Malnutrition is a general term that indicates a lack of some or all nutritional elements necessary for human health (Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia).

There are two basic types of malnutrition. The first and most important is protein-energy malnutrition--the lack of enough protein (from meat and other sources) and food that provides energy (measured in calories) which all of the basic food groups provide. This is the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed. The second type of malnutrition, also very important, is micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. This is not the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, though it is certainly very important.

[Recently there has also been a move to include obesity as a third form of malnutrition. Considering obesity as malnutrition expands the previous usual meaning of the term which referred to poor nutrition due to lack of food inputs.2 It is poor nutrition, but it is certainly not typically due to a lack of calories, but rather too many (although poor food choices, often due to poverty, are part of the problem). Obesity will not be considered here, although obesity is certainly a health problem and is increasingly considered as a type of malnutrition.]

Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is the most lethal form of malnutrition/hunger. It is basically a lack of calories and protein. Food is converted into energy by humans, and the energy contained in food is measured by calories. Protein is necessary for key body functions including provision of essential amino acids and development and maintenance of muscles.

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Number of hungry people in the world

925 million hungry people in 2010

No one really knows how many people are malnourished. The statistic most frequently cited is that of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which measures 'undernutrition'. The most recent estimate, released in October 2010 by FAO, says that 925 million people are undernourished. As the figure below shows, the number of hungry people has increased since 1995-97, though the number is down from last year. The increase has been due to three factors: 1) neglect of agriculture relevant to very poor people by governments and international agencies; 2) the current worldwide economic crisis, and 3) the significant increase of food prices in the last several years which has been devastating to those with only a few dollars a day to spend. 925 million people is 13.6 percent of the estimated world population of 6.8 billion. Nearly all of the undernourished are in developing countries.

Number of hungry people, 1969-2010

Source: FAO

In round numbers there are 7 billion people in the world. Thus, with an estimated 925 million hungry people in the world, 13.1 percent, or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry.

The FAO estimate is based on statistical aggregates. It looks at a country's income level and income distribution and uses this information to estimate how many people receive such a low level of income that they are malnourished. It is not an estimate based on seeing to what extent actual people are malnourished and projecting from there (as would be done by survey sampling). [It has been argued that the FAO approach is not sufficient to give accurate estimates of malnutrition (Poverty and Undernutrition p. 298 by Peter Svedberg).]

Undernutrition is a relatively new concept, but is increasingly used. It should be taken as basically equivalent to malnutrition. (It should be said as an aside, that the idea of undernourishment, its relationship to malnutrition, and the reasons for its emergence as a concept is not clear to Hunger Notes.)

Children are the most visible victims of undernutrition. Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year--five million deaths. Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and malaria. The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005). Malnutrition can also be caused by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhea, by reducing the body's ability to convert food into usable nutrients.

According to the most recent estimate that Hunger Notes could find, malnutrition, as measured by stunting, affects 32.5 percent of children in developing countries--one of three (de Onis 2000). Geographically, more than 70 percent of malnourished children live in Asia, 26 percent in Africa and 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. In many cases, their plight began even before birth with a malnourished mother. Under-nutrition among pregnant women in developing countries leads to 1 out of 6 infants born with low birth weight. This is not only a risk factor for neonatal deaths, but also causes learning disabilities, mental, retardation, poor health, blindness and premature death.

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Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?

The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.

What are the causes of hunger?

What are the causes of hunger is a fundamental question, with varied answers.

Poverty is the principal cause of hunger. The causes of poverty include poor people's lack of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution in the world and within specific countries, conflict, and hunger itself. As of 2008 (2005 statistics), the World Bank has estimated that there were an estimated 1,345 million poor people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a day or less.3 This compares to the later FAO estimate of 1.02 billion undernourished people. Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the world’s developing regions, despite some progress that reduced "dollar--now $1.25-- a day" poverty from (an estimated) 1900 million people in 1981, a reduction of 29 percent over the period. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased. The statement that 'poverty is the principal cause of hunger' is, though correct, unsatisfying. Why then are (so many) people poor? The next section summarizes Hunger Notes answer.

