What is hunger?

A few fish provide an important protein source for families in Bangladesh.

People usually think of hunger as the feeling they get if they skip breakfast or eat a small salad for lunch. But for millions of children and their families around the world, hunger is a day-in-day-out state that results from surviving on two small meals a day or less for weeks and sometime months.

Sometimes a meal is only a potato, some milk or cooked corn meal. Once a month it may be an ounce of meat. Often the only water for drinking is dirty, and makes people, especially children, sick. People may be hungry because of emergencies, like the recent famine that affected Ethiopia. For children living in the drought-stricken costal areas of Northern Mozambique, meals -for weeks on end - can consist of just a mango or starchy "porridge" made from bitterroot vegetables. These meals hold little nutritional value.

But people are often hungry because of longer-term political or economic situations. In Ethiopia and Angola, where conflict has undermined the country’s capacity for growing and distributing food, children often go without eating nutritious meals for months at a time, surviving only on grain, or in pastoral areas, only on milk.

What is famine?
Famine occurs when large numbers of people are dying from acute malnutrition – wasting away. Famine conditions occur when there is a drastic and widespread shortage of food. The cause of famine is usually the combination of a climactic shock, such as a drought, combined with civil unrest, political conflict, or poor governance.

How does hunger affect children and families?
Without adequate calories and a diverse diet consisting of grains, fruits, vegetables and proteins that provide the appropriate vitamins and nutrients, families become malnourished, with children and women being the most vulnerable. Children especially need an adequate diet for growth and development. Acute malnutrition results in significant weight loss or even death.

Chronic, or long-term, malnutrition, even at mild levels, can increase susceptibility to diseases like diarrhea, malaria, and measles. Chronic malnutrition contributes to the deaths of 6.5 million children per year around the world. Chronic malnutrition of children under two often results in stunting -- reduced height and permanently diminished physical and mental capacity. Stunting negatively impacts the health and productivity of current and future generations.