More than 150 world political leaders meet from today until Wednesday in New York on the occasion of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Follow-up Summit. Action Against Hunger wants to take advantage of this appointment to remember that the first objective, to reduce by half the number of people who suffer from hunger in the world, is far from being fulfilled. Therefore, it encourages citizens to send our representatives a letter requesting that this problem become a priority on the international political agenda.
Currently, the number of people suffering from hunger stands at 925 million, which means a reduction of 98 million compared to last year, when the record of 1, 023 million was reached. Despite this good data, announced by FAO last week, the figure is still scandalously high. "In the 21st century it turns out that one in six people on this planet have nothing to put in their mouths today, " laments Carlos Riaza, representative of Action Against Hunger.
FAO itself has warned that this decline in hunger, the first in 15 years, may not be maintained because new increases in food prices are being detected lately. It must be taken into account that the deadline for reaching the MDGs is met in 2015, and that the starting reference is the data for 1990. At the beginning of that decade, there were approximately 800 million hungry people. That is, not only has a decrease not been achieved, but the figure has increased. Therefore, achieving the objective of halving the problem of hunger in 2015 seems very complicated, since it would mean reducing the number of hungry people by more than 500 million people.
To achieve this complicated goal, citizen awareness is essential. This is the reason for the launch of the international campaign "The other crisis" of Action Against Hunger, in which it is recalled that billions of euros have been used to save the banks from the crisis, while continuing without a rescue plan against hunger. This is what the video recalls Rescue plan: A billion people hungry posted on the official website
It is a participatory campaign in which any interested person can take part. To do this, only a letter must be signed in which political leaders are asked to concentrate their efforts on ending hunger-related deaths, and for child malnutrition to become In a priority.
This problem has a solution. Hunger is not due to a fatality, nor is it something related to destiny. Food there, we have two years with large crops. The problem is due more to the poor distribution of resources and food. In addition, there is also a cure for malnutrition, Riaza explains to Positive News.
In the letter it is recalled that with a decided investment in the treatments against malnutrition already proven by Action Against Hunger, the life of about 3 could be saved every year, 5 million children. The cost to save a child with malnutrition is simply 60 euros, says the NGO representative. Despite this, the lives of 19 million children are threatened by severe acute malnutrition, and it is estimated that only 3% of them receive treatment.
The campaign letter will be sent to the UN delegations in the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. The 10, 000 signatures have already been exceeded in our country alone. Any interested person can still join and participate with their signature.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
www.laotracrisis.org
www.othercrisis.org/es
www.accioncontraelhambre.org
Image: Campaign logo. Courtesy of Action Against Hunger.