Harmful economic systems are the principal cause of poverty and hunger. Hunger Notes believes that the principal underlying cause of poverty and hunger is the ordinary operation of the economic and political systems in the world. Essentially control over resources and income is based on military, political and economic power that typically ends up in the hands of a minority, who live well, while those at the bottom barely survive, if they do. We have described the operation of this system in more detail in our special section on Harmful economic systems.

Conflict as a cause of hunger and poverty. At the end of 2005, the global number of refugees was at its lowest level in almost a quarter of a century. Despite some large-scale repatriation movements, the last three years have witnessed a significant increase in refugee numbers, due primarily to the violence taking place in Iraq and Somalia. By the end of 2008, the total number of refugees under UNHCR’s mandate exceeded 10 million. The number of conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) reached some 26 million worldwide at the end of the year . Providing exact figures on the number of stateless people is extremely difficult But, important, (relatively) visible though it is, and anguishing for those involved conflict is less important as poverty (and its causes) as a cause of hunger. (Using the statistics above 1.02 billion people suffer from chronic hunger while 36 million people are displaced [UNHCR 2008])

Hunger is also a cause of poverty, and thus of hunger. By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people's ability to work and learn, thus leading to even greater hunger.

Climate change Climate change is increasingly viewed as a current and future cause of hunger and poverty. Increasing drought, flooding, and changing climatic patterns requiring a shift in crops and farming practices that may not be easily accomplished are three key issues. See the Hunger Notes special report: Hunger, the environment, and climate change for further information, especially articles in the section: Climate change, global warming and the effect on poor people such as Global warming causes 300,000 deaths a year, study says and Could food shortages bring down civilization?

Progress in reducing the number of hungry people

The target set at the 1996 World Food Summit was to halve the number of undernourished people by 2015 from their number in 1990-92. (FAO uses three year averages in its calculation of undernourished people.) The (estimated) number of undernourished people in developing countries was 824 million in 1990-92. In 2009, the number had climbed to 1.02 billion people. The WFS goal is a global goal adopted by the nations of the world; the present outcome indicates how marginal the efforts were in face of the real need.

So, overall, the world is not making progress toward the world food summit goal, although there has been progress in Asia, and in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Micronutrients

Quite a few trace elements or micronutrients--vitamins and minerals--are important for health. 1 out of 3 people in developing countries are affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies, according to the World Health Organization. Three, perhaps the most important in terms of health consequences for poor people in developing countries, are:

Vitamin A Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness and reduces the body's resistance to disease. In children Vitamin A deficiency can also cause growth retardation. Between 100 and 140 million children are vitamin A deficient. An estimated 250,000 to 500 000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight. (World Health Organization)

Iron Iron deficiency is a principal cause of anemia. Two billion people—over 30 percent of the world’s population—are anemic, mainly due to iron deficiency, and, in developing countries, frequently exacerbated by malaria and worm infections. For children, health consequences include premature birth, low birth weight, infections, and elevated risk of death. Later, physical and cognitive development are impaired, resulting in lowered school performance. For pregnant women, anemia contributes to 20 percent of all maternal deaths (World Health Organization).

Iodine Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) jeopardize children’s mental health– often their very lives. Serious iodine deficiency during pregnancy may result in stillbirths, abortions and congenital abnormalities such as cretinism, a grave, irreversible form of mental retardation that affects people living in iodine-deficient areas of Africa and Asia. IDD also causes mental impairment that lowers intellectual prowess at home, at school, and at work. IDD affects over 740 million people, 13 percent of the world’s population. Fifty million people have some degree of mental impairment caused by IDD (World Health Organization).

This is Terrific

Kenya has sent a protest note to neighbouring Ethiopia following border attacks that left 20 members of the Turkana community dead.

Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojode said Thursday that the government had also intensified security at the border point to avert further attacks.

“In the meantime the Government is relocating the GSU and AP camps at Tondonyang to the actual border point fourteen (14) kilometres away to counter any revenge attacks between warring communities,” he said during a news conference at Harambee House, Nairobi Thursday.

Mr Ojode said that peace initiatives between kenyans and Ethiopians living on the border will be started with a view to finding a lasting solution.

On Tuesday, many were feared dead following an attack in Turkana by suspected Merille bandits from Ethiopia.

Although relief agencies put the number of those killed at 18, police said that just five deaths had been confirmed.

The victims were killed while taking a rest after a night-long fishing expedition at the source of Lake Turkana. The area of attack is about 170 kilometres from Lodwar town.

