A story sure to give you nightmares is the harrowing story behind child labor across the globe.  Whether it is costumes made from cotton picked by child labors in Uzbekistan or clothing sewn by child labors, ghoulish make-up with minerals mined by child labors, chocolate candy-bars made from cocoa picked by the hands of child labors in West Africa, or another hideous form of child labor that haunts our consumer market the stories are all eerily similar and all will leave you tossing and turning at night hoping that when you open your eyes it will all have been a dream.  But this is no nightmare dredged up to give you a mischievous fright.  No, stories of child labor are the true daily nightmares of children around the world cannot be erased by when you open your eyes, but this is one scary story we all need to open our eyes to and face.

Products which are often made by the hands of child slave labor include; cotton, tea, silk, coca, sugar, steal, carpets, diamonds, etc.  Products like cocoa/chocolate have been known to be produced with the efforts of child slaves, many who have been trafficked in Western Africa.  In the report, Combating Child Labor in Cocoa Growing, conducted by the ILO (International Labor Organization), they estimate 200,000 children work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast.

Some current campaigns against child labor are being done by the International Labor Rights Forum.  See the following links to learn more, and for updates and ways to take action on these campaigns:

• Chocolate: Child labor in West Africa’s cocoa farms
• Cotton : Forced child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields
• Dole : Invest in worker rights, not exploitation!

Don’t forget its not too late to take a stand this Halloween, there is still time for Fair Trade Trick-or-Treating!  Please also see my previous posts on Child Labor and Fair Trade and Slave Free Links .

U.S. might accept spousal abuse asylum claims
The Barack Obama administration’s recommendation to grant asylum to a Guatemalan woman fleeing severe spousal abuse opens the door for other battered and sexually abused women in other countries to seek refuge in the U.S. Rody Alvarado Pena’s case had languished in immigration courts for 14 years. Federal officials are looking to create guidelines for asylum claims based on abuse.

Global health efforts failing on top child killers
Diarrhea and pneumonia remain the largest killers of young children across the world but fail to get as much attention and funding as HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles. Much more remains to be done to fight diseases such as HIV/AIDS, but health and development experts decry the lack of focus on diseases that can be cured quickly and inexpensively.

Health ministers meet in Ethiopia to discuss maternal injuries
A lack of resources and gender inequality contribute to fistula and other preventable maternal injuries in Ethiopia, according to the UN Population Fund. Health ministers assembled in Ethiopia to discuss midwives, prevention efforts and simple surgeries that could decrease incidence of fistula.

World’s falling fertility rates approach a break-even point
Global fertility levels soon will drop to a point where half the world’s population is producing only enough children to replace itself. The trend eventually could address issues associated with overpopulation and food security.

DRC refugees protest lack of food in Ugandan camp
Refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo barricaded roads into a camp in Uganda to protest the deaths of several children because of a lack of food aid. Authorities say supply chain disruptions and a lack of funds resulted in the distribution of half-rations, but they deny any claims of deaths

Security fears keep Mindanao refugees camps
Despite awful living conditions in Mindanao refugee camps, many internally displaced residents in Philippines are refusing to return home, citing security concerns. As many as 250,000 of the 750,000 people displaced by fighting between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are choosing to remain in refugee camps despite malnutrition and poor water and sanitation.
WFP tests mobile delivery of food aid vouchers
The World Food Programme is testing a plan to deliver food aid vouchers to refugees via cell phone. The program, serving 130,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria, is designed to eliminate bottlenecks at distribution centers and allow users to select their own food at local markets. The program is designed to work in urban areas, where food is available in markets.

UN: Developing world needs better broadband access
A lack of broadband infrastructure leaves developing countries unable to take advantage of Internet technology to promote development, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development warns. Broadband access is a critical component for offshore industries such as call centers and can help people make more use of their cell telephones to access services.

Supreme Court to hear case on juvenile life sentences
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that will decide whether a juvenile can be given a life sentence — a followup to a difficult, divided 2005 decision in which the Court determined that executing a juvenile constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The defense for the case 13-year-old boy convicted of rape and sentenced by a lower court to life rests on the argument that a life sentence is in essence a death penalty and that extreme juvenile punishments are practiced virtually nowhere else in the industrial world.

Report: Ivory Coast violates UN diamonds, weapons embargo
A report by the UN Security Council reveals government and former rebel forces in Ivory Coast are violating the UN-mandated weapons embargo. The report suggested Burkina Faso investigate arms smuggling, which might be linked to the cocoa trade. Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer of cocoa, also has exported diamonds in violation of the UN embargo.

