Hunger A challenge for all due to lack of Solidarity

Hunger is defined as that need or desire to eat and provide the necessary nutrients to the body for its development.  Those who do not eat well can fall into a situation of malnutrition, famine or chronic hunger.

The Declaration on Social Progress and Development specified, in 1969, that it is necessary to “eliminate hunger and malnutrition and guarantee the right to adequate nutrition”. Likewise, the Universal Declaration for the definitive elimination of hunger and malnutrition, approved in 1974, says that everyone has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to fully develop and preserve their physical and mental faculties.

In 1992, the World Declaration on Nutrition also recognized that "access to nutritionally adequate and healthy food is a universal right". These are very clear statements. Public conscience has spoken unambiguously. However, millions of people are still marked by the ravages of hunger and malnutrition or by the consequences of food insecurity. Is the cause of the lack of food? Absolutely not. It is generally recognized that the earth's resources, considered in their totality, can feed all its inhabitants. 

The challenge facing all of humanity is, of course, of an economic and technical nature, but above all of an ethical, spiritual and political nature. It is a question of lived solidarity, authentic development and material progress.

The hunger challenge, the planet could provide everyone with the food ration they need. To respond to the challenge of hunger, it is first necessary to address its many aspects and its true causes, but the realities of hunger and malnutrition are not all precisely known. 

A scandal that has lasted too long: hunger destroys life

Hunger should not be confused with malnutrition. Hunger is a threat, not only to people's lives, but also to their dignity. A serious and prolonged lack of food causes the deterioration of the organism, apathy, loss of social sense, indifference and sometimes even cruelty towards the weakest, children and the elderly in particular. Entire groups are condemned to die in degradation. This tragedy, unfortunately, is repeated in the course of history; however, there is awareness, more than in other times, that hunger constitutes a scandal.

Main victims: the most vulnerable populations

The poor are the first victims of malnutrition and hunger in the world. Being poor almost always means being more easily attacked by the many dangers that compromise survival and having a lower resistance to physical illness. This phenomenon has worsened and threatens a growing number of people in most countries. In the midst of a poor population, the first victims are always the most fragile individuals: children, pregnant or nursing women, the sick and the elderly. Other human groups at great risk of nutritional deficiency should also be noted: refugees; those who have been displaced in their own countries; victims of political events.

Recognizable causes

Climatic factors and cataclysms of all kinds, as important as they are, are far from being the only causes of hunger and malnutrition. To properly understand the problem of hunger, it is convenient to consider the whole set of causes, temporary or lasting, as well as their interrelation. The main ones, grouping them according to the usual categories: economic, socio-cultural and political.

Root cause, Hunger is born, first of all, from poverty. People's food security essentially depends on their purchasing power and not on the physical availability of food. In spite of everything, the history of the 21st century teaches that the scarcity of economic resources is not fatal. 

Finally, the fight against hunger requires a commitment to reality, from different fronts:

The Person. We are not alone in our inner universe, we are free with others or not at all. The subject is the I - you - community, and together we are one. Feeling united with other human beings is the solidarity of the person: unity in diversity. The motto would be: hope in yourself, with a communal hope that begins with man and ends with God.

The family. The family is the first school of solidarity; by active or passive, to be supportive is learned or not, in family. Austerity or extravagance are also discovered in childhood. Eating habits entail habits of great social importance. And while the family is the basic unit of survival, sometimes it is the primary unit of consumption.

The school. The educational environment is essential to educate in solidarity and in the fight against hunger. Here there is a silent violence that begins with indifference. Many educators, cloistered in the enlightened culture of modern individualism (individual), lack horizons of hope in their educational ideals, be they secular or religious. Therefore, an awareness of solidarity that goes from nursery school to the university world is urgently needed.