On Thursday, Mr Ojode said 20 Turkanas were killed in a revenge attack.

He said relief food had been sent to the area by the Special Programmes Ministry to “deter the Turkana from moving to the Ethiopian side in search of food”.

“The Ministry of Special Programmes has distributed 100 bags of rice, 100 cartons of vegetable oil and 100 bags of beans as a lasting solution is being sought.”

“Meanwhile, a Joint Border Commissioners meeting will be held early next week to put in place strategies to ensure the two communities live in peace,” he said.

Horn of Africa is the most Affected

East Africa



More than 27 million hungry children and families are in urgent need of help following months of severe drought, high food prices, and civil unrest.

“I have not cooked anything today,” says Lochoro, a mother of five living in Uganda. “I don’t even know what the kids are going to eat.” Drought has withered crops in the Karamoja region of northern Uganda, leaving most of the population — more than a million people — in need of food aid, according to the World Food Program (WFP).

Desperate to feed her children, Lochoro hopes to earn 400 shillings (about 25 cents) by collecting water from a nearby borehole and selling it to soldiers stationed a few miles away. Or she might collect firewood and carry it to a village four miles from her home.

If Lochoro is lucky, she’ll earn enough to buy eight rats for herself and her children. “I smoke the rats,” she says, “cut them into pieces, and fry the meat — or boil it if I don’t have cooking oil.”

Lochoro has few other options. “I planted sorghum,” she explains, “but the drought came . . . and killed the plants.” Her precarious situation is compounded by unrest in the Karamoja region: gun-wielding cattle rustlers are constantly raiding each other. Thousands of children and families have fled their homes as a result.

Sadly, one way that some in Karamoja are coping with hunger promises to worsen conditions in the long run. In their desperation, hungry families have begun cutting down trees to make and sell charcoal, hoping to earn enough to buy food. Unfortunately, such environmental degradation threatens to further diminish the region’s agricultural productivity.

A similar story is playing out across the Horn of Africa. A combination of natural and man-made disasters is fueling a massive food crisis, putting millions of children and families at risk of starvation.

In Kenya, for example, recent droughts have exacerbated an already difficult situation. Maize, the staple food for most Kenyans, is currently priced 80 to 120 percent above normal, while the projected harvest remains about 28 percent below normal.

“We are making a difference,” says Thomas Solomon, World Vision’s deputy national director in Kenya, “but the needs far exceed available resources, and the situation is only going to get worse this month. Many poor households have already resorted to skipping meals, and there has been a decline in attendance at schools in hard-hit areas.”

Hungry children are counting on the generosity of donors like you to help them survive this food crisis.

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From Hunger to Famine

The lack of rains has caused crops to fail and cattle-herders are also struggling to keep their animals alive.

The worst affected areas are in the country's semi-arid south-east regions as well as some parts of central Kenya.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has described the crisis as a "very difficult situation" and appealed to donor countries to offer funds.

Currently some 2.5 million people are receiving emergency food aid in the country but the effect of the drought has meant that a further 1.3 million now also need help.

"People are saying it is the worst drought since 2000," said WFP spokeswoman Gabrielle Menezes.

The regions affected normally harvest their crops once a year, planting them in April and collecting in September after the rains. But this year those rains have failed to come.

The Kenyan government was supposed to have built up a sizeable stock of maize but, following allegations of a corruption scandal, it only has enough to last another six weeks, says the BBC's East Africa correspondent, Will Ross.

Many subsistence farmers are reported to be abandoning rural areas - where they rely on aid - and moving into already over-congested slums in the towns and cities.