Tanzania struggles to reach HIV/AIDS treatment goal
Tanzanian government officials say they have an adequate supply of anti-retroviral drug. Yet the country might fail to achieve its goal of universal access to treatment for all HIV-positive Tanzanians by 2010 because patients must contend with transportation and supplementary food costs as well as fear of stigma associated with the disease. An estimated 190,000 HIV-positive Tanzanians are not using the treatment.

Philippines struggle to cope with aftermath of typhoons
Homelessness and disease are preying upon tens of thousands of survivors of recent typhoons in the Philippines, raising fears of widespread disease outbreaks. Relocation efforts have been slow as government efforts fail to address survivors’ fears of being uprooted from their communities and being left with no way to survive economically.

Is child obesity abuse? That is the question that has been raised by many over the past few years.  As the issue plagues teachers, care providers and doctors as the rates of childhood obesity increase.

According to the American Obesity Association, obesity among children and teens is beginning to reach epidemic levels, as some 30% of children and teens are overweight and 15% are obese.   The frightening facts about child obesity is that it most often is not something that children ‘grow out of’, as those children who are overweight, with at least one overweight parent, are 80% more likely to be overweight as adults according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Childhood obesity affects children on a multitude of levels, both emotionally and physically.  Children who are obese are often plagued low self-esteem and a poor self-image, they are also at a greater risk for asthma, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and bone and cartilage damage.  However while these risks are of grave concern in the overall welfare of the child, are they the result of abuse or neglect?   The thought of childhood obesity as a form of neglect and abuse has my mind boggled in many ways, one where is the line to be drawn?

Many children do go through chubby phases, many parents keep houses full of nothing but healthy foods but the kids sneak it anyway.  I have an overweight brother and he has been that way since he was a kid. In actuality he was underweight for the first few years and I remember when he was 9 months old we took the outfit off a stuff bear (boots included) to dress him up for Halloween. I helped raise him and I can guarantee that while we were not the organic family, we were average and he was monitored, but he grew chubby nonetheless. Now he is overweight and as a teen when it got more serious we tried to curb him but he would sneak the snacks in anyway, and often more if we got on him.  So did we abuse him? I read the stories and I see we could have easily been accused of abuse, but I know we didn’t abuse him and the fight to keep him slim wasn’t as clear cut, as in many cases.  See he has some learning and physical disabilities and some of the cases I have read about other children have also had disabilities, or parents with limited income, no health insurance…where do we start and stop calling it abuse?

Yet the parents’ share of responsibility in weight gain isn’t always easy to judge. “It’s unfair to blame solely the parents, when there’s a myriad of other factors influencing a child’s weight,” says Dr. Dana Rofey of the University of Pittsburgh, whose weight-management clinic is regularly called on during custody battles in which one divorced parent blames the other for making a child obese. She says contributing factors include not just genetic predisposition and socioeconomic status but also environmental factors, like whether children have access to parks and playgrounds. Rofey also sees children of all ages sneaking extra food behind their parents’ backs.

In South Carolina one mother found herself on charges of criminal neglect as her 14 year-old son hit a shocking 555 pounds (USA Today).  The case of obesity and abuse is not only an American issue, but taking global strides as seen in the case of a six year old boy who was removed from his parents care in the United Kingdom .  However one family in the UK had made headlines multiple times, most shockingly when they had their newborn taken only 28 hours after birth, three of their seven children had already been removed prior due to obesity abuse and neglect charges (Daily Mail).  The family from Scotland has come to media attention once again and the issue of obesity as abuse and neglect had reached headlines as Time has recently run a piece, Should Parents of Obese Kids Lose Custody?.

Several other cases in recent years — in California, New Mexico, Texas and New York, as well as Canada — have garnered attention because a child’s obesity resulted in loss of custody. “It’s happening more than the public is aware of, but because these cases are usually kept quiet [as a result of child-privacy laws], we have no record,” says Dr. Matt Capehorn, who sits on the board of the U.K.’s National Obesity Forum.

The hype over obesity has me once again thinking back to my childhood and the fact that children just seemed more social and active…and while there was always some chubby or overweight kids, everyone seemed more active and healthy. One seemed to have less toys and more friends waiting impatiently outside to play games conjured up by their little imaginations. There were days spent in endless search for frogs, digging up worms, catching lightning bugs, riding my bikes all day long until forced inside by restless parents trying to serve a hot meal.  In a day and age where obesity in children is of grave concern, lets put the toys away a bit more and encourage our children to get outside and play, join a sports team, ride their bike, and just have some good clean old fashioned fun.

