Every child need to be healthy to reach their full potential. However, there are too many starving children in Africa to whom hunger has been a constant, chronic pain. In Sub-saharan Africa alone, about 58.7 million children have stunted growth resulting from malnutrition. Stunting stops children from fully developing physically and mentally. It's also irreversible to a large extent. 

Besides stunting, there are other effects of malnutrition on children. Poor African kids who suffer from the deadliest type of extreme hunger, acute malnutrition, easily succumb to diseases that may slow down the functioning of their vital organs and eventually kill them. 

Drought, extreme weather conditions, economic woes are overturning years of progress made in the fight towards ending hunger and starvation in Africa. Presently, about 257 million Africans are hungry, and out of this number which is about 20 percent of the entire continent's population, 237 million are Sub-saharan Africans battling malnutrition. 

There are many factors responsible for this current state of hunger in the continent ranging from population growth to environmental causes. For example, successive poor harvests due to crop failures in Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique have taken a toll on their agricultural production, which resulted in the hike in food prices. 

For the past three years, some parts of Southern Africa have suffered the lowest rainfall since 1981, which affected their crop yield.  Other areas also suffered massive destruction from Cyclones Kenneth and Idai close to the time of harvesting in 2019. At this point, serious measures should be put in place to bring relief to kids starving in Africa and end child hunger soon. 

How to Help End Child Hunger in Africa

• Make Hunger a Domestic and International Issue

The issue of child hunger in Africa should be high on both national and international agendas because a country can't be strong when its people are weak from hunger. Civil societies and NGOs should always encourage governments to prioritize agriculture while offering necessary supports when needed.

• Build Effective Partnerships

The fight to bring relief to kids starving in Africa is such a monumental challenge that no organization or individual can carry alone. Civil societies, NGOs, state governments, and world organizations like the UN must come together to battle this menace. Over the years, there has been visible progress when these groups work together to combat hunger in some African communities. 

• Help Countries Attain Self-Sufficiency

Developing countries in Africa are the ones that suffer primarily from food insecurity. These countries need help to attain self-sufficiency and produce enough to sustain themselves without depending on aids.

• Send Reliefs

Financing is one thing we can't underestimate its importance in this fight against ending child hunger in Africa. The progress we've witnessed so far won't be sustained and advanced without new funding. Like Food for Life Global (FFLG), many world food relief organizations work tirelessly to ensure relief gets to areas suffering environmental or political crises. 

These reliefs can only continue when people partner with these organizations or donate to help the cause. You can read up article on FFL about kids starving in africa and what they're doing to address the situation on their website.

• Encourage Agriculture

Agriculture should be highly encouraged in countries suffering from hunger and starvation. It's not enough to send them food reliefs; farmers will need resources to help increase their production, boost their incomes, and feed their families.  

• Improve Food Storage Systems

NGOs and state governments can develop plans to manage and improve livestock and crop production sustainably. If there's lots of food with limited storage to store them and make them last longer, there will be food waste, and the gap between eradicating hunger gets bigger. 

Some measures can help tackle this problem, including renovating or building grain stores. With time, families can incorporate this change into their household. For instance, getting a solar dryer for sun-drying, a traditional practice, will accelerate the drying process while minimizing nutrient loss and reducing contamination. And the best part is, these solar dryers are eco-friendly devices that work through their exposure to sunlight.

• Promote Good Governance

NGOs and other stakeholders should work with the state governments in Africa to develop inclusive policies that enable people to effortlessly access the resources they need to reach their full potentials.

Women also need to be encouraged to venture into agriculture and other suitable fields to earn income and take care of their children. 

• Support Good Sanitation and Hygiene

Sometimes, children eat enough, but due to the poor hygiene practices or inadequate sanitation in their environment, they become susceptible to waterborne diseases like diarrhea which prevents them from absorbing nutrients from their meals. We must ensure that washing and drinking water is uncontaminated to curb this problem. 

As such, skills, resources, and knowledge should be made available to people to learn how to employ hygienic practices, utilize clean water, and consume nutritious meals to maintain their health.

Major Causes of Hunger in Africa

According to the World Food Programme report in 2018, food insecurity is caused by many factors such as the following:

Conflict

Violence and conflict have indirect and direct impacts on the entire food system, leading to hunger and food insecurity. Conflicts affect a person's ability to get food due to its constraints on income opportunities and employment. It also affects imports and exports, resulting in limited food availability.

During the war, most people suffer from food famine due to the high cost of food. More so, resources like equipment and land used in food production get destroyed during periods of conflict.

In 2017, about eleven African countries, including Somalia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, were embroiled in different conflicts.

Poverty 

Poverty is one of the significant causes of hunger in Africa. People living in poverty can't afford to eat quality foods or in enough quantity to live healthily. In 2013, according to a World Bank report, 42.3 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans lived below $1.90 per day. 

Children exposed to under-nutrition for a long time experience stunted growth with long-term consequences such as decreased income-earning potential and labor productivity.

Environment

Environmental challenges like deforestation, water shortages and drought, erosion, and desertification have detrimental effects on food security. In 2017, approximately 32 million Africans experienced food crises resulting from weather and climate conditions. 

Uganda suffered food insecurity because of a drought they witnessed in 2016 and the influx of refugees. These challenges increased their hunger and poverty level by reducing people's income and agricultural production.

Final Thoughts

The fight to bring relief to kids starving in Africa is a tough one that requires all hands to be on deck. NGOs, state governments, and other stakeholders must join hands together to ensure there are no hungry kids in Africa by 2030. Join an international food relief organization like Food for Life Global (FFLG) to end child hunger in Africa by donating to the cause. That way, we'll be close to achieving our dream of eradicating world hunger.