UN: 25,000 people die of hunger every day

And we say terrorism is the biggest threat to the world …

GLOBAL HUNGER

• 1.02 billion people do not have enough to eat – more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union;
  (Source: FAO news release, 19 June 2009)
• The number of undernourished people in the world increased by 75 million in 2007 and 40 million in 2008, largely due to higher food prices;
  (Source: FAO news release, 9 Dec 2008)
• 907 million people in developing countries alone are hungry;
  (Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2008)
• Asia and the Pacific region is home to over half the world’s population and nearly two thirds of the world’s hungry people;
  (Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2008)
• More than 60 percent of chronically hungry people are women;
  (Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2006)
• 65 percent  of the world’s hungry live in only seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.
  (Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2008)

CHILD HUNGER

• Every six seconds a child dies because of hunger and related causes;
  (Source: State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2004)
• More than 70 percent of the world’s 146 million underweight children under age five years live in just 10 countries, with more than 50 per cent located in South Asia alone;
  (Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006)
• 10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths;
  (Source: The State of the World’s Children, UNICEF, 2007)
• The cost of undernutrition to national economic development is estimated at US$20-30 billion per annum;
  (Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006)
• One out of four children – roughly 146 million – in developing countries are underweight;
  (Source: The State of the World’s Children, UNICEF, 2007)
• Every year WFP feeds more than 20 million children in school feeding programmes in some 70 countries. In 2008, WFP fed a record 23 million children.
  (Source: WFP School Feeding Unit)

MALNUTRITION

• It is estimated that 684,000 child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc
  (Source: WFP Annual Report 2007)
• Undernutrition contributes to 53 percent of the 9.7 million deaths of children under five each year in developing countries. This means that one child dies every six seconds from malnutrition and related causes.
  (Source: Under five deaths by cause, UNICEF, 2006)
• Lack of Vitamin A kills a million infants a year
  (Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, UNICEF)
• Iron deficiency is the most prevalent form of malnutrition worldwide, affecting an estimated 2 billion people.6 Eradicating iron deficiency can improve national productivity levels by as much as 20 percent.
  (Source: World Health Organization, WHO Global Database on Anaemia)
• Iron deficiency is impairing the mental development of 40-60 percent children in developing countries
  (Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, p2, UNICEF)
• Vitamin A deficiency affects approximately 25 percent of the developing world’s pre-schoolers. It is associated with blindness, susceptibility to disease and higher mortality rates. It leads to the death of approximately 1-3 million children each year.
  (Source: UN Standing Committee on Nutrition. World Nutrition Situation 5th report. 2005)
• Iodine deficiency is the greatest single cause of mental retardation and brain damage. Worldwide, 1.9 billion people are at risk of iodine deficiency, which can easily be prevented by adding iodine to salt
  (Source:  UN Standing Committee on Nutrition. World Nutrition Situation 5th report. 2005)
• WFP-supported deworming reached 10 million children in 2007
  (Source: WFP Annual Performance Report 2007)

FOOD & HIV/AIDS

• In the countries most heavily affected, HIV has reduced life expectancy by more than 20 years, slowed economic growth, and deepened household poverty.
  (Source: 2008 UNAIDS Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic)
• In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the epidemic has orphaned nearly 12 million children aged under 18 years.
  (Source: 2008 UNAIDS Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic).
• WFP and UNAIDS project that it will cost on average US $0.70 cents per day to nutritionally support an AIDS patient and his/her family.
  (Source: Cost of Nutritional Support for HIV/AIDS Projects, WFP, July 2008)
• Assistance for orphans and vulnerable children is estimated at US$0.31 per day.
  (Source: Cost of Nutritional Support for HIV/AIDS Projects, WFP, July 2008)

AID SPENDING

• In a 1970 UN Resolution, most industrialised nations committed themselves to tackling global poverty by spending 0.7 percent of their national incomes on international aid by 1975. Only Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark regularly meet his target
  (Source: DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) facts map, 2006-2007)
• The 22 member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, the world’s major donors, provided USD 103.9 billion in aid in 2006 – down by 5.1 percent from 2005
  (Source: OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2007)
• The largest donors were the United States (US$24 billion), Japan (US$18 billion), the United Kingdom (US$13 billion), Germany and France (US$12 billion each), the Netherlands (nearly US$6 billion), Spain and Italy (just over US$4 billion each) representing 80 percent of the total
  (Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2007)

Help End World Hunger

More than one billion people – approximately 1/6 of the world’s population are hungry. And every day nearly 16,000 children die from hunger and related causes. We have the resources to feed the world. We just need the will. Learn about global hunger and what you can do to help.

World Hunger Facts

• 1.02 billion people in the world are hungry.

  UN Food and Agriculture Organization

• 1 billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day.

  “World Development Indicators 2007.” The World Bank.

• 27 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight in the developing world.

  “State of the World’s Children 2007.”UNICEF.

• Nearly one in three people die prematurely or have disabilities due to poor nutrition and calorie deficiencies.

