Hunger in Third World Countries

Hunger is a serious question that affects many countries in the world, especially in developing countries. A recent report states that “925 million people do not have enough to eat and 98 percent of them live in developing countries.”(FAO,2010) “Hunger is not just the need to eat; but can be defined as “the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite, [or] the exhausted condition caused by want of food” (Oxford English Dictionary), which means a continuing deprivation in a person of the food needed to support a healthy life. Over time, people in third world countries who suffer from hunger have slower physical and mental developments than well fed people and are vulnerable to illness and disease.
Poverty is the condition of having insufficient resources or income. In its most extreme form, poverty is a lack or deprivation of basic human needs, such as adequate and nutritious food, clothing, housing, clean water, and health services. In developing countries, people are faced with extreme poverty, because there are almost no jobs, a near complete lack of public services, and lastly, because of weak and corrupted central governments. The consequences of this situation are staggering. Millions of people are homeless, disease is rampant, and starvation is a common occurrence. “Extreme poverty remains a daily reality for over 1 billion people who live on less than US$1 a day and 800 million people who suffer from acute scarcity of food.”(MDGs, 2005). More third world countries, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and Eastern Asia, have more poverty-related ills. These regions are also the most adversely affected by hunger because poverty is rising at a rapid rate. with the ”hungry representing 33 percent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa, 22 percent in Southern Asia and 13 percent in South East Asia.”(MDGs, 2005), Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia were the worst affected regions in terms of the number of hungry people during the