Module 1 - Introduction

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• There are many different definitions for hunger. This definition is based on hunger in the US, but it can be applied to other countries, too. The components stress two factors:
  • Hunger is ongoing (recurrent). It is involuntary. It is lack of access to food. In other words, food may be available, but some people are not able to get it. These people are "the hungry."
  • Hunger may produce malnutrition over time. In a healthy person, being hungry for a day does not produce malnutrition (bad nutrition or poor health). Lack of food over time affects physical and mental health to produce malnutrition.

In many cases, "the hungry" are undernourished, that is, they do not have all of the food that they need to be healthy. They may lack calories (energy), and/or protein, and/or micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

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The hungry are present in every country, but some countries or regions have many more hungry than others. For example, industrialized countries have fewer undernourished (hungry) people than other countries. That does not mean that industrialized countries do not have hunger problems. It means that fewer people in those countries are hungry.

Examples:

Industrialized countries: USA, Canada, most of Western Europe, Japan
Transitional countries: India, China, many Eastern European countries
Developing countries: many countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and smaller countries in Asia

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Hunger situations are sometimes categorized to describe their causes and effects.

Food shortages are regional. They are frequently caused by natural disasters, such as droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. They may also be caused by regional conflicts. In food shortages, many people are affected by lack of available food.

Food poverty occurs at a household level. The household does not have resources to bring food into the home. Household poverty frequently occurs in times of economic hardship, such as low employment opportunities or illness of working adults. It also occurs when people do not own land to farm for household gardens. In areas where HIV/AIDS is prevalent, food poverty is also a common problem. In many rural areas that have household poverty, young people leave agricultural areas to find jobs in cities. Food poverty can occur even when food is available in a region, if a household has no resources.

Food deprivation is an individual's lack of food. Food deprivation can be relative. For example, if everyone in the household eats the same amount of food, some individuals may not have enough food. Also, distribution of food by type in a household may leave some individuals with a less nutritious diet.

Food shortages (regional) may contribute to food poverty (household) and food deprivation (individual).

Food deprivation for an individual may reduce his/her productivity, contributing to food poverty for a household.

Later in the course we will look at programs to reduce food shortages, food poverty, and food deprivation.

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Life expectancy, yr/kcal per person per day

These data are estimated based on early records and give a general picture of life expectancy in two major areas of Western Europe over the past 250 years.

Note that life expectancy increased as availability of food increased, up to around 3200 kcal per person per day. These are average data and do not account for other factors that affect life expectancy, such as availability of antibiotics and vaccines in the 1900s. Also, some individuals in earlier times lived longer; everyone did not have the same diet or physical work level.

Why was the average life expectancy of US residents (data for white settlers only) higher than life expectancy in Europe?

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Food Balance Sheet

Food balance sheets show the amount of calories or the amount of a specific nutrient available in the food supply. Food balance sheets do not show what people eat. They show what is available to them.

• What do you see?
  • People in Africa have less energy and less protein available to them than people in other regions have.
  • People in North American (US and Canada) have more energy and more protein available to them than people in other regions have.
  • If you consider general protein needs at about 56 g/day (0.8 g protein/kg body weight), people in all regions may have the amount of protein they need. However, the protein may not all be good quality, and high-protein foods may not be evenly distributed.
  • The average number of kilocalories (calories) available are more than sufficient for people who are sedentary in all regions, if those calories are evenly distributed. Individuals in parts of Africa and Asia may not meet their calorie needs if their jobs require manual labor, if they have special health needs, if the food does not reach them, or if the food they receive is less nutritious than other foods.

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This is a course of comparisons.

We will look at the US and other industrialized countries, where food is generally abundant and accessible. In these countries, there are many food choices, and overconsumption is more likely to be a problem than underconsumption

In transitional and developing countries, upper socioeconomic groups have some of the same overconsumption problems faced by people in industrialized countries. Obesity is a growing international problem.

• However, in transitional and developing countries, the general populations still face three types of nutrient deficiencies:
  • Calories (energy)
  • Protein (amino acids)
  • Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)

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Why are their differences in nutrient availabilities among countries?

Resource differences are obvious issues among and within countries. Some countries have neither agricultural resources or money to purchase foods. Other countries, have both agricultural resources and money to purchase foods for emergencies or pleasure.

In many cases, countries have programs to try to address health problems, including hunger and undernutrition

• We will look at some of those programs and compare them to each other. These are some of the factors that you will consider:
  • Funding sources (governmental and non-governmental)
  • Purpose(s)
  • Target audience(s)
  • Vehicle(s)
  • Size

In some cases a program that works in one place will work in another place. These are called models. In some cases a new program will start small to see whether it works; this is a pilot program.

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All countries experience some hunger problems. In the US we have abundant food supplies, and we have resources to produce a wide range of foods. We do not have food shortages.

We have household poverty and personal deprivation. Our hunger issues are largely in vulnerable groups, such as elderly and children. When local economic conditions are hard, we have more household poverty and personal deprivation, just as other countries do.

• Programs to reduce hunger in the US reach all of us.
  • The food stamp program reduces the risk of hunger in cases of household poverty.
  • The WIC program (Women, Infants, and Children's Program) reduces risk of personal deprivation for high-risk groups.
  • The school lunch program reduces risk of personal deprivation for a high-risk group.
  • Enrichment and fortification programs make basic foods more nutritious for all of us (for example, iodization of salt).
  • Outreach programs, such as food banks, help to "fill in the gaps" for people who have temporary needs or whose needs are not fully met by other programs.

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The UN International Conference on Nutrition developed four major goals. While we are not close to meeting all of the goals, we have moved much closer to meeting the iodine goal, as we'll see later in the course.

It is easy to ask why we have not met a goal, but it is sometimes hard to answer.

Eliminating famine and famine-related deaths is probably the easiest to address. Many famines result, at least in part, from conflict. Drought is the prominent natural cause of many famines. What types of programs can address conflict and drought?

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The World Food Summit followed the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN).

This summit focused on food availability over many generations. Many of its recommendations relate to the first goals of the ICN: eliminating famine and famine-related deaths and eliminating starvation. For example, how would creating conditions for eradication of poverty and for durable peace, eradicating inequality, and improving access to resources affect famine and starvation?

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Sometimes it is hard to know how you can make a personal difference in reducing a large problem. Some of you will do this through your work or through personal commitment.

Here is one way to help each day. The hunger site is an advertising site. By going to it and clicking the box to give free food, you are showing advertisers that you have viewed their ad, and the advertisers make the financial contribution. This is a free site. You do not have to buy anything to make your contribution. The site will accept a contribution from each computer once a day.