Pursue Conference Answering Hunger With Hope

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4 ways the global food crisis impacts children 1. Food insecure households can create environments of stress and trauma. This can lead to increased domestic violence, depression, caregiver substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. This puts children at risk of child protection concerns. Many families will go into debt, taking out high-interest loans that will continue to hurt their financial situation over time. 2. Food insecure households compromise education. While education is one of the most powerful tools to fight poverty, short-term survival often forces families to pull their older children from school to send them to work, to help pay for household expenses. Hunger also contributes to poor academic performance and intellectual development. There is also an increased risk of child labour as children leave school to support their families. 3. Food insecurity poses serious risk to girls. Gender-based violence and abuse rates increase with food insecurity, as does gender inequality. Girls could be forced to marry early to secure a dowry for their parents. These children are also at a higher risk for activities that may involve sexual or criminal exploitation. When food is scarce, girls often eat less and eat last. Women and girls already account for over 70 per cent of the world’s hungry. 4. Hunger contributes to serious health issues. Hunger causes vulnerability to life-threatening illnesses and, sadly, can even cause death. Nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to undernutrition; undernutrition puts children at greater risk of dying from common infections, increases the frequency and severity of such infections, and delays recovery. (UNICEF)