Kenya needs a helping hand

The Kenya Red Cross has described the hunger situation in Turkana County as dire and called for urgent food aid to the region.
In a report sent to its Nairobi headquarters, the local Red Cross office says the drought situation is “severe” with most of the vulnerable groups suffering from severe malnutrition
The report, availed to The Standard, reveals that most residents in the County have not received food aid since March 2011, forcing families to feed on carcasses of livestock and wild fruits.
“More than 6,000 people at Nakurio and Louwae village in Kerio division in Turkana central district, are the most hit by starvation require urgent food aid,” it added.
The situation has been caused by persistent drought that has hit the region in the past 12 months causing serious depletion of food and water in the region.
“The County has not received stable rainfall for long resulting in drying up of water points and a total decline in availability of food,” read the report.
Compiled by Turkana branch Chairman, Alexander Lama, and Coordinator Edward Edung Ethuro, the report indicates that 1,377 households are worst hit.
“The families that heavily rely on food aid are experiencing starvation and the worst hit are children, pregnant mothers, the sick and elderly,” they said.
A village Elder in Nakurio and Louwae villages in Turkana Central, Amotoga Lokal, said people are going for several days without food and water.
Lokal said most of the water holes have dried up forcing people to trek for over 10 kilometres in search of water.
“Several residents are weak and emanciated due to hunger. The area has remained dry depleting food, water and pasture resources,” he said.
One of the area chiefs, who requested anonymity, said the government had tried to salvage the situation last month by distributing 90 bags of relief maize to starving residents.
“But the food was not enough to meet the needs of several households that had gone without food for several months,” he said.
The Red Cross officials said last month, residents received 0.5kg of relief food per household, which was not enough for a day’s meal.
“We appeal to the government and humanitarian agencies to intervene and avert further looming deaths due to starvation,” they said.
Turkana Central DC Humphrey Nakitare confirmed that the drought situation has threatened dozens of lives and livestock in the area.
“The situation is indeed dire and the issue has been taken up at highest levels in Government,” said the DC.
He said the Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka who toured the area on Sunday had been briefed on the critical drought situation in the area.
When he toured the region on Sunday to attend a funeral service, Kalonzo directed the Ministry of Special Programmes to start distributing food to the starving Turkana residents.
“We cannot allow people to starve and yet there was enough food in government stores to feed the people,” the VP said.

Kenya cuts tax on maize, wheat; 5 die from hunger

Kenya – An infant was left suckling on her mother's lifeless body last week after the woman died of hunger in Kenya's drought-stricken north. The heartbreaking scene is one reason the government on Wednesday cut taxes on maize and wheat.

Prices on food and fuel are rising globally, but higher costs are hitting residents in East Africa particularly hard.

A relative and a witness said the mother who was nursing a two-month-old baby died a week-ago after days of going without regular meals because she could not afford to buy food.

Her death brings the number of people reported to have died in Kenya from hunger to five.
The Kenyan government announced Wednesday that it was removing the tax on maize and wheat imports in a bid to cushion citizens from the effects of rising global food prices.

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga told parliament that the government also wants to remove all taxes on kerosene, the main fuel used for cooking and lighting houses in Kenya. Odinga said the high cost of petroleum products, due to the turmoil in parts of the Middle East and North Africa, has led to a high inflation rate in the country.

He asked parliament to urgently pass a motion his office will present to remove the taxes on kerosene.

Odinga said in the long-term Kenya has to reduce dependency on imported oil by turning to renewable energy.

"We will maximize generation of geothermal and other renewable energy and totally replace kerosene with clean energy, "Odinga said. He said the country must also work to ensure that it produces sufficient food for itself.

Odinga said due the sharp increase in the cost of living, the government will announce an increase to the minimum wage on Sunday.
Kenya Red Cross spokeswoman, Nelly Muluka, said that four people — two children aged eight and 10 — a 65-year-old man and 55-year-old woman had died of hunger this month in Nakurio region of the Turkana district. Turkana is about 400 miles (649 kilometers) north of the capital, Nairobi.

Thomas Ngare,58, said his 30-year-old daughter Napak Katiya died last Wednesday in her sleep with her two-month-old baby by her side in another village in the Turkana district.

He said Katiya was going without regular meals despite the fact that she was breast-feeding.

"Even I did not have means to help her," he told the Associated Press by phone.

Ngare said maize was scarce in the remote area they live in, and lately when it is available in the market, the price is too high for the residents.

He said many of the residents in the area depend on relief food from the donor agencies.

