Hunger in the world.More than 800 million people in the world know what it is like to be seriously, even gravely hungry. They wake up each day in a refugee camp or a crowded city slum slum Densely populated area of substandard housing, usually in a city, characterized by unsanitary conditions and social disorganization. Rapid industrialization in 19th-century Europe was accompanied by rapid population growth and the concentration of working-class people without any idea where their next meal is going to come from. They are dependent on an aid worker, a relief truck that comes from somewhere, or a parent who may or may not return with food. They will line up for hours in the blistering blis·ter·ing n. See vesiculation. heat or the pouring rain for a sack of grain. Or maybe they will beg for or steal their food. They may even wake up in a big city or small town in the U.S. Perhaps there is not enough money in their house at the end of the week for rent, medicine, and food. A hungry child could be in the seat next to you, or in your own seat. Experts call the general condition of hunger undernourishment. This means that the intake of food each day is not enough to meet the body's natural energy needs. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization estimates there are 942 million undernourished people in the world. Millions of them are children. Researchers use the term food insecure in·se·cure adj. 1. Lacking emotional stability; not well-adjusted. 2. Lacking self-confidence; plagued by anxiety. in to describe a limited availability When customers of the PSTN make telephone calls, they commonly make use of a telecommunications network called a switched-circuit network. In a switched-circuit network, devices known as switches are used to connect the caller to the callee. to food. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an annual study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 11.1 percent of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2002. About 34.9 million people, including 13 million children, lived in those hungry households. Worldwide, the statistics are even more disturbing. According to the United Nation's World Food Program, malnutrition malnutrition, insufficiency of one or more nutritional elements necessary for health and well-being. Primary malnutrition is caused by the lack of essential foodstuffs—usually vitamins, minerals, or proteins—in the diet. , an extreme, prolonged pro·long tr.v. pro·longed, pro·long·ing, pro·longs 1. To lengthen in duration; protract. 2. To lengthen in extent. form of undernourishment, is a leading cause in the deaths of 11,000 children every day. That's one child every eight seconds. Malnutrition can also lead to stunting, or growing to a low height. In North Korea, food shortages have stunted stunt 1 tr.v. stunt·ed, stunt·ing, stunts To check the growth or development of. n. 1. One that stunts. 2. One that is stunted. 3. a generation of children whose heads may only reach the bottoms of their parents' noses. The frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: fact is that, even though there are so many hungry people, the world produces more than enough food to feed them. Getting this food to them, and eliminating hunger, remains one of our biggest challenges. Questions 1. When a household has limited availability to food, it is said to be -- 2. About how many undernourished people are there in the world? -- 3. What percentage of households in the U.S. worried about their source of food in 2002? -- 4. How many U.S. children live in households with limited food availability? -- 5. Undernourishment is a lack of --. 6. -- may keep a generation of North Koreans from growing as tall as their parents. 7. Extreme hunger over a long period of time will lead to --. 8. True or False? There is not enough food produced to feed all of the world's hungry. -- 9. What circumstances could cause a family in the U.S. to suddenly become food insecure? -- 10. What obstacles to gathering food would a child in an African refugee camp face that an American child would not? -- Answers 1. food insecure 2. 842 million 3. 11.1 percent 4. 13 million 5. enough food to meet the body's natural energy needs 6. stunting 7. malnutrition 8. False 9. Answers will vary. 10. Answers will vary. |
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