Malnutrition Position Paper
The last term of the school year has been difficult for everyone. We are in the middle of a pandemic and it has controlled a lot of our regular routine. Our entire school has been moved online. We have been learning from our homes. In my Food for Thought class, a part of my humanities course, we have been learning about different things like famine, the cultivation of monoculture, and cash crops. In this class I had the opportunity to put my debating skills to the test with my other classmates. Our debate was centered around reparations. For this Action project, I have created a position paper like the one created for my in-class debate. My position is centered around the United Nations’ sustainable development goal number 2, ending world hunger. I chose to focus on the 2nd target which comes with it, ending malnutrition.
Script:
The sustainable development goals, created by the United Nations, is a list of desired results intended to be achieved by the year 2030. Each of these goals has targets alongside them. The second sustainable development goal in the list of SDG is to end world hunger. One target a part of this SDG is target 2.2, and that is to “end all forms of malnutrition.” What is malnutrition? Malnutrition is the lack of proper nutrition caused by not eating enough. Undernourishment can lead to “physical or mental disability” if left untreated. Malnutrition can also cause stunted growth and in 2017 almost “151 million children under five were still stunted”. All over the world we see people not provided with adequate nourishment. We see this in both developing countries and in an urban setting. In 2017 “821 million” people were left undernourished. The goal of the United Nations is for these issues to be no longer prominent by the year 2030 and by 2025 stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons”. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, “foreign aid plays a key role in ending hunger and malnutrition.” However, there is proof that this is not always true and that foreign aid has not helped in this way. We have given more than $1 trillion dollars of foreign aid to Africa and it has done little to nothing for the people who live there. In the book Dead Aid by the author Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian economist, she describes the effects of money being given in aid to people of Africa for useful purposes including food security. In order for this type of food security to work “careful attention must be paid to a number of issues surrounding their implementation.” In his UNU-Wider working paper Philip Abbott gives a detailed insight into what these issues are. Philip Abbott states that for foreign aid to be successful, the objective of share donors must be focused on “poverty and long-run development”. Throughout history, we see examples of malnutrition around the world, both today and for hundreds of years previously. Some of the countries that have been struck with the deplorable outcome of mass starvation of undernourishment include Bangledesh, Niger, and Ireland. We can see how it affects the people who live there and the surrounding countries. The Bangladesh famine caused mass starvation in 1974 and lasted until December of that year. In the same year there was a paper published by the New York Times which stated “they were not prepared for the widespread devastation that has occurred despite a subs flow of foreign food and economic aid.” This was caused by floods wiping out all of their crops for the season. During the time of the Bangladesh famine, the United States had been donating foods like gruel and “survival biscuits”. After the famine ended they used the land to grow rice instead of jute. The green revolution occurred in the 1950s and through the 1960s. This revolution greatly increased the production of crops in developing countries through the use of chemical fertilizers. Norman Borlaug and John Rockefeller, the men who lead this historic alteration, had very different intentions with this. Rockefeller had the approach of a mercenary while Borlaug had more honest intentions. In the book Empires of Food by Andrew Rimas and Evan D.G. Fraser, they state that “hunger isn’t necessarily an injustice, but turning a profit on hunger is”. I agree with this statement but I would also add that being aware of hunger and having the resources to help and not helping is injustice. In 2005 Niger had a food crisis that is similar to famine but is smaller scale starvation. This crisis was caused by a drought that occurred in 2004. This drought abolished “almost 100% of the crops in some regions” leaving thousands of children under the age of 5 malnourished. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as “The Great Famine” or “The Great Hunger”, was a period of mass starvation and disease which lasted from 1845 to 1849. This was caused due to the cultivation of potatoes in a monoculture setting. There are many organizations today working against undernourishment and supplying people all over the world with food security. Some of these organizations include Feeding America, Feed My Starving Children and Kids Against Hunger. We need more of these organizations. More awareness of who is affected by malnutrition and how they are affected by it. Another solution to this problem is to create more opportunities and give resources to developing countries to work as food producers and cultivate food for themselves.
Cited sources:
Abbott, Philip. “How Can Food Aid Be More Effective?” UNU, 16 Nov. 2015, www.wider.unu.edu/publication/how-can-food-aid-be-more-effective. “Foreign Assistance and the Food Crisis of 2007–08.” UNU, 17 Nov. 2016, www.wider.unu.edu/publication/foreign-assistance-and-food-crisis-2007–08.
“Goal 2: Zero Hunger.” UNDP, www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-2-zero-hunger.html. Ifpri.org, www.ifpri.org/blog/aid-end-hunger-win-win-investment.
“Malnutrition: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia.” MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000404.htm.
Moyo, Dambisa. Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa. Penguin Books, 2010. “Niger 2005 Food Crisis.”