Struggling to feed his family in a region hard-hit by a severe drought, Mude Abdille is awaiting for a drop of rain from the barren skies.
“The effect of this drought is rippling throughout our land,” a helpless Abdille told OnIslam.net
“If it doesn't rain very soon even our people will begin dying."
The Kenyan Muslim herder is struggling to feed his family and his herd in the village of Burmaayow, a remote hamlet about 100km from Kenya’s north-eastern Muslim county of Wajir, where a crippling drought bites herders.
“The drought is slowly enveloping around our village,” said the father of seven.
“It is matter of time to start counting losses,” added the old man who is yet to recover from the effect of the previous drought.
The surrounding environment is dry and dusty. The sun-baked earth is bereft of any vegetation and the heat exacerbates every passing moment as Abdille’s herd of about 20 heads of camel face a severe shortage of pasture and water. Water is so scarce and even wells have dried up and people trek for long distances in search of water.
“He is crying for water,” says Abdille, 54, pointing to his wailing baby boy, who is sitting in his mother’s lap.
“Since yesterday, we have not had a drop of water in our homestead. The baby is restive.”
The last two years have seen erratic rainfall, which has severely damaged crop production and pasture availability for livestock. Abdille’s household relies on 20 litres of water for two days, and sometimes it might pass several days without a drop of water in his humdrum homestead. Residents here live without water sources of their own, relying on charity water tankers that travel to reach the area twice a week.
“All the watering points have dried up in our neighbourhood. The nearest place to get water is roughly 50km,” says Abdille’s wife, Amina.
Foodless
Adding to their suffering, the drought has left residents struggling to find food to feed their families.
“Since the herds are growing weak by the day, milk production is barely enough to sustain the family,” says Amina.
According to charity agencies, the prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition rate for the Northeastern Kenya stood at 17.2%. As per the international standards, this level is very critical.
“We just hang on for dear life,” the poor Muslim mother laments.
Like Abdille’s family, many Muslim herders are no longer able to cope up with the drought anymore.
“Things are getting from bad to worse,” says Adan Garad, a village elder. “The season is so bad. Animals have already started succumbing in several pastoral villages.”
The drought is ringing the alarm bell as full-blown disaster looms large as there are nearly two million herders suffering from it. An all out Local and international appeal has been sent by the NORTHERN KENYA CAUCUS on drought and Famine and much is needed.
“As of now, there is hardly any emergency intervention on the ground,” said Abdifatah Yare, an aid worker with WASDA, an nongovernmental organisation.
“The government always comes in late when many lives and livelihoods are lost.
“Despite many appeals from local partners on the ground, donors are still reluctant too,” he added.
The Kenyan government has appealed for an emergency intervention to feed and water thousands of famine-ravaged herders in north-eastern Kenya.
“People are simply on the deathbed,” Kenya’s Livestock Minister Mohamed Kuti told a press conference in Nairobi. “We need an emergency mitigation measure to reach out to people and livestock who are on the verge of death.”
Biting Drought
The severe drought is not only bites Kenyan Muslims, but is also spreading across Horn of Africa.
“Death of both people and livestock is escalating,” Mohamed Abukar, the Executive Officer of Hardo, a humanitarian organization in Somalia, told OnIslam.net.
“The biggest problem is that there is no mitigation efforts going on, people are waiting simply to die.”
Besides Kenya, Somali, Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia are also affected by the drought. Horn of African, a region where the overwhelming majority are Muslims, is one of the poorest in the world and the drought is adding up to the trouble. According to the United Nations, Somalia is already facing a dire humanitarian crisis in which 3.2 million people, more than 40 percent of the population, is in need of aid.
The local media in the war-torn county have already reported people who have died as a result of starvation in south-central Somalia. A few days ago, Hiraan Online, a Mogadishu-based Somali publication, described the situation in Somalia as the worst in recent years.
''One family alone lost 500 heads of goats due to the bad season, but the terrifying thing is the owner of the goats have committed suicide after witnessing the death of his precious assets one by one,” village elder Haji Osman Khataarey told the publication.
In the tiny nation of Djibouti, the government has appealed for $38.9 million in aid to assist pastoralists and rural dwellers affected by drought. On the other side, the Eritrean Relief and Refugees Commission (ERREC) made an appeal calling for 400,000 metric tones of grain to avert the impending humanitarian crisis that would result from this year's prolonged drought.
“In the larger Horn, the drought crisis is worse than that of 2005-2006,” said Ahmed Hussein, an international aid worker in Nairobi.

This is not only affecting muslims but christians as well, and any assistance from every one out there is very welcome and will be appreciated for.

Save a life by skipping one of your favourite meal and instead donate that amount to Muungano and help feed this people because "together we can"