Blog 7
2288 words by dwhite9
“About 25,000 people die everyday from hunger or hunger-related causes…”
When asked, “What do you think poverty is?” my 18-year old nephew replied, “Those hungry children in Africa with all those flies around them.” This may seem funny at first, but it is sad that the youth are so ignorant of this topic. Many of our youth can not see beyond what’s in there backyard and are blind to the issues that are happening in the world around them. In implementing my project, I think it is my duty to inform the youth on poverty and get them involved.
Many Americans are ignorant of poverty because it is not as severe in the United States as it is in developing countries (third world countries). Of the 35.9 million people living in poverty in America, only a small number fit the actual definition of living in poverty. Poverty is defined as the lack of basic necessities like food, clothing, reasonable shelter, and safe drinking water. Forty- six percent of all poor households in America own their own homes. Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. Having air condition is a luxury; many people actually living in poverty have no home, let alone air condition. This statistic alone shows that poverty in America is not nearly as severe as poverty in other countries. Of the 12.9 million children living in poverty in America, only 2.6 percent of them experience hunger at some point in the year. The hunger they experience is short term hunger, simply a lack of calories or protein. They may skip a meal or eat too little a day, or maybe even go a day without eating. However, this still doesn’t compare to the extreme, long term hunger many children endure. Many of these children are well nourished and eat just as good as middle-class children do. As I stated in a previous blog, Americans take poverty all too lightly because it is a wide spread issue in the US. Americans can not feel the severity of this issue because it is not happening in our backyard. I would like to think that the United States Census Bureau should take it a little more seriously seeing as though they classify people as poor. If they did, these statistics would be much lower.
The World Bank usually develops the poverty line; thus, determining those that are impoverished and those that are not. The World Bank sets the worldwide standard. According to the World Bank, the poverty line is now $1.25. So, those people living at or below $1.25 a day are considered to be living in poverty. The poverty line was once $1 per day in which one and four of the world population struggled to reach. As of August 2008, 1.4 billion people live at or below this new poverty line. In Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa about 1 percent of the population live in poverty according to the World Bank measurement. However, on the more extreme end of the spectrum 41.09% of Sub-Saharan Africa and 30.84% of South Asia live in poverty.
Poverty can have many different effects on a group or individuals. Poverty can take a major toll on someone’s health. Hunger, malnutrition, and starvation can affect someone both mentally and physically. Since 1990, 270 million people have died from poverty related issues. Poverty can lead to the spread of infectious diseases. AIDs kill tens of millions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Another effect poverty has is on people’s education. Many of the children lack an education simply because they don’t have the means to school. If they do have a way to school, they are refused an education because of there medical history. Some of these kids may have AIDs or malaria and the administration can not put the lives of the other students in jeopardy.
About 9.7 million child deaths occurred in 2006. The majority of these deaths occurred in the two most impoverished places previously mentioned, Sub-Saharan and South Asia. Sad to say, but these children were all infants under the age of 5. This is known as the under five mortality rate, U5 MR. The statistics would be alarming if adults, older children, and the elderly were considered.
Hunger Statistics:
· Over 9 million people, of who 5 million are children, die worldwide each year because of hunger and malnutrition.
· The direct medical cost of hunger and malnutrition is estimated at $30 billion each year.
· About 800 million people go to bed at night hungry
The statistics behind the number of people that die of starvation can be seen as the slippery-slope effect. Though there is lots of food in the world, those that go hungry are stuck in severe poverty stricken areas. In these poverty stricken areas, people don’t have money to buy food. Thus, they can not nourish their malnourished bodies. Being malnourished for so long makes them unable to work for the little money they can get, making it impossible for them to get something to eat. They eventually die because of starvation and malnourishment.
I believe with the Xavier Care initiative, even if we can not change the statistics and fight hunger and poverty around the world, we can at least open the eyes of the ignorant American people to what is happening across the globe. If we can do that, maybe they might contribute to the war on poverty. By getting the eliciting the help of many Americans, I think we will be one step closer to winning the fight against poverty.
References
Johnson, Kirk A. and Rector, Robert E.. “Understanding Poverty in America.” The Heritage Foundation
Leadership for America. 2004. 17 Mar. 2009
< http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm >.
Shah, Anup. “Causes of Hunger are Related to Poverty.” Global Issues. 2008. 17 Mar. 2009
< http://www.globalissues.org/article/7/causes-of-hunger-are-related-to-poverty >.
Siddiqi, Samana. “Statistics on Poverty & Food Wastage in America.” Sound Visions. 17 Mar. 2009
< http://www.soundvision.com/Info/poor/statistics.asp >.
Unknown. “Hunger and Poverty.” Poverty.com. WEF, Oxfam, UNICEF. 17 Mar. 2009
< http://www.poverty.com/ >