Obviously this is not a simple solution as we as a society are increasing in size and if parents do not eat healthy and live healthy lifestyles, nor if they do not have access to resources in which to do so the fight is more difficult.  My last thought is that one starting point is to go back to recess and PE, as it seems to have fallen out of most of our schools!

The true key to preventing childhood obesity is a balanced and healthy diet and exercise, and it seems that the latter is what is most often missed the most. Children today spend less time exercising, simply playing outside, than any other generation. Time outside has been quickly replaced by TV’s, gaming systems, and computers, all of which leave children sitting idle and at more risk for obesity.   It all brings me back to a piece I did last year, Are children playing enough?, I think the answer is in the statistics!

The United States has done it has topped the list, were number one…but this is one list and ranking we don’t want to go dancing in the streets about. Shockingly to many the US is the cheerless leader of deaths related to child abuse and neglect. Five children die each day in this country as a result of child abuse and neglect kill more than in any other industrialized nation, according to the report, We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America released by the Every Child Matters Education Fund.

The report found that no less than 10,440 American children died from abuse or neglect in the six year period of 2001 and 2007, however they noted that the number of child deaths could actually exceed 15,660, as poor record keeping could have missed many deaths.

It’s heart-wrenching that each day in America, five children will die from abuse and neglect, but what’s worse is that the real number is even larger, said Michael Petit, president of Every Child Matters Education Fund. Child abuse and neglect are national problems that require national solutions. That means federal lawmakers must work with states to address what causes it, be more consistent in how data about it are shared, and increase support for the agencies that work to stop it..

In 2007, Kentucky took the grim No. 1 spot with 41 deaths, a rate of just over 4 in 100,000 children. Other states near the top were South Dakota, Florida, Nebraska and Missouri. States with the lowest rate of child death in 2007 — the latest year for which data is available — were Delaware, Rhode Island, Idaho, Maine and Montana.

Of the 721, 646 children confirmed abused and neglected nationwide in 2007:

• 60 percent did not receive proper food, clothing, shelter, hygiene, education, medical care or protection.
• 13 percent suffered from multiple maltreatments.
• 11 percent were physically abused.
• 8 percent were sexually abused.
• 4 percent suffered from emotional abuse.
• 1 percent suffered from medical neglect.
• 4 percent suffered from other mistreatment such as abandonment, threats, and congenital drug addiction.
• 50 percent or more of child abuse and neglect cases are associated with alcohol or drug abuse by parents.

Much can be done to reduce these child abuse and neglect deaths. There exists a vast body of knowledge about healthy child growth and development, including how to prevent abuse in the first place,” wrote Petit. His preface to the report went on to say that “…despite the best efforts of the many who work daily to address this problem, we continue to fall far short in applying our knowledge. said Petit

The report stated that a number of reasons are to blame for the high level of child deaths in the United States compared to that of the rest of the world, including overworked child protection workers and a lack of public awareness. The report was the first survey of its kind to examine the issue state-by-state and noted the states with the highest rate of deaths due to abuse and neglect.

Africa failing to protect children from HIV/AIDS
African leaders should be more serious about protecting the continent’s children from AIDS and it is time for them to change state spending priorities, Nelson Mandela’s wife Graca Machel said on Thursday. “No matter how small our budgets, we must do something. We will not get there (HIV reduction) with African leaders who don’t get moved by people dying,” she said during her launch of the Campaign to End Paediatric HIV/AIDS (CEPA). Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 60 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS and 1.8 million of the 2 million children globally infected, a reality Machel said should jolt African leaders into action.

Malawi prepares law on sex worker protections
Malawi is preparing a law to protect sex workers against abuse by clients in a move that could help fight HIV/AIDS which has ravaged the southern African nation in the last two decades, a minister said on Thursday. AIDS in Malawi, whose population is around 13 million, has killed over 800,000 people since it was first reported in 1985, leaving more than one million orphans.

Vast majority of countries failing to pay UN dues
Only 22 of 192 countries belonging to the United Nations have paid their dues in full, leaving the world body with a $3.1 billion deficit for the 2008-2009 budget period, said Angela Kane, the UN undersecretary-general for management. Austria, Canada, Niger, the Philippines and South Africa are among the countries that have made their full contribution.

