Marin 1 Diana Marin Mrs.

Frank Senior Capstone, 6th Period November 4, 2013 Ending Child Hunger Child hunger should be more important to everyone because it affects childrens lives and futures, but people simply dont pay attention to it that often. Child hunger has a political and social effect to it. The government gives an impression of generosity by giving families food stamps so that they can buy food; however, they waste millions of dollars on military weapons and soldiers instead of actually making a difference in kids lives. They, the world, have the time and the money to help out weak organizations and shelters from closing down but they, the world, instead choose not to do anything about this ongoing epidemic. The reason for the childrens suffering is the grave fact that their parents cannot afford enough food to put on the table daily. Since the economy is bad because of so much money being wasted on unnecessary things, families cannot find a job to help feed their kids. When people mention hunger they mostly think of all the adults that are homeless and not eating every day, but hunger affects everyone and is increasingly affecting kids of all ages. Most people dislike feeling hungry and kids are no exception. Those kids with low income families are especially affected; sometimes the only food they get is from school. When they eat breakfast and lunch, these kids go home and wait until the next day of school to eat a well-needed meal. Hunger does not discriminate, although many teenagers can work and buy cheap burgers for one dollar,

Marin 2 they do not get the right nutrition they need which later causes sicknesses due to malnutrition. Child hunger not only affects childrens life and health but also their future. Hungry children tend to have really low chances in achieving academically because many cannot get a good meal every day. (WHF) How will these children think about college and success if they are always worrying about food? Kids that do not have the right nutrition are left behind mentally and physically. At the critical age of three, the brain undergoes a series of important changes and without a proper diet the childs ability to learn is significally reduced. (WFP) If kids now dont get a good education they will end up with a job and will continue to be unsuccessful in life and wont be able to support their family. There are some cases where kids dont even get to go to school because of their lifestyle and they grow up poor with no goals in their lives which doesnt help them get to college because even if you get free lunch at school you get more scholarship opportunities to be able to attend college. Studies have shown that children who went hungry at least once in their lives were more likely to have poor overall health ten to fifteen years later, compared with those who never had to go without food.(KYWF) The less people that get a good education, the less people there will be with no career or good stable job which will cause even more economic problems in America with all the persons in need. Kids who suffer from hunger produce different types of diseases by not eating their meals and not getting the nutrients they need to live a long happy life. The types of diseases that are caused from malnutrition are marasmus and kwashiorkor. Those are the two types of frequent diseases that kids get when they dont get nutrients into their

Marin 3 body. Marasmus is a type of disease that you get when you dont have the enough nutrients that help your bodys system. (STC) It causes severe weight loss leaving just skin and bones. Kwashiorkor is when your body accumulates water which leaves the appearance of being bloated.(WHF) Those diseases often happen in developing countries due to the fact that they are in need of a lot of resources which makes the kids possibilities to get sick higher. According to Dr.Chantal Gamba, who runs MSFs has a program in Niger, says that many of these children are suffering from marasmus, a severe form of malnutrition with oedema, as well as dehydration or severe malaria . Malnutrition cant be solved by food aid and sometimes when a person has grown up in a state of malnutrition without the enough nutrients our body needs, the effects are irreversible. It doesnt only affect kids, but it even affects unborn babies. An estimated of fifteen percent of all births in developing countries result in really low birth weight babies.(WFP) This can be solved by simply ensuring breastfeeding for six months of a childs life. The common reason for not enough breastfeeding is due to the mothers own youth and lack of knowledge on the topic of nutrition. In developing countries, girls traditionally eat last and least and therefore they are unlikely to combat poor nutrition in the community. Additionally, the popularity of girls marrying really young leads to them giving birth earlier in life. A young, malnourished woman gives birth to a low birth weight baby who is already affected by the malnourishment and lack of her mothers resources, suffering from immune system. (STC) Children born into this cycle of malnutrition have a higher chance of getting heart disease and diabetes; they also tend to have cognitive disabilities and a lower IQ, affecting their accomplishment in school and their job opportunities as adults.

Marin 4 Child hunger is not a thing that stays for a little while, one out of three children dies from starvation before their 5th birthday.(WFP) Many foods provide a lot of energy and younger kids need that energy and nutrients to grow and live healthy happy life. Children not only suffer from hunger, they also suffer from dehydration because in some countries there isnt enough clean water to provide for kids. There is an estimate of two billion people that are poor in the world, and the same amount hungry. In the world economic system there are two main ways in which relatively poor people have their income increased: through trade, and though immigration. The basic cause of hunger in the states is poverty, jobs are low paid and hard to get. (KYWF) This can lead to a lack of income, poor housing, and lack of food, health problems and not being able to give the special needs to their children. Child hunger can be less likely to grow if we have more awareness and help of people to provide food for kids in need. There are already a lot of organizations that help kids with hunger and do commercials to get peoples attention but people dont care sometimes because it doesnt point out to them. People from higher class know whats going on and I know that they can help but sometimes they just simply dont care to help people that are lesser then them. If more people with money and time could volunteer to make more shelters for kids or to even adopt a child in need it will lower the chances of kids starving every day around the world. Volunteering is another way to help get the word out, there are a lot of organizations that need help and theyre just waiting for people to volunteer.

Marin 5 Under nutrition in children appears in three ways, and it is most commonly assessed through the measurement of weight and height. A child can be too short for his or her age, have low weight for his or her height, or have low weight for his or her age. Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Under nutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and malaria. The estimated proportions of deaths in which under nutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea.(STC) Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the worlds developing countries, despite some progress that reduced "dollarnow $1.25 a day" poverty from an estimated 1900 million people in 1981 to an estimated 1,345 million poor people in 2005. Two significant, but less important, causes are conflict, often euphemistically referred to as a 'man-made disaster and natural disasters such as droughts and floods. Both conflict and natural disasters as causes of hunger occur almost exclusively in poor countries. Poor children live in urban slums or in poor agricultural communities without sewers or other sanitation facilities for removal of human and animal excrement or garbage removal.(WHP) This lack of sanitation can cause sickness, and also, by contaminating the water supply, cause further sickness. From these sources, children get diarrhea, to name just one important cause of illness. Diarrhea keeps children from getting enough nutrients from their food and thus is an important cause of hunger, especially wasting. By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger, especially in childhood, can lead to even greater poverty by reducing peoples ability to work and learn. (KYWF) One out of three people in

Marin 6 developing countries are affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies, according to the World Health Organization. Kids who suffer from hunger tend to be poor or with very low income so they end up not having a good education which may cause a lot of effect because they could be our future doctors and lawyers one day. Child hunger is deadly and silent; it can come at any time anywhere. Economy is very delicate right now and it can change at any moment. Let us make time to help raise awareness so youre kid wont be next and so we can lower the possibilities of many more children to suffer from child hunger.

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WORK CITED (WFP)"World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide." 10 Things You Need To Know About Hunger In 2013. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

(WHP)"2013 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics by World Hunger Education Service."2013 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics by World Hunger Education Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. (WHF)"World Hunger Facts | Freedom from Hunger." World Hunger Facts | Freedom from Hunger. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. (KYWF)"Know Your World: Facts About Hunger and Poverty." Empowering Women and Men to End Their Own Hunger. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. (STC)"USA." Save the Children. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.