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This is part two of the series Developing The World which looks into the factors required for good quality of life.

Why Food Is Important

Food greatly improves our standard of living, without it we would not be able to live at all. Amazingly people can survive for about 6 weeks without food as long as they have water, this figure will vary a lot. You would certainly be in very bad shape after a couple of weeks as the body begins to digest your muscles to provide energy for vital functions

So it’s clear that we need food to survive but how much do we need to have a good quality of life? 2000 calories a day is generally considered to be a suitable amount for most people.

What happens when people don’t get enough food? Malnutrition has many harmful effects.

• The immune system is weakened increasing the chance of infections and the lake of ability to fight off the infections makes them much more serious.
• Muscle and other body tissues waste away.
• Bones are weakend.
• Circulation issues are common.
• Swollen stomach - this is due to fluid accumulation in the stomach and a weakened abdominal wall.

Malnutrition is one of the things that keeps people in poverty by reducing peoples ability to look after themselves and learn.

Do People Get Enough Food?

In many countries of the western world people have too much food, this causes obesity and a range of associated health problems. Meanwhile other countries have large areas where malnutrition is prevalent.

This map shows the areas were malnutrition is common. Africa is the worst off but malnutrition is also prevalent in India, Mongolia, Central America, Indonesia and much of South America. Note the brown areas indicate more than 35 percent of the people in those countries are malnourished. That’s more than one in three.

How is malnutrition measured? What does it take for someone to be classified as malnourished? The most common measure is to use body mass index (BMI). Any one with a body mass index of less than 16 is often used to define undernourishment. For a person 5 foot and 8 inches (172cm) tall they would be classed as malnourished if they weighed less than 105 pounds (47.7kg).

How Can We Improve

It really does seem strange that in some parts of the world people are dying of starvation while in other areas excessive consumption of food is killing people. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could take the food that is causing obesity and give it to people who are starving … it sounds good doesn’t it. What stops this from happening?

Give People More Food

In 2002 the world was producing enough food for each person to get 2700 kcal per day (FAO 2002, p.9). I couldn’t find any current information on this but it’s likely there is still enough food in the world for everyone to be well nourished. People say that giving starving people food does not solve the problem because you’ll have to continue giving them food. This may not be entirely true because if you give more food to undernourished people they will become healthier and more able to do things to get themselves out of poverty.

Is there anything wrong with continually giving people food? Food distribution can be a complex issue and can be particularly difficult in countries where corruption is a problem, however it still seems like giving donations of food to people in need can provide immediate benefits for them.

Help Them To Produce More Food

A solution where people could support themselves is preferable. We can help to provide education , equipment and higher quality seeds to increase their food production or work on the other factors that cause poverty so they would have enough money to buy food.

Make Sure There Is Enough Food In The World

As we look to the future it is likely the world will begin to struggle to produce enough food to feed it’s growing population. If we are to meet this need a change to eating a diet with less meat may be required, growing plants for human consumption is a much more efficient use of land than farming animals.

Take Action

To help those people that are undernourished the main things we can do are:

• Provide food - I have not been able to find any charities where you can give money solely to provide food aid. If you know of any charities that do this, please leave a comment.
• Support Education - Room to Read is a charitable organization that supports education in developing countries through programs such as child scholarships, library construction and school construction. Find out more on my supported charities page.

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