Hunger In America Essay

World hunger has been an ongoing problem that world leaders continue to struggle with. According to the International New York Times, “the number of undernourished human beings on the planet increased from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016” ("World Hunger Haunts the U.N. Festivities”). This adds up to about 11% of the world's population going hungry everyday. The effects of being undernourished are very negative, especially on the children that are enduring hunger: “one in four children under 5 years of age with stunted growth and a greatly heightened risk of cognitive damage and susceptibility to infection. Another 52 million children are considered "wasting" -- weighing too little for their height, for lack of food” ("World Hunger

Unfortunately, the cause is due to the uprise in poverty. In America, “41 million Americans struggle with hunger, a number nearly equal to the 40.6 million officially living in poverty” (“Hunger and Poverty Facts”). These numbers are almost correspondent to each other and shows that not only do Americans struggle with hunger, but as well as poverty. Other factors that result in hunger in America are: unemployment, household assets, and demographics. This is because these reasons make it all the more difficult to access nutritious food. Many Americans don’t qualify for SNAP benefits (food stamps) which helps many lower income families with food

After all, if there is plenty food for everyone, shouldn’t it be accessible to everyone? There are many United Nations organizations that are aiming towards ending world hunger. This includes: the World Food Program (WFP) that aims to bring 80 million people in 80 different countries, the World Bank which is an investment in agriculture and rural development to boost food production and nutrition is a priority for the World Bank Group, the The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that works towards making sure people have regular access to food, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) which works with poor countries to make sure they are getting the nourishment that they