The
definition of poverty and hunger evokes so many interpretations. People have
their own definition and mental images toward those terms, and so do the
so-called major international organization like United Nations (UN). Poverty
and hunger seems to be meaning similarly, but it’s actually somewhat different
in the sense that ‘what causes what’. Not every poor person is hungry, but almost all hungry
people are poor. Hunger can be viewed as a dimension of extreme poverty. It is
often called the most severe and critical manifestation of poverty.
Poverty is somewhat an ambiguous
term for every country in the world. Poor people for one country can be not
poor for other countries. However, apart from the fact that the ambiguous definition
of poverty exists among countries, UN gives the general definition of poverty
which can be accepted comprehensively. UN defines human
poverty as “a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It
means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means
not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to
go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s
living, not having access to credit……..” (UN Statement, June 1998 –signed by
the heads of all UN agencies). Thus, we can’t see poverty solely in terms of
the monetary income (income poverty),
but rather as a whole incapability of people in the societal, cultural, and political
context as stated above (human poverty). UN
utilizes these two kinds of poverty though. By looking at the income poverty concept, World Bank
stated that people living on less than US$1 per day are living in extreme
poverty, and people who earn less than US$2 a day are in moderate poverty. On
the other hand, hunger is defined as the feeling of discomfort that is the
body’s signals that it is in need of more food (www.un.org). When hunger or
lack of food persists, however, the consequences can be devastating.
From
the past hundreds of years, hunger and poverty always became the issue. It
still can’t be eradicated till now, but at least it’s decreasing. Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) programmed by UN is trying to realize this enduring
matter. MDGs is supposed to have ended and resulted in the year 2015. If it all
succeeds, people whose income $1 per day and people who suffer from hunger will
decrease half of the former population (www.unmillenniumproject.org). By
looking back at the result that has been achieved so far, in the developing regions, the
proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 47% in 1990 to
24% in 2008. In 2008, about 110 million fewer people than in 2005 lived in
conditions of extreme poverty (www.un.org). Another way
taken by UN is also making a Zero Hunger Challenge. Its objectives are 100% access to adequate food all
year round, zero stunted children less than 2 years, all food systems are
sustainable, 100% increase in smallholder productivity and income, zero loss or
waste of food (www.un.org).
Hunger and poverty is something we
don’t expect, not a thing we wish to continue happening. It’s indeed very hard
to eradicate, but it doesn’t mean impossible. The targets of MDGs as well as
Zero Hunger Challenge in a certain way align with most people dreams- live in
peace and prosperous world. If those programs run on the right track, and all
people contribute to it, it is no doubt that the world’s ultimate dream will be
able to get into realization.
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