Hungry Children Essay, Research Paper

Some of the most preventable diseases known to humans is hate and gender differences along with emotional distress which continues to breed hunger and infect humankind. There will be a time when we will have to have a respect for all humans and provide equal access to food and the resources by which to be able to obtain nourishment or hunger will continue to be a problem. Like history dictates, it usually will require a disaster before we consider a transformation, which is a concept that each person is going to have to realize to end hunger. To give an example of how much U.S citizens do not spend on aid for the hungry children; consider this in 1991 we spent three times as much tobacco products as we did on aid. For hunger to be eradicated it will take all of us together with a genuine concern to fight this disease and free future generations of this atrocity.

In the U.S. African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities control fewer resources and have less access to food than the white majority. In America, hunger is a social disease sustained by neglect. African Americans earn less than 80% of the earnings of white Americans. The poverty rate for blacks in America in 1992 was 33.3%, triple the rate for whites. Also 2 in 5 Hispanic children are poor which leads to hunger that is a result also of racial differences in the US. Of all the ethnic groups in America the children of native Americans are among the highest to be poor and hungry. Women work longer hours than men and carry primary responsibility for household chores even when working outside the home. Women’s pay rates are nearly universally lower than those for men (on average, 30 to 40 percent lower), even for equivalent work. Malnutrition among mothers also has a negative effect on the growth of children.

The effects of childhood malnutrition last a lifetime affect, even into succeeding generations. Hunger is the mental and physical condition that comes from not eating enough food due to insufficient economic, family, or community resources. Health effects of hunger and subsequent malnutrition are entrapping and long lasting. Malnutrition causes increased infant mortality, low birth weight, retarded physical growth, and impaired brain development. Even moderate and temporary hunger can cause reduced IQ/EQ, radically diminished school performance, and heightened immunodeficiency. Emotionally, hunger often leads to intense feelings of despair and hopelessness, which are the fundamental causes of crime and violence. People go hungry in America because they are poor, and the poor have been steadily increasing in numbers in the United States since the 1970s.

Statistics:

 The percentage of people living in poverty in the US has increased from 11.6% in 1970 to 14.2% in 1994

 In 1991, the percentage of children in poverty reached 22% in the US, the highest among industrialized nations

 Forty three percent of all emergency food recipients are children under 10 and it is children who suffer the worst from hunger. Their developing bodies and brains are especially vulnerable to the deficiencies of an inadequate diet.

 25% of children under four have low hemoglobin levels, which causes iron-deficiency anemia

 8.4% of children in America have retarded growth

 Malnourished children suffer a dramatically increased susceptibility to lead poisoning, which permanently damages the brain, kidneys, and nervous system

We as humans have both the knowledge and the resources to eliminate hunger. Using these tools to work requires us to make some serious choices as individuals and communities together. Only when we decide as a group that we have had enough and are ready to cure this disease permanently; only than can we reassure ourselves that we have done everything that a species can do to put forward the future that will benefit all.