1.0 PROLOGUE

People do not see the direct impact of hunger on the people who are suffering from it, because they do not have the opportunity to come into contact with such people in the developing countries. It is commonly perceived that World Hunger is not a pressing problem to be solved, especially with many other more commonly discussed global issues occurring currently. We wish to educate more people around the globe about World Hunger, and provoke them to start concerning themselves about such societal issues. Through more understanding of World Hunger, we also hope to get youths to be more involved in making a difference in society.

"Grim, gaunt and loathsome, like the fateful sisters of Greek mythology, war, famine, and pestilence, have decreed untimely deaths for the hosts of the earth since the beginning of time. A veritable trinity of evil, the three are as one scourge, equal in their devastating power and their sinister universality." (National Geographic Magazine, 1917)

Hunger has always been one of the most tragic causes of death since history. It is hardly conceivable that even famines which date few hundred years back have already taken billions of lives and brought fear to the various communities. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”(Broader Perspectives, Singapore Edition) While humanitarian efforts of good intentions have been increasingly seen throughout the world, there are still many developing countries which struggle for survival in the midst of fighting famines.

Certainly, international aid from organizations such as the United Nations, in their attempts to raise awareness for the cause have been successful, but their impact remains limited. According to our survey, many people in the developed countries know about world hunger on a superficial level but do not know what they can do to help apart from simply monetary donations. Hence, we would like to spread the message that “We can play a part in fighting world hunger too!”

What is Hunger?
According to Oxford English Dictionary (1971), “Hunger” refers to the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food or craving appetite; the exhausted condition caused by want of food. It could also refer to the want or scarcity of food in a country.

However, the definition of Hunger has changed over the years. According to Oxford English Dictionary (2012), “Hunger” now refers to a feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat.

Compared to the past definition of “Hunger”, the degree of impact that hunger have on our society seems to have decreased. Yet, looking at the shocking statistics of people who died from hunger each year, the seeming decrease in impact might not be true. Instead, the change in our definitions could be mainly due to our society’s perception of hunger. With the increasing affluence of people in the developed countries, many believed that hunger is no longer a worrying problem. But, the fact is that World Hunger still remains very relevant to us, even though we might not be the ones directly suffering from it. Hence, we hope that through our project, we want can break the misconceptions and false stereotypes people have of World Hunger.

What is World Hunger?
World hunger refers to the want or scarcity of food, aggregated to the world level. This is highly related to malnutrition of the people. The existence of the term “World Hunger” proves that hunger has definitely impacted many countries, so much so it concerns the world. Not only does hunger affect the developing countries, there is a small minority of people suffering from hunger in developed nations.
 

It was targeted to halve the undernourished population by 2015. Unfortunately, instead of improving the situation, the number of undernourished people in developing countries sprang up by a hundred million in a short span of 10 years (1990-2010). It was disappointing how insignificant the impact of increasing humanitarian efforts from non-profit international organizations were. The population of hungry people in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia & the Pacific is on the rise, while a small proportion of people in the developed countries still remained in hunger. Even though more actions are taken all over the world to alleviate the effects of World Hunger, the world is certainly not making notable progress towards the target for 2015.