Hungry for an answer

If your reading speed is about average, about two hundred words per minute, then in the time it took you to read this sentence two children died of hunger somewhere in the world. From BBC, December 8:

A child still dies of hunger every five seconds, eight years on from a pledge to halve the world's hungry by 2015, a United Nations agency has said.

The annual UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report says present levels of hunger cause the death of more than five million children a year.

The agency also reports that in 2000-2002, the number of chronically hungry people in developing nations was estimated at 815 million, a figure that was down by only nine million fewer from a decade earlier and almost unchanged since 1996. The report adds that another 28 million in "countries in transition" and 9 million in industrialized countries - a world total of 852 million people - are among the hungry.

But the FAO says the target of halving that figure remains within reach, and has urged richer nations to do more.

It argues that fighting hunger is a good investment, saying the global costs of achieving the 2015 target pale against the price of not acting.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004 report says hunger and malnutrition cost about $30bn (£15.5bn) each year in direct medical expenses, with indirect costs costing billions more.

The FAO estimates an annual funding increase of $24bn (£12.4bn) to reach the hunger target would be repaid almost five-fold in increased productivity and income.

Yet again, let the comparison be made: The amount to cut world hunger in half and save millions of lives every year is about one-third of what we are spending on war in Iraq. No, the US is not alone in its failure - but it does put our "moral values," our view of what is and isn't important, in some perspective.

Footnote: The full report, available here, is not without some good news, noting "proof that rapid progress is possible" in a list of 31 developing nations that reduced their number of hungry people by at least 25% during the 1990s.