroy and damage their relationships with the people and the community around them. Hunger aggravated aggression can make an individual act impulsively, further deteriorating their state of social health.

Hunger is a devastating contemporary global health issue, and poverty is one of the significant political and socio-cultural determinants. Hence, ending poverty and hunger is included in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs consists of 17 goals to improve the standard of living and well-being of the world’s population before 2030 (UN, 2020). No Poverty and Zero Hunger are goals 1 and 2, respectively. Currently, around 10% of people living under $1.90 per day, and SDG’s Goal 1 focuses on ending poverty in all forms by 2030 by explicitly targeting the vulnerable communities. These include areas that have low resources, being affected by natural disasters and conflicts. Reducing global poverty can have a significant positive impact on reducing global hunger (UNDP, 2020). Zero Hunger (Goal 2) focuses on ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. They hope to achieve this by approaching using a multi-dimensional approach, starting from social protection to safeguard safe and nutritious food, especially for children. United Nations then aims to transform food systems to achieve a more sustainable and inclusive world. Investments should be made in rural and urban areas, so people with low income have access to food and hence improve their livelihoods positively.

When dealing with your mind it tends to play tricks on you. If you are hungry your emotions can switch from being hungry to hangry, which is “bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger”. People have experienced hunger as a negative state, having that hunger can shift your perception into a negative emotion. Sometimes you aren’t aware that it is affecting your state of emotion. There has been evidence that emotion impacts your everyday life.

People are aware that emotions can be from “visual perception to decision making and interpersonal process” but what they aren’t aware of is that hunger can impact “emotional experiences and behaviors is captured in the colloquial expression hangry”. Hunger can release a ton of emotion that usually you feel like you can control most of the time. In that moment it will impact your judgment and make you aggressive against others. At that moment your body is releasing so much emotion you acting in a way you don’t tend to act especially aggressive behavior. Psychological constructionist theories propose that “all mental events, including emotions, arise from the dynamic co-action of domain-general psychological processes”. With that being said, the brain will use prior experiences and knowledge that affect the body. Having that such a strong effect makes your behavior and judgment negative to the point you aren’t normally like that but when being hungry that’s how it comes off to one another. In that moment you pretty much become unaware of how you are acting and the judgments you are making when you are hangry.

Affects the body like the core with the idea that hunger impacts it. “When blood sugar drops, ghrelin, the metabolic hormone that signals hunger, triggers a cascade of hormones, such as a cortisol, that act on the sympathetic nervous system, in turn inducing unpleasant, highly arousing affective bodily changes (Christensen, Mark & Rose)”. Having those body changes, you would experience greater emotionality when hunger-induced. Hungry people would more likely experience negativity, arousal emotions, and behavior. There is so much going on with your body when you are hungry, it changes your body drastically. For males when experiencing “physical attraction when they encountered an attractive female as opposed to male research assistant after crossing rickety, arousal- inducing suspension bridge versus a low, stable bridge”. Another condition that can affect someone is bad weather. It can “shift individuals” affective states and influenced subsequent judgment of life satisfaction but only when individuals were unaware of the source of their affective feelings. There have been studies to see “hunger” in the form of negativity. There’s a highly aroused emotion when people make meaning of their hunger-induced.

Individuals who are unaware of making meaning of their affective state as emotional would experience “hangers” than individuals who were hungry and aware of making meaning of their affective state as emotional individuals. When you don’t have aware of that emotion you tend to become angry and have a negative situation that causes that unpleasant emotion. Even hunger can affect your images, it can either be negative or positive images and thus an index of their degree of affect misattribution. They found that the hungrier an individual reported feeling, “the more likely they were to rate ambiguous pictographs as negative in the presence of a negative, but not neutral context”. Although pictures may be different for people depending on their mental state. Seeing those pictures can make your mental state worse and cause negative things to happen and make it actually worse when you are hungry. When having so many things going on with your body at once having images may only do harm and no good in that situation because of how your emotions are all over the place. It’s less likely to have positive outcomes because you don’t make meaning in the state of mind you are in, when you are hungry you are having more negative thoughts than positive thoughts so when looking at those pictures it will less likely be positive.

