1 child every 10 seconds

[AliceA2021]

1 child dies every second in the world of starvation. Most in sub saharian Africa. That's 3.1 million children per year. Somalia has the highest rate of starving children in the world.

You probably know about Gaza since on the news daily. Starvation of children in other countries continues and at a higher rate.

Why don't we care more? The sheer numbers in some countries Somalia, Yeman, Sudan.

Is it a problem that cannot be sorted. War, high birth rate, low food production.

AIBU that the world's doesn't care for most of these children?

@Cazpar
An excellent, pragmatic, thoughtful, measured post 👏

I'm in my late 50s and churches and charities have been raising money for the starving in Africa, since long before I was born.

Yet nothing changes.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I appreciate it.

It’s not a question of throwing money at the problem though, is it? The corrupt elites in developing countries tend to steal, and those further down the pecking order tend to like feathering their nests too. What are you going to do about the levels of corruption?

Why don’t we care?

Look at it this way.
A neighbour falls down the stairs and breaks their leg. You might well help them out by driving them to hospital appointments or cooking.
The same happens to a neighbour up the street then you might well help again, but less so.
The same happens to someone three streets away, you don’t help unless you know them personally.

It’s the same here. If it was happening in France or Germany then we would likely help more, but this is so far away, so removed from our lives that we are much less likely to help unless we have a personal connection.

I can’t care about every injustice in the world.

Too much aid is taken by war mongering men.

Once you have found the solution to this you will find everything else will slot into place quickly and easily. Do you have one?

I find this extraordinary. I think this is how people have such different politics from my own and happily vote purely on self interest.
Of course I care about my family first and foremost but very much care about people I have never met.
I vote in this country in a way that I hope improves the lives of people abroad. I gift money and work with refugees here. I would like to do more and DH and I I'm looking at the possibility of VSO when we retire (both medical backgrounds).

OP it is horrific and very messed up. The UK has helped create this situation (just look at the straight line maps in this area completely cause false nation states purely for European greed.)Divide and rule illustrated.

There's not much I can personally do about corruption. Aid agencies can do more than I. Governments can do more.

Men in power, greed, religion, etc all contribute to starvation of children.

I guess just hope the lens of the world hangs around a bit and tries to help.

So you don’t actually have any solutions of any kind. To anything.

There is a marked difference between greed and self made success. We shouldn’t not want to succeed and for those who do, why is it their responsibility to solve world hunger?

To be honest, more than money is needed. It’s about culture and education as well as funds.

Solving starvation doesnt equal a happy life with opportunities. Starvation is an abhorrent, truly awful way to die but if you solved it tomorrow, you still have sognificant and, arguably as bad ir worse cumulative issues, like a lack of education making contraceptive a non starter, FGM, child marriage and child rape, HIV,... what opportunities are there for those children and their children?

I hate thinking of a child starving, but I cannot even imagine the grief i would feel bringing multiple daughters into a world where they will suffer not one, or two, but all of those awful things and more.

Solving starvation is a small part of a bigger problem. If you solved the contraceptive issue, youd make a bigger impact in terms of lives preemptively saved.

It's similar issue to the pro life movements - every supporter wants to save a foetus or a baby but how many stick up funds and offer support for those children once they are born. How much of your personal funds do you put into solving world hunger? Every time we make a choice, we make several - designer bag or charity donation?

Its not fair to boil the argument down to saving hungry kids, it's far too simplistic.

How often have you bought cut flowers, a non essential, non-food crop, grown on land that could have been used to feed local populations if the world wasnt demanding these products? Or should those farmers be encouraged to grow those in demand crops for the economy?

Call me unreasonable then to care. I still care and I donate.

I sign petitions.

I'd hope the richer countries of the world would do more, education, contraception, food production, wealth redistribution but not enough is done. So children continue to starve.

It's probably the unsolvable problem, should it be though with the wealth of the world. Maybe one day, who knows.

I agree

I donate regularly to charity.

What do you do OP?

So do I.

So you are perpetuating the circle then. You donate to charity, who give out aid, which is taken/stolen by war mongering men and the children still starve. Handing money over without understanding where it will actually end up is possibly creating/worsening the problem in the first place.

Maybe we can start by trying to solve starvation/hunger where there a simple solution. Get those easy to pick fruits...

If Israel stopped bombing Gaza (and especially anything to do with good distribution) and let i the aid they have been ordered to by the ICJ, this particular pocket of famine would resolve...

Hamas would steal it, like they do already.

I do care. I just don't know what to do about it.

If veganism was widespread the problem would be nearly eradicated as we'd be able to feed an extra 4 billion people per year. But no one wants to think about or admit that.

Yes it's all my fault. 🙄

I'd hope the richer countries of the world would do more, education, contraception, food production, wealth redistribution but not enough is done. So children continue to starve.

Imperialism then? Because these countries are self-governing. How are you going to impose wealth redistribution within another country? How are you going to educate and encourage contraception within a developing country where religious groups oppose it?

or are you just going to be a bit sad and head tilty

Same here.

Some don't like to talk about it. Many of us don't know what to do. Some don't care. A mixture.

Controversial but education / contraception / better law enforcement in these areas would hopefully reduce the pregnancy and birth rate. There are starving children because they are born into starving families. It’s a horrid life to live so we need to stop bringing more children into these areas. We should be funding injections / implants to massively reduce the amount of children being born into these climates.

Without meaning to sound flippant, Thanos (if you watch the Avengers) had the right idea.

Too many people in places where there aren’t the resources to support them. All the Band Aids, Live Aids and Comic Reliefs haven’t solved anything. Children are still being born into hopeless situations.

As a Species, we need to reduce the birth rate.