  “Malnutrition.” World Health Organization (WHO)

• One in nearly seven people do not get enough food to be healthy, making hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health worldwide.

  UN World Food Programme

The Cost to End World Hunger

It’s less than 1%

The United Nations has estimated the cost of ending world hunger at about $195 billion a year. Twenty-two countries have pledged to donate this money by contributing 0.7% — less than 1% — of national income to international aid, but the goal has yet to be reached. Five countries have already met the goal, while others are on target to meet it in a few years. Some, including the U.S., are lagging. If you’d like to encourage US lawmakers to work harder to donate the necessary funds, visit this page at Poverty.com and print a letter that you can send to your congressional represenatives, or use the letter as an example for your customized letter.

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20pc less charity this (Read Last) Ramazan

By Afshan Subohi

INITIAL donations trend for this Ramazan indicate that philanthropists will pay 20 per cent less than last year for charitable purposes. The total quantum of givings during the current year is reckoned to be Rs150 billion. At this rate, the disposable assets, liable for Zakat, in private hands works out to be a whooping Rs6 trillion.

A 1998 study by a committee of experts commissioned by Aga Khan Foundation projected the total value of charity at Rs70 billion. In absence of any fresh study, the amount has been doubled keeping in view the increase in value of everything– from minimum wage to the worth of assets.

Initial indicators of an informal survey in Karachi point to a shrinkage of about 20 per cent in donations by the faithful this Ramazan to various philanthropic institutions. There is no method to gauge direct flow of Zakat funds to needy individuals.

There is nothing to suggest that the trend would be any different in direct giving from institutional giving as nothing has happened over the last one year that could have led to a sizeable shift in the pattern of giving. The proportional share of direct to institutional giving has not changed which means increase or decrease would probably be about the same in both the categories.

With a huge Muslim population, the quantum of annual giving may cross over Rs150 billion. Experts endorse that more than 90 per cent of this amount is contributed by people as Zakat, a mandatory deduction on savings, both in cash and kind. Islam requires Muslims to give to the needy at least two and a half per cent of their ac cumulated wealth each year. It is believed that the act cleanses savings and protects them from an evil eye.

According to a common belief, Zakat is deductible on all accumulated wealth that is not a part of running business including rolling funds that have been in possession over a year and can be liquefied on a short notice.

By applying simple mathematics the figure of Rs150 billion throws up an astonishing amount of Rs6 trillion disposable assets to be in possession of individuals, if it is assumed that every eligible Muslim pays Zakat judiciously. (Rs150 billion is two and a half per cent of Rs6 trillion) There are high net worth individuals who might be paying many times more than Zakat but this does not apply to everyone. There may be many more rich people too engrossed in their business to spare a thought for the less fortunate. Majority, however, comprises middle class people who apply their own interpretation of the obligation but give away something in name of Zakat during Ramazan each year. This in effect implies that the real value of private disposable assets would still be higher.

The fact that people seem to be spending more during this Ramadan than earlier indicates that the financial capabilities of spending classes are intact despite inflation and rising unemployment. Why are they not inclined to care more for the poor and increase donation then? There is no clear explanation.

An expert on consumer behaviour could give a more credible comment but a possible explanation that comes to mind is that probably people tend to seek God’s mercy by giving more when under stress. As law and order and the economy improves, people get more involved in worldly affairs.

A more plausible explanation would possibly be the erosion of asset prices in the last one year which saw the bursting of property and capital market bubble. It must have moderated the value of fixed disposable assets on which Zakat is due.

Syed Tariq Ali, research head at the Centre of Philanthropy told Dawn from Islamabad that impulse of charity in Pakistan is higher as compared to many other countries. He considered estimate of Rs150 billion as annual value of charitable donations rather conservative. “It is safe to double the Rs70 billion projected 11 years back. I find Rs150 billion a very moderate figure”, he told this writer from Islamabad over phone.

Anwar Kazmi, an old associate of Maulana Edhi, helping him in charitable network of Edhi Foundation told Dawn that so far donations this year are on the lower side. Edhi Foundation is the biggest, the most effective and highly respected philanthropic organisation, known for its work around the world. It receives massive donations each year.

Workers of several other organisations endorsed Kazmi’s views. He said, Maulana Edhi believes that middle classes are most generous. The rich evade Zakat as they evade taxes. “They prefer to open their own charitable outfits with the money they want to set aside for the needy. It serves dual purpose of social work and earning tax credits in this world and a reward from God in the life hereafter”.

In 1947, Pakistan inherited reputed charitable institutions like Ganga Ram Hospital, Gulab Devi Hospital, Janki Devi Hospital, Sindh Madressatul Islam, and Hamdard Trust to name a few. In the recent past, individual philanthropists set up large-scale public benefit institutions such as the Edhi Trust, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, the Layton Rehmatullah Benevolent Trust (LRBT), the Fatmid Foundation and the Qarshi Foundation and several hundreds more for the benefit of millions of people.

Credit: http://epaper.dawn.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=07_09_2009_601_005#top