Food Insecurity in a Hungry World

Oct 3, 2005
7 minutes read time

Starvation, malnutrition and consequent diseases are an all-too-familiar fixture in today's world. This article reports on the current situation and looks through the window of prophecy at the future. The present is bleak, but the future is fabulous!

Print
You probably receive several ad flyers every week advertising the current bargains available at your abundantly stocked neighborhood supermarkets. The majority of the world's citizens do not yet enjoy such a blessing. Most of them are more concerned with finding something to eat at all. Last month, we ran an article about the issue of whether the food supply is secure, "From Farm to Fork." This article is about another type of food security, the issue of securing food for your fork. I want to start by focusing upon the children in the world who do not have enough to eat. We've all seen the heartrending pictures of malnourished children, likely from some sub-Saharan country. One of my sons and I saw such graphic images on the news from a war-ravaged country in North Africa about 25 years ago. The horrifying images of infants with distended bellies and heads seemingly too large for their bodies—signs of severe malnutrition—were too much for my son. Tearfully, he asked, "Daddy, if they can get the TV camera there, why can't they get food to those kids?" Ah, the innocence of a child. If only it were that simple. The government of the country was blocking international food aid for the starving, for they belonged to a tribe that opposed the government. The children were innocent, yet they likely died shortly after we saw their pictures. The UN created UNICEF (the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) in 1946 to provide food, clothing and health care to European children after World War II. The UN extended its mandate indefinitely in 1953 to look after the well-being of the world's children. An elementary school-sized population dies every two minutes The world has not changed in the decades since my son and I saw that report. UNICEF says 29,000 children under 5 die every day from hunger-related causes or about three children every second (The State of the World's Children 2005, p. 9). About the population of a good-sized elementary school perished in the time that it took you to read this far in the article. Several thousand additional people (older children and adults) die daily from hunger-related conditions. TheHungerSite.com says that about 10 percent of these deaths are caused by wars and famines (often a consequence of war), and the other 90 percent are caused by chronic malnutrition or going hungry all the time. Read these recent news blurbs on UNICEF's Web site: Zimbabwe: "More than 200,000 children are homeless, without access to food, water or health care." Ethiopia: "On average, 500,000 Ethiopian children die every year from preventable diseases and malnourishment. This year could be worse . . . In total, 7 million Ethiopian children suffer from some form of malnutrition every year, with serious consequences for their health and development." Niger: "Under the best of circumstances, 40 percent of Niger's children—or one million—suffer some form of malnutrition. This number has increased dramatically because of the current food shortage. During Niger's 2004 agricultural season, swarms of desert locusts consumed nearly 100 per cent of the crops in some parts of the country. In other areas, insufficient rainfall resulted in poor harvest and dry pastures affecting both farmers and livestock breeders." The sad consequences of undernourishment Malnutrition causes a downward spiral of problems. Undernourished pregnant women are likely to give birth to low-birth-weight (LBW) babies. In fact, over 20 million LBW babies are born in the developing world annually. LBW babies are more likely to die in infancy. Those who survive infancy are likely to be stunted and have lower cognitive ability. They are more susceptible to disease and disability in adolescence. Those females who survive to become mothers themselves are more likely to give birth to LBW babies, continuing the cycle. And, LBW children who survive to old age are more likely to be disabled. Today 852 million people are undernourished—815 million of them in developing countries. In descending order, these countries are in: sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and then, the Near East and North Africa (The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004, UN Food and Agriculture Organization). The cost? More than 220 million years of productive life and multiple billions of dollars in lost productivity and consumption—annually. The world's developed nations and private citizens are generous in many ways, through both government and nongovernmental organizations. Much good has been accomplished. But the wars continue, as do the drought cycles; and as we have demonstrated here, the problem remains massive. So where is the good news that I mentioned above? Written thousands of years ago, the Hebrew Scriptures are amazingly accurate for every concern of today's world—hunger included. God certainly knew how crucial to the development of any community—or nation, which is merely a community grown large—adequate food would be. He framed His message to humanity in those terms. Truly good news! In ancient Scripture, we find a divine promise of abundant food production. It is part of a series of blessings that God promised the Israelites in the Promised Land—if they obeyed Him. Most likely, you have heard the description often used of this territory, a land filled with "milk and honey," which was a symbolic way of portraying lush productivity. God told Israel, "I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely" (Leviticus 26:4-5). Rain—not too much, not too little and at just the right time—is as elementary as it gets. No matter how technologically advanced a nation is, its people need to eat. This fundamental blessing is as needed today as it ever was. I wonder if most people in the developed world, those of us who choose from a wide selection of delicious foods in burgeoning supermarkets, stop to think very often about the miracle behind the bounty. Included in the Leviticus promise was the fact that the crops would yield enough so that the storage bins would still have food on hand by the time the next planting season rolled around again. Every farmer and every rancher knows you must have not just enough of a crop for consumption, but also for seeding the next one. The prophet Amos was stirred to write this luscious description of the future. "'Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it'" (Amos 9:13). Normally, there are a few months between the time the grain crop is harvested and the time the next crop is planted. In between harvest and seed time was the season for picking and processing the grapes. What Amos describes—that the planters are literally chasing the harvesters out of the fields because the crops are so abundant and because they grow so quickly—doesn't happen in real life. The scene truly requires a miracle. The New Living Translation puts it this way: "'The time will come,' says the LORD, 'when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine!'" Imagine the vineyards morphing into wine barrels with open spigots, pouring out an endless supply. That's the image God gives us of the world He will create under the hand of Jesus Christ, along with the saints. Annually, the United Church of God keeps a biblical festival that portrays this marvelous future, the Feast of Tabernacles. Few people today realize that God intended for His people throughout time to keep this forward looking festival—or that the first-century Church of God kept it. To learn more of this good news—God's plan by which He will solve the terrible problems plaguing this world—request our booklet God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind. WNP
End Times
Disease
News and Prophecy

Course Content

Default profile image
Studying the bible?

Sign up to add this to your study list.