According to UN statistics, about 795 million people in the world suffer from chronic unrelenting hunger. What a horrible statistic! The number of chronically hungry people in the world dropped by 42% between 1992 and 2015, however, the long and implacable wars in Syria and Yemen have caused a rise in the latest hunger statistics.
The Second of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals is a blunt "Zero Hunger" by 2030, and although this issue is complex there are some remarkable people involved in making this hope a reality for many.
The World Food Bank has developed some innovative and effective ways of achieving 'Zero Hunger'.
UN World Food Program
One pivotal way of combating hunger is in encouraging political leaders of poorer nations to invest in providing school meals. A quality school meal costs as little as 25 cents/day/student. The UN World Food Program sources the food for school meals from the poorest farmers in the area local to the school. This gives the food producers security to invest in equipment which increases productivity. The provision of school meals have shown to increase the number of girls enrolled and the length of time they attend school. In areas where there are school meals provided and a small food incentive is given at the end of the week as a reward for attendance, the enrolment of girls usually matches the boys. The ripple effect of this is a reduction of child brides and teen mothers.
Planning for the future
The World Food Program also offers simple solutions such as building safe food storage to equip challenged communities to store food that would have been surplus and wasted during the growing season and using the stored grain and rice during periods of food shortages. In Cameroon, a long time recipient of food aid, simple food silos have enabled many communities in this nation to be self-sufficient and even to begin supplying local foods to schools for lunch provision.
Educating Mothers
Breast Feeding is another solution. The World Food Program research shows that a child exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life is able to develop resilience to disease and micronutrient and macronutrient nutrition that builds the ability to grow and thrive despite poverty conditions. According to the World Health Organisation non-optimal breastfeeding—especially non-exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life, results in 1.4 million deaths and is responsible for 10% of disease burden in children younger than five years in the developing world. Breastfeeding rates worldwide and especially in challenged communities is between 30 and 40%. As well as educating and providing mothers with nutrition decreases mortality amongst their children.
You can help the UN achieve their goal of Zero Hunger simply by wearing a pair of socks.
Action Against Hunger
When you purchase a pair of ladies Conscious Step 'Socks that Fight Hunger' you are supporting an organisation called 'Action Against Hunger'.
This is an organisation working in nearly 50 countries around the world combating hunger and food insecurity. Action Against Hunger works to create hunger awareness and convince governments worldwide that combating hunger should be a primary goal. Building inaccessible safe drinking water and teaching improved farming techniques are another of their priorities. They also distribute emergency food packs called "Plumpy'Nut". These are a therapeutic food pack and are easily torn open with a yummy, high-calorie peanut-based food inside. Plumpy Nut does not need to be reconstituted using water and has a high calorie and nutritional value. It does not require any refrigeration. These food packs have a 2-year shelf life and can be manufactured for an estimated 17 cents each. What an efficient way to combat hunger!
Fighting Hunger
When you purchase a pair of Conscious Step 'Socks that Fight Hunger' you are supporting 'Action Against Hunger' and working to provide children in our world food to eat and grow and thrive and all by stepping out in a comfortable and stylish pair of socks. What could be easier than that?
