Food is one of
the essentials needed to survive on this earth. However, all of us are not
lucky enough to receive a sufficient supply due to many reasons. It is shocking to know that about 870 million
people in the world struggle for a square meal every day due to extreme poverty.
When we talk
about hunger children always come at the forefront as they are the worst
affected. Lack of food or nutrition during the early stages of growth can lead
to several health problems and sometimes even to death. Here are some
statistics on children and hunger:
- Malnutrition kills about 3.1 million children every year
- About 100 million children (one out of six) in developing countries fall below the recommended weight
- One in four children in the world is stunted
- About 66 million primary school children go hungry to school
Measures have
been taken to bring these numbers down and works by The World Food Programme
(WFP), the largest anti-hunger agency of the UN in the world, have been quite
inspiring. Interestingly, the agency feeds 80 million people in 75 countries
every year.
From the past 54
years, the agency has been trying constantly to eliminate hunger and provide children
an opportunity to attend school. For
this purpose, WFP supplies nutritious school meals to over 20 million children
across the world.
The initiative
has helped bring children back to school and bring hopes in millions of families.
These meals, in a way, have also provided underprivileged children all the
nutrition needed for growth. The school
meal programme has also given an opportunity to utilise the local resources and
increase their demand.
Who else help school children in India - an overview:
- The Akshaya Patra Foundation: The NGO, at present feeds freshly cooked nutritious mid-day meals to over 1.4 million school children in 10 states.
- Annamrita: The NGO feeds 1.2 million meals in eight states in India.
- Nanhi Kali: The NGO helps provide education to girls
- Smile Foundation: is dedicated to empower underprivileged children, youth and women.
A 2013 report on
school feeding programmes across 169 countries released by the World Food
Project ranked India 12th among lower middle income countries.
During that time, India was feeding 114 million school children every day.
Some of the
organisations which have helped improve lives of school children in India
include:
These
organisations have helped feed the hungry, provide education and empowerment
and brought hope to millions of school children. However, there is a long way
to go in eliminating classroom hunger altogether or providing education to all.
But, it is very much achievable. Just keep the
good works going and soon ‘child hunger is
gone’ will be a beautiful truth.
