About the Situation
By the Numbers
One in four children in developing countries—146 million—is underweight.
Food scarcity, global warming and rocketing food and fuel prices have led to a dangerous global food crisis. According to the United Nations, 925 million people in the world live in hunger—that’s one in seven people. Hunger is the world’s number 1 health risk—it kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, and children are most affected. In developing countries, one in four children is underweight. Hunger is a growing condition: the United Nations reported in 2011 that increases in global food prices pushed an additional 40 million people around the world into poverty during the previous year.
The greatest food crisis in the world is currently in East Africa. In 2011, more than 13 million people were affected by the worst drought in 60 years, and famine spread through southern Somalia. As 2012 begins, the crisis is still acute and many lives are at risk. According to the United Nations, 4 million people are still food-insecure in Somalia alone.
Islamic Relief’s Food Programs
At Islamic Relief USA, we’re starting off 2012 with a strong emphasis on food aid. Our food aid programs reach people around the world all year, but this month—as winter weather makes the hunger even harder to bear for so many families—we’re focusing extra attention on the topic of hunger and its solutions.
Islamic Relief’s current food-related projects range from emergency food distributions in the wake of disasters to ongoing school lunch programs to ensure children have food to eat so that they can focus on their studies. In East Africa, we’re distributing emergency food packages, helping more than half a million people in Somalia alone from August to November 2011. In Palestine, we’re rehabilitating land and providing resources so local farmers have the tools they need to raise crops and develop a sustainable, reliable livelihood and income. In the United States, we’re working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help make sure schoolchildren in low-income communities have enough to eat year-round. And seasonal Ramadan and Udhiyah/Qurbani food distributions procure food from local markets to help support local economies around the world and help feed people in need at the same time.
More of Islamic Relief’s current and recently completed food aid programs include:
- Famine and drought relief, East Africa
- Zhuangheji Integrated Development Project, China
- Family sponsorship program, Egypt
- Food distribution program, Egypt
- School feeding program, Jordan
- Humanitarian intervention for Libyans in Tunisia
- Food sovereignty project, Mali
- Flood emergency food distribution, Pakistan
- Family sponsorship program, Palestine
- Land rehabilitation program, Palestine
- School feeding program, Palestine
- Emergency assistance for Syrian refugees in Lebanon
- Day of Dignity, United States
- Food bank, United States
- Summer food service program, United States
- Emergency response and humanitarian support for internally displaced persons, Yemen
- Orphan support
- Ramadan food distribution
- Udhiyah/Qurbani meat distribution
World Food Day
Islamic Relief USA partnered with Oxfam America and other U.S. and international organizations to fight hunger with a World Food Day campaign on Sunday, October 16, 2011. Around the country, participants hosted a Sunday dinner on that day to foster a conversation about where food comes from, who cultivates it and how the food system can be more just and stable for everyone.
The goal of World Food Day was to raise awareness about the problems with the way food is produced and distributed globally. And even though World Food Day has passed, we’re still dedicated to working to repair our food system by advocating for better food production and distribution methods and by supporting local markets.
Here is more about World Food Day from Islamic Relief USA CEO Abed Ayoub:
