A Silent Crisis: The Fight to End Childhood Hunger
"More than 12 million children under the age of eighteen in the United States are food insecure—unable to consistently access adequate amounts of nutritious food necessary for a healthy life. More than three million children under the age of five are food insecure" (Cook and Jeng, n.p.). Child hunger is a devastating problem communities all over the world face today. Malnutrition is the state of being unhealthy because of a shortage of food, or when people do not regularly eat balanced meals to keep the necessary nutrients in the body needed to stay healthy (Paraide, n.p.). With the shortage of food and children being hungry arises this complication of malnutrition and undernourishment, or …show more content…
Child hunger amounts to greater health care costs for employers and families. A short-term effect is hungry children having more chances of being hospitalized, which costs around 12,000 dollars; a long-term effect would be having high healthcare costs throughout life because of chronic malnutrition (Cook and Jeng, n.p.). Without adequate nutrition a child’s body cannot grow and develop fully. "Stunting (low height-for-age) and wasting (low weight-for-height) have also declined, yet an estimated 161 million and 51 million children aged under five, respectively, were still affected in 2013” (Countries Vow to Combat Malnutrition through Firm Policies and Actions, n.p.). Children deserve to grow and flourish in an environment that supports their well-being. Without adequate nutrition not only will they lose many opportunities, but they will endure negative health effects and not be able to reach their full potential. Seeing children picking through trash bins for food, begging their classmates for leftovers and bending over with hunger pains should not in any case be the norm (Alderman, n.p.). A child should be focused on drawing, coloring, learning basic skills like their ABC’s, numbers, subtraction, and addition. In no scenario should children be worried about where their next meal is going to come from or if they will eat at all that …show more content…
There is a critical period of rapid and crucial brain growth during these ages. Without adequate nutrition to fuel the growth during this period, the actual neurological structure of the brain can be altered. This will impact the child’s ability to learn and take in new information (Cook and Jeng, n.p.). Without proper cognitive development the child will not be ready to tackle and conquer the information they learn during their years in school. In an article by Jeremy Iggers he writes, “The lack of adequate nutrition also impairs their mental development. The children are slow and listless in school, not because they 're stupid (but) because they haven 't eaten. They can 't afford to eat” [says volunteer Rebecca Cunningham] (Iggers, n.p.). These children have no energy and therefore no stamina to stay awake and engaged in the
"More than 12 million children under the age of eighteen in the United States are food insecure—unable to consistently access adequate amounts of nutritious food necessary for a healthy life. More than three million children under the age of five are food insecure" (Cook and Jeng, n.p.). Child hunger is a devastating problem communities all over the world face today. Malnutrition is the state of being unhealthy because of a shortage of food, or when people do not regularly eat balanced meals to keep the necessary nutrients in the body needed to stay healthy (Paraide, n.p.). With the shortage of food and children being hungry arises this complication of malnutrition and undernourishment, or …show more content…
Child hunger amounts to greater health care costs for employers and families. A short-term effect is hungry children having more chances of being hospitalized, which costs around 12,000 dollars; a long-term effect would be having high healthcare costs throughout life because of chronic malnutrition (Cook and Jeng, n.p.). Without adequate nutrition a child’s body cannot grow and develop fully. "Stunting (low height-for-age) and wasting (low weight-for-height) have also declined, yet an estimated 161 million and 51 million children aged under five, respectively, were still affected in 2013” (Countries Vow to Combat Malnutrition through Firm Policies and Actions, n.p.). Children deserve to grow and flourish in an environment that supports their well-being. Without adequate nutrition not only will they lose many opportunities, but they will endure negative health effects and not be able to reach their full potential. Seeing children picking through trash bins for food, begging their classmates for leftovers and bending over with hunger pains should not in any case be the norm (Alderman, n.p.). A child should be focused on drawing, coloring, learning basic skills like their ABC’s, numbers, subtraction, and addition. In no scenario should children be worried about where their next meal is going to come from or if they will eat at all that …show more content…
There is a critical period of rapid and crucial brain growth during these ages. Without adequate nutrition to fuel the growth during this period, the actual neurological structure of the brain can be altered. This will impact the child’s ability to learn and take in new information (Cook and Jeng, n.p.). Without proper cognitive development the child will not be ready to tackle and conquer the information they learn during their years in school. In an article by Jeremy Iggers he writes, “The lack of adequate nutrition also impairs their mental development. The children are slow and listless in school, not because they 're stupid (but) because they haven 't eaten. They can 't afford to eat” [says volunteer Rebecca Cunningham] (Iggers, n.p.). These children have no energy and therefore no stamina to stay awake and engaged in the