UN reveals extent of world hunger

A child dies of malnutrition

or starvation

every six seconds

THE spiritual discipline of fasting during the current period of Lent should remind Christians to pray for the hungry and poor and offer them practical help.      

The World Food Programme and the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General in New York have released statistics that reveal the wide extent of world hunger.

They revealed that in 2008, the number of undernourished people in the world rose to 963 million, up 40 million from 2007. The figure of 963 million is more than the combined populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Today, 25,000 people will die from hunger. A child dies every six seconds of malnutrition or starvation.

The majority of undernourished people live in developing countries, with almost 65 per cent of them living in India, China,

Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.

Hunger and malnutrition are the biggest risk to health worldwide, greater than Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

There is, however, a silver lining. The two offices said that there is enough food in the world today for everyone.