Malnourishment’s Blind Eye

Malnourishment is the lack of proper nutrition, caused by not having enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things, or being unable to use the food that one does eat. You cannot talk about the goal of “Zero Hunger” without mentioning the underlying effect it has on humans globally. Malnourishment is present in all parts of the world. Malnourishment does not only affect humans that reside in third-world countries! Malnourishment has its effect on the human body whether it is internally or externally. It is known that malnourishment causes humans to be deprived of energy, but many other illnesses are created due to malnourishment.

Malnourishment Is All-Around Us

The number of people who are malnourished around the world is larger than you would think. Global disasters and pandemics are only making this number increase causing the goal of “Zero Hunger” to stretch further from accomplishment. How many people are victims of malnourishment? For example, Jennifer Blesh writes, “The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that about 815 million people of the 7.6 billion people in the world, or 10.7%, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2016.” (2019) These statistics were public in 2019 and at the time only 10.7 percent of the human population had chronic undernourishment. This number has only increased since then the world has had several natural disasters, but worst of all, the COVID-19 pandemic. The availability of food globally has decreased causing malnourishment to increase. The goal of “Zero Hunger” is more important today than it has ever been.

But Wait….There’s More!

As mentioned before malnourishment has its effect on the body. The public generally knows that malnourishment causes the human body to be less energetic and physically incapable to do work. There are many underlying effects correlated to malnourishment the public is not often informed about. According to Jennifer Blesh, “Malnutrition refers to getting too little or too much of certain nutrients. It can lead to serious health issues, including stunted growth, eye problems, diabetes, and heart disease. Malnutrition affects billions of people worldwide.” (2019) Malnutrition is the human body’s worst enemy. Malnutrition causes many underlying illnesses that can turn fatal. The goal of “Zero Hunger” has its benefits of decreasing not only malnutrition but other diseases nationwide.

Blesh, J., Hoey, L., Jones, A. D., Friedmann, H., & Perfecto, I. (2019). Development pathways Toward “zero hunger”. World Development, 118, 1–14. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.02.004