Dear members of the board; I am writing to this board to present this school with the opportunity to affect great change in the lives of thousands of children in many countries. I have found my inspiration from The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, the United Nations and UNICEF’s goals for global health. These shared goals are labeled using differing names, but at their core are all of one purpose; improve global health. According to The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, Goal one is to “Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty (The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, 2011).” This goal has three parts, and we can directly impact part three, which is “By 2015, reduce by half (compared to 1990) the proportion of people who suffer from hunger (The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, 2011).” It has often been heard “You need to finish what is on your plate. There are kids starving in Africa.” This is only partially true and does not really affect the change that I think it should. Students can sit at their lunch tables every school day and eat their fill, even going back for seconds and throw away unwanted food. They enjoy the benefits of proper clothing, proper immunizations, clean and plentiful drinking water, more than adequate sanitation, and the list goes on.
Let me share with you that in stark contrast to this; “Every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation. Usually it is a child under the age of 5 (UNICEF Millennium Development Goals, n.d.).” And that “between 1995/97 and 2000/02, the number of undernourished people in the developing countries increased by 18 million (Pingali, Stamoulis, & Stringer, Janu).”
Starvation affects children most. It directly impacts their environment in ways that threaten their physical development, their mental growth and their emotional state of being. This causes a domino effect that will ultimately affect their
References: Geldof, L., & Ironside, A. (December 2000). UNICEF launches appeal for at-risk children. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/newsline/00pr71.htm Pingali, P., Stamoulis, K., & Stringer, R. (January 2006). Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger:. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/af839e/af839e00.pdf The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. (2011). The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International : Global Action : STTI and the UN. Retrieved from http://www.nursingsociety.org/GlobalAction/UnitedNations/Pages/STTIandtheUN.aspx UNICEF Mellenium Development Goals. (n.d.). Goal: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Retrieved from http://http://www.unicef.org/mdg/poverty.html UNICEF United States Fund. (2011). Achieving Zero. Retrieved from http://www.unicefusa.org/campaigns/believe-in-zero/ UNICEF United States Fund. (March 2011). UNICEF 's Work. Retrieved from http://www.unicefusa.org/work/ United Nations. (2007). Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger. Retrieved from http://www.mdgmonitor.org/goal1.cfm United Nations. (n.d.). We can end poverty 2015. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtm