Zero Hunger

Zero Hunger by Shareefa Energy

 

 

A mother rocks her child

He sobs into her arms

Hunger pangs

Stomach pains

Cupboards empty

No goat stood outside for milk

Waiting till the morning till the baker arrives

Two bread rolls with mayonnaise for breakfast

Two meals it will have to do

Feeling alone, hope fading

No one hears their cries

Lost her eldest to stunting

Couldn’t bare to lose her son

How long will this continue

One roll of bread to last a day or two

 

Before Covid-19

The Sustainable Development Goal declared

End child hunger for Sub-Saharan and South Asian children by 2030

Covid rippled an earthquake affecting millions

Millions of children’s health, education and family income

Malnutrition, stunting, overweight and unhealthy

Micronutrient deficiencies

Forty-seven million children under 5 too thin

7 million more children impacted globally

10,000 children died per month since,

Rest In Peace.

 

Poor nutrition stunting children

Cognitive, physical, metabolic impairment

The end result disease

Stunted throughout adulthood

Stunting their intellectual ability and economic productivity

Stunted children often with an immature gut micro biome

Impacted by their home, food and educational environment

Children’s height stunted’s mortality affected long term

Children with less weight’s mortality immediate

Deficiencies not found early

Maternal and child deaths increased

23 per cent additional child wasting deaths

Low access to nutritious food

Movement restrictions for essential trade

Health care as essential as routine care

Therapeutic accessible foods essential

Local food and agricultural systems need support to decrease numbers

The first thousand days of a child’s life extremely important

690 million chronically undernourished people exist across the globe

3 billion unable to afford a healthy diet

11 million yearly deaths

the Global North failing to produce sufficient quantities of affordable food

a broken world food system

children attending school on empty stomachs

low concentration, lethargic, falling asleep

unable to retain information

poor with math’s equations, dehydration

a full brain capacity deprived of expansion

a third of 4 million metric food tons produced wasted

$750 billion dollars annually could’ve been spent on veg and vitamins

Europe underdeveloped Africa, said Walter Rodney

Farmers needing solidarity with access to more crops to feed their own

Ask mining companies to dig into their pockets

Support building their roads

Farmers to have storage

Accessible roads to get goods to the market

Support indigenous communities to own their land

Have right over their land and water

Solidarity with all farmers in India

Demands to be respected and paid what they deserve

Solidarity is essential for support to feed their children

Recognition of farmers who are women

Less GMO produce and access to plant based milk for the lactose intolerant

For all communities to have access to healthy nutrients

Not the cheapest gluten noodles

Be inspired by Kenyan’s harvesting locust swarms

Turning the once nuisances into fertilizer and animal feed

Transforming a plague into profit

70 per cent protein

$2.4 billion dollars needed to care for these precious children

give them a chance at life

treat children who are wasted

supply Vitamin A for toddlers

support and encourage minerals in breastfeeding

resources for a mother to raise a healthy child

open services to detect child wasting to intervene early

provide nutritious school meals

safeguard children’s access to nutritious diets

Make demands from the UN and governments

Achieve the Zero Hunger Goal with speed