World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 25 May 2012, www.who.int/hac/donorinfo/campaigns/ner/en/.
Special, Kasturi Rangan. “Bangladesh Fears Thousands May Be Dead as Famine Spreads.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Nov. 1974, www.nytimes.com/1974/11/13/archives/bangladesh-fears-thousands-may-be-dead-as-famine-spreads-september.html.
Script:
The sustainable development goals, created by the United Nations, is a list of desired results intended to be achieved by the year 2030. Each of these goals has targets alongside them. The second sustainable development goal in the list of SDG is to end world hunger. One target a part of this SDG is target 2.2, and that is to “end all forms of malnutrition.” What is malnutrition? Malnutrition is the lack of proper nutrition caused by not eating enough. Undernourishment can lead to “physical or mental disability” if left untreated. Malnutrition can also cause stunted growth and in 2017 almost “151 million children under five were still stunted”. All over the world we see people not provided with adequate nourishment. We see this in both developing countries and in an urban setting. In 2017 “821 million” people were left undernourished. The goal of the United Nations is for these issues to be no longer prominent by the year 2030 and by 2025 stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons”. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, “foreign aid plays a key role in ending hunger and malnutrition.” However, there is proof that this is not always true and that foreign aid has not helped in this way. We have given more than $1 trillion dollars of foreign aid to Africa and it has done little to nothing for the people who live there. In the book Dead Aid by the author Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian economist, she describes the effects of money being given in aid to people of Africa for useful purposes including food security. In order for this type of food security to work “careful attention must be paid to a number of issues surrounding their implementation.” In his UNU-Wider working paper Philip Abbott gives a detailed insight into what these issues are. Philip Abbott states that for foreign aid to be successful, the objective of share donors must be focused on “poverty and long-run development”. Throughout history, we see examples of malnutrition around the world, both today and for hundreds of years previously. Some of the countries that have been struck with the deplorable outcome of mass starvation of undernourishment include Bangledesh, Niger, and Ireland. We can see how it affects the people who live there and the surrounding countries. The Bangladesh famine caused mass starvation in 1974 and lasted until December of that year. In the same year there was a paper published by the New York Times which stated “they were not prepared for the widespread devastation that has occurred despite a subs flow of foreign food and economic aid.” This was caused by floods wiping out all of their crops for the season. During the time of the Bangladesh famine, the United States had been donating foods like gruel and “survival biscuits”. After the famine ended they used the land to grow rice instead of jute. The green revolution occurred in the 1950s and through the 1960s. This revolution greatly increased the production of crops in developing countries through the use of chemical fertilizers. Norman Borlaug and John Rockefeller, the men who lead this historic alteration, had very different intentions with this. Rockefeller had the approach of a mercenary while Borlaug had more honest intentions. In the book Empires of Food by Andrew Rimas and Evan D.G. Fraser, they state that “hunger isn’t necessarily an injustice, but turning a profit on hunger is”. I agree with this statement but I would also add that being aware of hunger and having the resources to help and not helping is injustice. In 2005 Niger had a food crisis that is similar to famine but is smaller scale starvation. This crisis was caused by a drought that occurred in 2004. This drought abolished “almost 100% of the crops in some regions” leaving thousands of children under the age of 5 malnourished. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as “The Great Famine” or “The Great Hunger”, was a period of mass starvation and disease which lasted from 1845 to 1849. This was caused due to the cultivation of potatoes in a monoculture setting. There are many organizations today working against undernourishment and supplying people all over the world with food security. Some of these organizations include Feeding America, Feed My Starving Children and Kids Against Hunger. We need more of these organizations. More awareness of who is affected by malnutrition and how they are affected by it. Another solution to this problem is to create more opportunities and give resources to developing countries to work as food producers and cultivate food for themselves.
Cited sources:
Abbott, Philip. “How Can Food Aid Be More Effective?” UNU, 16 Nov. 2015, www.wider.unu.edu/publication/how-can-food-aid-be-more-effective. “Foreign Assistance and the Food Crisis of 2007–08.” UNU, 17 Nov. 2016, www.wider.unu.edu/publication/foreign-assistance-and-food-crisis-2007–08.
“Goal 2: Zero Hunger.” UNDP, www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-2-zero-hunger.html. Ifpri.org, www.ifpri.org/blog/aid-end-hunger-win-win-investment.
“Malnutrition: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia.” MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000404.htm.
Moyo, Dambisa. Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa. Penguin Books, 2010. “Niger 2005 Food Crisis.”
World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 25 May 2012, www.who.int/hac/donorinfo/campaigns/ner/en/.
Special, Kasturi Rangan. “Bangladesh Fears Thousands May Be Dead as Famine Spreads.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Nov. 1974, www.nytimes.com/1974/11/13/archives/bangladesh-fears-thousands-may-be-dead-as-famine-spreads-september.html.
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