After reading, I’ve learned that hunger is a powerful thing. It can bring out so many emotions in you especially ones you aren’t used to coming out. Hunger can influence self-reported emotions and interpersonal judgment. You can experience multiple negative emotions when hungry. With that much change to your body, the emotions just flow out and you almost tend to lose control of your emotions and behavior. Hunger is one of those things which causes a mixture of emotions and have you going from one emotion to another. You can go from being hungry to hangry, to your blood sugar being low and causing your emotions to be all over the place and making you aggressive and have a negative attitude to you having a negative outlook when looking at a picture that is shown to you. Therefore, there are so many negative outcomes when you are hungry!

When dealing with your mind it tends to play tricks on you. If you are hungry your emotions can switch from being hungry to hangry, which is “bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger”. People have experienced hunger as a negative state, having that hunger can shift your perception into a negative emotion. Sometimes you aren’t aware that it is affecting your state of emotion. There has been evidence that emotion impacts your everyday life.

People are aware that emotions can be from “visual perception to decision making and interpersonal process” but what they aren’t aware of is that hunger can impact “emotional experiences and behaviors is captured in the colloquial expression hangry”. Hunger can release a ton of emotion that usually you feel like you can control most of the time. In that moment it will impact your judgment and make you aggressive against others. At that moment your body is releasing so much emotion you acting in a way you don’t tend to act especially aggressive behavior. Psychological constructionist theories propose that “all mental events, including emotions, arise from the dynamic co-action of domain-general psychological processes”. With that being said, the brain will use prior experiences and knowledge that affect the body. Having that such a strong effect makes your behavior and judgment negative to the point you aren’t normally like that but when being hungry that’s how it comes off to one another. In that moment you pretty much become unaware of how you are acting and the judgments you are making when you are hangry.

Affects the body like the core with the idea that hunger impacts it. “When blood sugar drops, ghrelin, the metabolic hormone that signals hunger, triggers a cascade of hormones, such as a cortisol, that act on the sympathetic nervous system, in turn inducing unpleasant, highly arousing affective bodily changes (Christensen, Mark & Rose)”. Having those body changes, you would experience greater emotionality when hunger-induced. Hungry people would more likely experience negativity, arousal emotions, and behavior. There is so much going on with your body when you are hungry, it changes your body drastically. For males when experiencing “physical attraction when they encountered an attractive female as opposed to male research assistant after crossing rickety, arousal- inducing suspension bridge versus a low, stable bridge”. Another condition that can affect someone is bad weather. It can “shift individuals” affective states and influenced subsequent judgment of life satisfaction but only when individuals were unaware of the source of their affective feelings. There have been studies to see “hunger” in the form of negativity. There’s a highly aroused emotion when people make meaning of their hunger-induced.

Individuals who are unaware of making meaning of their affective state as emotional would experience “hangers” than individuals who were hungry and aware of making meaning of their affective state as emotional individuals. When you don’t have aware of that emotion you tend to become angry and have a negative situation that causes that unpleasant emotion. Even hunger can affect your images, it can either be negative or positive images and thus an index of their degree of affect misattribution. They found that the hungrier an individual reported feeling, “the more likely they were to rate ambiguous pictographs as negative in the presence of a negative, but not neutral context”. Although pictures may be different for people depending on their mental state. Seeing those pictures can make your mental state worse and cause negative things to happen and make it actually worse when you are hungry. When having so many things going on with your body at once having images may only do harm and no good in that situation because of how your emotions are all over the place. It’s less likely to have positive outcomes because you don’t make meaning in the state of mind you are in, when you are hungry you are having more negative thoughts than positive thoughts so when looking at those pictures it will less likely be positive.

After reading, I’ve learned that hunger is a powerful thing. It can bring out so many emotions in you especially ones you aren’t used to coming out. Hunger can influence self-reported emotions and interpersonal judgment. You can experience multiple negative emotions when hungry. With that much change to your body, the emotions just flow out and you almost tend to lose control of your emotions and behavior. Hunger is one of those things which causes a mixture of emotions and have you going from one emotion to another. You can go from being hungry to hangry, to your blood sugar being low and causing your emotions to be all over the place and making you aggressive and have a negative attitude to you having a negative outlook when looking at a picture that is shown to you. Therefore, there are so many negative outcomes when you are hungry!