Inspired #3: Starvation, Procrastination, and Action

In the presentations over the last two weeks, one fact that I was particularly surprised by came from the health group when they gave statistics on expenditures battling different physical ailments. HIV and other infectious diseases had a good share, but hunger was given a measley $3.5 billion, much less than those diseases. While they cannot be ignored, I find it hard to believe that hunger does not take a larger spot. It's not some vaccination research; it's merely a supply chain of food and sanitation to those in need. So, it may be cheaper to do hunger issues, but still, to think that our federal prison system costs almost 7 billion annually shows a propensity to locking people up over feeding others.

According to World Hunger.Org, there were about 925 million people in the world that were starving in 2010. The world population was about 6.85 billion at that time. A quick calculation shows that is 13.5% of the world population. That is nearly one in seven people that do not have access to a basic amenity of life. Despite our large population, there is still plenty of land on this planet, and, if need be, we can probably conjure up methods to improve crop cultivation if the need arises. Then, how are so many people not having a chance to eat? Predictably, most of these people are from impoverished areas or weather stricken regions that are in the most peril.

World Hunger.Org notes:

"Harmful economic systems are the principal cause of poverty and hunger. Hunger Notes believes that the principal underlying cause of poverty and hunger is the ordinary operation of the economic and political systems in the world. Essentially control over resources and income is based on military, political and economic power that typically ends up in the hands of a minority, who live well, while those at the bottom barely survive, if they do."

You must have seen those commercials claiming a small daily investment feeds so many poor people, and then you hear of Wall Street suits making mega million bonuses. I'm sure if people in these positions were willing to give up a spare yacht, this hunger problem could be easily resolved. That's too easy though. Let's create a foundation funded by tax dollars asking for donations from people who make several hundred every two weeks to end this world hunger thingy!

 Yet, that is where we are. Granted, there are numerous wealthy people who do contribute to good causes, it cannot be understated that many others have succumbed to a survival of the fittest drive that's dictated by monetary accumulation. To think that the one major fund only spends $3.5 billion is throwing a bone at the problem and is futile at best. By addressing hunger better, you ensure that their immune systems will be better, which would ultimately cause a reduction in other diseases. Without having to fight for such a bare necessity, they can throw their livelihoods and efforts toward more economically productive endeavors and create a health care of their own national scale in time. That way they can address infectious diseases themselves. Point in case, if we do not mitigate hunger, we will be open a threshold to other illnesses to pay for.