Millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa go hungry every day. More than 239 million live in homes that cannot afford enough food to feed their families.
Africa is often portrayed as a continent with an abundance of natural resources. While Africa undoubtedly has the most mineral resources ever known to man, there is a wide gap between the haves and have-nots. As a result, hunger in Africa affects not just adults but children as well, a problem that must be addressed.
When children are undernourished, they experience physical and psychological effects. These can spread to their communities when hunger goes on for some time. Here are a few examples…
Sometimes, children who are food insecure have access to low-quality foods like sugary cereals or chips. They might even get nutritious ones but lack a balanced diet. This leads to malnutrition in these kids.
Because basic needs including food are the foundation for all other human pursuits, it is difficult for children to concentrate on anything else when those fundamental requirements are not being met.
Educators have also taken a stand against this issue. 70% of them report that hungry children are present in their classrooms, and it’s well known that children with empty stomachs don’t perform as well starving students are twice as likely to repeat a grade.
There have been numerous studies regarding the effects of stress on adults who are burned out at work. Hungry children get stressed too as they worry about where their next meal will come from.
Children who are malnourished face a long list of potential health problems that may arise in childhood and later in life. These include headaches, colds, and chronic illness. Hunger-related stress can also negatively impact brain development.
Food insecurity can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems in children. Children may also suffer from shame and injured self-esteem due to the stigma around food insecurity and the potential for bullying that accompanies it.
If these problems go unaddressed, students can lose confidence in themselves and their peers. Students may become increasingly cynical about the world around them and develop feelings of distrust toward others.
We will not have raised our standard of living to the level we desire if we ignore the development and education of future generations. One example that should concern us all is child hunger, which remains endemic despite decades of progress in reducing poverty around the world.
We hope to encourage more people to recognize this as a community issue and national crisis, not just something that affects certain families or classes.
