Hunger is mainly related to poverty because when people are poor they will not be able to buy food. In many third world countries, there are no sufficient funds that can be used on agriculture even on the basic level thus agriculture is underdeveloped. Population growth also contributes to world hunger. Third world countries undergo exponential growth and with problems of food they are not able to feed them all. Countries that are powerful and with a lot of food do not contribute a lot in helping the poor countries solve this problem. In such countries, there is a constant waste of food that is thrown in the dust bin.
Hunger results from global and societal inequality amid industrialized nations and developing nations. The existing trade procedures, international assistance, and inadequate development programs have led to rich countries misusing the poor counties rather than assist them. There is plenty of food that is available in the world that can be able to feed everyone. In the international market, all nations are meant to have an equal and just exchange of products and services among one another, but this is not what happens. Food is not supposed to be sold abroad from poor nations to the rich nations, but rather it should be vice versa since food is required in poor nations. In most developing nations exports have hit while so many people continue to die of hunger.
Debts are another main cause of hunger in most developing countries. The developing nations are required to borrow funds from organizations like World Bank (WB) and from International Monetary Fund (IMF) and thus they are obligated to follow the structural modification guidelines. These guidelines create irrational and untenable restrictions on the living conditions of the people from these developing nations. The WB and the IMF are generally managed by rich nations like the Group of Eight (G8) who see that competition in the free market will help poor countries advance when things change. These rich nations offer only short-term marketable benefits that they will gain from. In this way, the poor nations have to export most of their food to pay these debts. In other cases, most industries that used to offer assistance to these poor nations also center on exports to other countries for them to disburse the government, who in this case have to pay the IMF and WB. This large exporting of food from poor countries has resulted in hunger issues.
The effects of hunger include increased infant and mortality rates. Malnourished mothers are prone to sicknesses leading to problems with the children they give birth to. They may be smaller and in most cases, they die early causing high infant death rates. In areas where children and infants die often, the birth rate increases thus leading to an inhuman sequence of undernourishment and death. The people who are affected by hunger are susceptible to ordinary diseases. Research shows that over two million children succumb to dehydration resulting from diarrhea. A half-starved child may not be able to endure when affected by brutal diarrhea.
People suffering from hunger are also at higher risks of many infections. Malnourished children are mostly having weak immune systems thus prone to infections. Children who do not have enough to eat have stunted growth. These children are not as intelligent as regular children. This is because they are deprived of essential nutrients and minerals that are necessary for better growth. Others also are underweight because they do not receive enough food with the right minerals to help them grow. Hunger causes a decline in economic growth for such a country that is affected. This is because when people are hungry they have no strength to work. This decreases their economic contribution to the nation thus poor growth.