NEW YORK -- While it is normal to expect high levels of hunger and poverty in a developing country, it may come as a surprise to observe such conditions in one of the richest countries in the world. The Food Bank for New York City recently reported that nearly 20 percent of children in the city rely on free food to survive. According to statistics from Bread for the World, 13 million children went to bed hungry in the United States in 2004.
Hunger is one of the clearest expressions of poverty. A child is born into poverty every 17 minutes in New York City. Chronically hungry children suffer from malnutrition, which can have devastating effects on physical and mental development. Malnutrition results not only from undernourishment but also from the wrong kind of foods, particularly fried and fatty meals.
It is estimated that 30,000 children in the world die every day from diseases related to hunger. The infant mortality rate (IMR) in Washington is more than twice as high as Beijing's. In 2002, the number of babies who died before their first birthday was 11.5 per thousand births in Washington versus 4.6 in Beijing.