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 Child
Hunger
Over
10 million children die every year from diseases that are preventable.
That means even more children die from incurable diseases caused by
malnutrition and even more are severely injured by starvation. An
estimated total for the number of people under-fed in the world is 800
million. Obviously child hunger is a problem that can’t be
ignored.
There are many activist organizations that are set up to receive
charitable donations and help the less fortunate. They promise that for
just a few pennies a day the average workingman in America can
contribute to the health of a child.
Donations are said to go directly towards restoring a child back to
full health and would include the following specifics among just
providing food: supplementing vitamin A deficiencies, oral
re-hydration, making prostheses for children who can’t walk,
restoring vision by eye surgery, and HIV testing towards mothers to
help stop the spread of AIDS.
With all the money supposedly being given to help end child hunger, why
is there still so much starvation? Usually famine is a problem of food
distribution and poverty, not an absolute lack of food to be
grown.
Child hunger can be the unintentional result of government policy. Some
repressive governments actually use child hunger as a tool of
oppression and in other cases it can be the consequence of civil
disorder when food distribution systems began to break down.
One reason people refuse to give more money to charitable causes is
because there is a great deal of skepticism as to whether
money—even a large amount of donated money—is
really going to be used in the proper way, that is to end child hunger.
While many charities are forthright in their aspirations, occasionally
there are some disreputable ones who take advantage of other
people’s desire to help. Furthermore, due to corruption and
mismanagement in handling food supplies, there have been times when
donated money and food was not properly distributed and it turn none of
that money is helping child hunger. Interestingly, an economist by the
name of Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate once observed that no functioning
democracy has ever suffered a famine.
For many, the images of child hunger flashing on television screens are
just too much to bear, and that is why organizations dedicated to help
end this global epidemic continue to collect millions of dollars.
Volunteering donations is an unselfish gift and no one should hold back
from doing their best to help end child hunger. What might help is if
you are really concerned about dishonest charities or about the way
food distribution is handled (after all, sometimes it could be out of
the charity’s hands) is to contact the organization and find
out the details of how they operate. Where does your money go, how are
food and medical supplies distributed and how soon will I begin to make
a difference? Being more informed on the subject can only help.
Ignoring the problem will never make a difference.
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