Afghan drug supply devastating to world
Afghanistan’s abundant production of heroin and opium supply 15 million addicts worldwide and kills 100,000 people a year, according to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report. The trade, worth an estimated $65 billion annually, is a main revenue stream for the Taliban.

Kidman testifies on violence against women, girls
Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman appeared before U.S. lawmakers to call for a comprehensive approach to widespread violence against women and girls that constitutes “perhaps the most systematic, widespread human-rights violation in the world.” The Australian-born actress and United Nations Development Fund for Women Goodwill Ambassador said rape during conflict, forced marriages and domestic violence recognize “no borders, no race or class.”

Pakistani schools closed after twin terror attacks
Schools and universities across Pakistan were closed for the week after a twin-suicide attack on International Islamic University that killed eight, retaliation for the Pakistani military offensive in South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan. Militants and Pakistani military sources say the offensive is meeting with heavy resistance.

Blood diamonds headed back to market?The Kimberly Process certification scheme set up to halt the trade in conflict, or blood, diamonds by the international diamond industry is faltering over a lack of accountability and follow-through, according to a report from Partnership Africa Canada. The failures, campaigners warn, have contributed to a flourishing illegal market that threatens to put conflict diamonds back on the world market.

Photographs depict real victims of Congo rapes An exhibition of photographs on view at the UN depicts women who are the victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo — an exhibition the organizers hope will bring visibility to the issue. The “Congo/Women” project is a follow-up to 2007’s “Darfur/Darfur,” which featured slides of the conflict in Darfur projected onto building facades — an exhibition that has traveled to more than 35 cities.

Robin Morgan, an American author, feminist, and child actor, made the following statement in her book, Theory and Practice: Pornography and Rape, in, The Word of a Woman, part 1, which which was written in 1974, but published 1992;

“The act of rape is merely the expression of the standard, ‘healthy’ even encouraged male fantasy in patriarchal culture, that of aggressive sex. And the articulation of that fantasy into a billion-dollar industry is pornography….Pornography is sexist propaganda-no more, no less. Pornography is the theory: rape is the practice” (pp. 137, 139).

Morgan, is stating that the consumption of porn by men increases their willingness to rape, and aggravates hostility. The statement is one that has spawned debate across multiple lines, for while many agree with Morgan, others find this a rash and blatantly misleading statement. One reason for such outcry against the statement by Morgan, is the obvious all encompassing nature of the word pornography. I for one feel that despite your views on pornography itself, one has to make the clear distinction between an issue of Playboy, child pornography of any king, rape films and hard core bondage.

Whilst one may read Playboy and develop nothing other than genuine sexual arousal and curiosity, an altogether different perspective and sense maybe developed from one who watches or looks at images which is viewed as “aggressive pornography”. There is no sense in arguing that one who watches rape videos may be likely to be enticed to rape as they find such images arousing. However to link the two into one all encompassing statement seems to be what draws the most discourse and thus splits the party down the middle, or into even more pieces.

While my personal views on pornography may not always appear apparent, regardless of my thoughts I do see that there is a line, though I am not always certain where it is always crossed. I am not an ultra conservative, nor a feminist, I have no classification for which I have yet found to place myself. Regardless I do find that the lines of sexualization, femininity and exploitation have often become intermingled and at times this unclear merging I find seems to be more unproductive.

Cast your ideals aside, you can stand on one side of the fence and I on the other, but is there not a middle ground where one can meet? Yes, there must be…child porn for one, lets be clear those who advocate for its acceptance are nothing more than pedophiles, and while they may claim not to be…trust me they do as I’ve received enough responses, hate mail and people looking for acceptance, in my time to know the only person they are trying to fool is themselves. So we agree? Great, lets move on to another area…rape films and images. Can one advocate that such types of porn are ever valid? The first e-mails out of the box will surely be from those who state, but they are only simulated images and of course there is nothing wrong with this fantasy play…but isn’t there? One how is the view to know when such images are real, or acting, and what type of person finds arousal and gratification from watching another violently abused? In my mind what first comes to head is of course a rapist, or potential rapist, thus these sexual images seem to have no validation, for I cannot imagine when a simulated unwillingness for sex is acceptable.

While child sexual exploitation and rape films of any nature obviously fall clearly on one side of the fence, and an issue of Playboy and Maxim on the other, we are still left with a large amount of the commercial sex industry that falls into grayer areas, so where do we place the line and how far will it shift?

As I sit her writing this I have seen a commercial for Playboy TV, Erotica TV Network and slew of call in singles “chat lines”, and it is clear as day that the nature of such adds and their frequency has dramatically increased over the years. So while our society is increasingly sexualized, including TV ads for birth control, erectile dysfunction and sexually transmitted disease, which play in the middle of the day and now require explanation to children…which is something no one should have to do. We also see a major shift in our language, as it shifts more and more into a sexual nature and what has become a glorification of a sexually explicit lifestyle including, pimping, which is in fact trafficking…just turn on your TV and count how many times you hear the work “pimp”, “ho” or “b***”, it will leave you baffled. Often this transition is unnoticed and completely misunderstood, just the other day a girlfriend made a comment about my shoes calling them “hooker shoes”, since when did high heals label one such a way? Or to click on to Facebook and see a friend label a childhood photo as “me pimping”, I know for a fact he never “pimped”, so why the label? The fact of the matter is that its become so normalized that its like they don’t even understand what it means, and both of these people are over the age of 40, well educated and know full well I work in anti-trafficking. The truth is one can go on and on, but the reality is that the nature of porn has increased in its violent nature, the age at which one is introduced to sex is lower and lower, as we have increasingly sexualized our society, and all of it has a heavy consequence for which our children continue to pay a higher and higher price.

No matter where you stand on the debate of the commercial sex industry and pornography, children are not willing participants to sex, or sexual advances, nor are children ever anything less than innocent victims. The images of child porn are never truly recovered, the are left to float in the virtual world and continue to victimize. The pain and scars of sexual abuse may fade in time, but they never go away, the trauma they leave behind often stays buried, but will always find its way to the surface in some form one day or another.

I came across this site, Quotes on Porn, which has some interesting and diverse views.

As a writer on children’s rights, the subject of abuse is commonplace, the types of abuse are a varied as they are haunting.  Most often I write about the horrors that happen outside the United States, however the US is plagued by its own child abusers in all forms.  Often we forget to bring much needed attention and awareness to the issues of domestic abuse, including; verbal, physical, sexual and neglect or maltreatment.

Child abuse statistics, are shocking and their numbers are increasing.  The haunting reality is that in the US:

• just over 1,500 children die each year in the United States from child abuse and neglect
• 905,000 children were the victims of child abuse in 2006
• 70 percent of child abuse victims are under age three years old
• Over 80 percent of the abused children were abused by one the child’s parent
• Neglect is the most common form of child abuse, followed by physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and lastly, medical neglect.

Please see my previous article, Knowing the signs of abuse to protect our children, to learn more on how you can protect and prevent children from abuse.  And while we need to increase our awareness and prevention programs, we must also strengthen our laws to ensure that all children are given a fighting chance.

Every Child Matters, will be releasing the report, We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in the US, in DC at the United States Capital Building.  The report is to bring attention the the increasing numbers of child deaths related to abuse and neglect across the country.  The rally is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.

The rally is a much needed opportunity for the public to speak out and seek that the child protection system is strengthened, and more safety nets are put into place.  As our current system is over stretched and weak, laws are also weak and often non-existent.  Every Child Matters also brings to attention that, several studies have concluded that the actual number of child abuse and neglect deaths is believed to be significantly higher than official statistics indicate. There are a variety of reasons, including different state definitions of what constitutes a child abuse and neglect death, data collection methodologies, inconsistent record-keeping across the country, and who it is that actually determines the cause of death.

Children do deserve our undivided and devoted attention, however we continue to fail our children as we continue to provide inadequate protection and services to those children who are abused and neglected. Children’s rights are not just a battle to be won internationally, children’s rights is a battle that continues to be fought daily on our streets, in our schools and in our homes.  Now is the time to give our children the attention they deserve and fight to protect those who cannot protect themselves and speak for all who have been silenced by abuse.

watch?v=P9njhcQUlXc

For more on child abuse and the strained welfare system in the US and what you can do to Reducing child abuse and neglect here at home, please see the following article I posted previously posted, Reducing child abuse and neglect here at home.

African leaders assemble to write IDP covenant
Members assembling for a summit of African heads of state in Uganda seek to pass an African Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, a protocol that will serve as the first legally binding instrument regarding internally displaced people. Though the draft document has won praise from humanitarian groups such as Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights, it has come up for criticism for language that is vague and inconsistent with other human-rights documents.

Global hunger crisis worsens
A record-breaking 1 billion people are going hungry thanks to increasing food prices, and 30 countries are in need of immediate emergency aid, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization says. Families in many African countries have cut expenditures on clothes, schooling and medical care but still are unable to provide their children one healthy meal a day.

Mobile computer labs to launch in Rwanda
A project of the Rwanda Development Board, the ICT Bus Project employs large buses equipped with computers and other infrastructure to serve as mobile Internet cafes. Both buses will come with a server and 20 networked laptops and will be deployed throughout rural areas to advance the government’s mission to transform the economy from a rural to a knowledge-based economy.

Rights groups warn UN over DRC civilian casualties
A United Nations-backed offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo against Rwandan Hutu rebels is exacting a heavy toll on civilians and the UN should end its involvement if local populations cannot be protected, several dozen humanitarian and rights groups say. More than 800,000 people have been displaced and 1,000 civilians killed since the offensive began in January.

Vietnam’s AIDS orphans face hard road

Despite increased prevention and treatment programs in Vietnam for people infected with HIV/AIDS, prejudice and misinformation still hampers the ability of many with the disease to function in society — for children in particular. Though the law stipulates equal treatment, the 5,100 children living with HIV/AIDS are refused entry into Vietnamese schools by the parents of other schoolchildren. The New York Times (10/13)

Abortions decline worldwide; unsafe procedures still common
The number of abortions performed annually is dropping around the world, but about 70,000 women a year still die as a result of unsafe procedures, according to a report from the Guttmacher Institute. More than half the deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the lowest rate of contraception use, highest rate of unintended pregnancies and patchy health care access.

UN, Council of Europe call to regulate organ transfers
An international convention is needed to regulate the transfer and prevent trafficking of human organs, tissues and cells, according to a joint report released by the United Nations and Council of Europe. Financial gain from the sale of organs should be banned, the report says, as the practice exploits poor donors.

Invest now to avoid mass famine by 2050
Global food production needs to increase by 70% during the next 40 years to keep pace with the world’s growing population, the Food and Agriculture Organization warns. Failure to expand agriculture in developing countries through investments in infrastructure improvements and increased access to irrigation systems could leave as many as 370 million people facing famine by 2050, FAO says.

Indonesian quake survivors face risk of disease
The United Nations has launched a $38 million appeal to pay for shelter, restoration of water facilities, the fight against disease and other urgent humanitarian needs in earthquake-ravaged Indonesia. But health workers who’ve been working around the clock since the quake hit the island nation Sept. 30 say that without specialized medical equipment, they soon could be overwhelmed by outbreaks of dengue fever and other life-threatening diseases.

Today is a day to bring awareness to the realities of the situation as it is World Food Day, the theme of this year’s Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is,Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis.

The world food security governance system is inefficient and not well coordinated to address the present food crisis and the new challenges which we will have to face in the future. -Director-General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO,) Jacques Diouf.  FAO

The food crisis has left the most vulnerable members of society even more vulnerable, with families spending as much at 3/4th of their household income on food. When families reduce their food consumption it is women and children who suffer the most. According to the 2009 Global Hunger Index (GHI), released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), calls for policy action on gender empowerment, social protection and governance to improve food security.  The index ranks 121 countries on a scale of 1 to 100, with those countries ranking 4.9 or less as “low hunger”, Those ranking between 10 and 19.9 are seen as “a serious problem” and those who rank over 30 are deemed “extremely alarming.”

According to the IFPRI,  “Wherever women are not empowered you see high levels of hunger…Gender equality is a key factor in solving the problem of hunger. The more women are educated, the more likely they are to take children to hospital,” Suresh Babu, a senior research fellow with IFPRI, told IRIN.

The food crisis is a global crisis and it has left the world in need of major reforms in the agricultural sector, especially in regards to increasing small scale farming and developing climate control policies. The crisis is not new and it was with this growing problem that world leaders from more than 100 nations came together in 2000 at the United Nations and agreed to the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). One of the eight goals was to reduce the number of people in the world who live on $1 a day or less, in half by the year 2015. At the current rate what was set as a goal appears to be more of a dream.

Visit FAO’s World Food Day page and World Food Programs 10 Things You Can do on World Food Day, to learn how you can get involved.

Links:
One Campaign
Action Against Hunger
Oxfam - World must learn lessons from food price crisis
USAID Statement on World Food Day
FAO Statistics