Draft proposal

Zero Hunger Concept Note

A significant number of people around the world face food insecurity. They lack enough nutritious food for a healthy and dynamic life, even those from the globe’s wealthiest countries. For instance, 15.3 million children experienced food uncertainty in the United States in 2014 (apa.org, N.D.). Similarly, this article argues that households with incomes below or near federal poverty lines and most single-parent, Hispanic, and Black households hold high levels of food insecurity in the U.S. to date. Food insecurity typically results in hunger, which is a troubling sensation induced by the absence of food. Food insecurity and hunger often alter the health and academic results of children. Eating healthy is especially difficult for many households that cannot afford crisp fruits and vegetables in their localities for being scarce, costly, or of substandard quality. This plan seeks to address the hunger problem among the United States’ children with complement from United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (UNSDGs) of zero hunger. The broader concept ideas that link this issue and UNSD goals are properly funded and implemented nutrition assistance infrastructure.

Analysis

Hunger is commonly known as a psychological state of uneasiness emanating from severe food intake deficiency. Hunger has adverse consequences for children, continuing to be a significant problem for many nations worldwide. Many children live in food-scarce families as an outcome of lacking funds or resources to earn access. Precisely, with more than 40% of American families living under the federal poverty rank, many children endure or are vulnerable to encounter hunger. Hunger has deleterious effects among children in the U.S. on behavior, emotions, academic, and health outcomes (Agnew, 2014). Unfortunately, most previous studies on this topic use itemized family hunger measures that are unable to differentiate children from family hunger and lack taking into consideration crucial maternal and child variables that influence results. These aspects add to the severity of the problem among children with limited response mechanisms. Therefore, the lasting effect of hunger on children, given childhood presents a pivotal period in human growth, can be extremely detrimental.

Hunger hurts people, especially children, in numerous ways. First, it contributes to toxic stresses that manifest as a powerful, unmitigated initiation of the body’s stress regulation structure (Amin & Mercer, 2016). In many children, lack of healthy food often results in malnutrition. Secondly, people tend to have minimal cognitive bandwidth, thus spending constrained mental pools on resources they are missing (apa.org, N.D.). In this regard, hungry children focus on food thus capable of undermining other critical areas of life, such as academics. Undoubtedly, families work to keep hidden their food insecurity issues due to frequent stigmatization by the media messages and public discourses (apa.org, N.D.). As a result, children often perceive stigmatization consuming free and limited lunch schemes and other social services in countries offering such initiatives.

Further, the zero hunger goal of UNSDG has not fully been implemented. The government of the U.S. has numerous programs to this effect but are often underfunded and unmonitored. For instance, the “Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program” has been hailed as increasing food expenditures instead of decreasing food insecurity for low-income families (apa.org, N.D.). In this regard, the spirit of UNSDG goals should persuade authorities to fully fund the initiative to make efforts towards zero hunger in the country. In so doing, the effort will reduce stigma and encourage low-income households’ participation. Undoubtedly, there are numerous potentials in the U.S. to promote zero hunger if the will is at play. Therefore, this UNSDG is a strong foundation to help address hunger issues among the children of the U.S.

Food security persists when all people have concrete access to secure, sufficient, and nutritious food at all times. Fashioning adequate, decent jobs for all Americans is a feasible, sustainable approach towards eliminating food insecurity and cementing zero hunger goals. The family is the most significant component of a Child’s growth; thus, with adequate financial resources, they can have advanced access to enough nutritious food. The government should empower those at-risk to food insecurity through programs that land them into income-generating opportunities. Families need facilitation to cover their dietary requirements and food desires for a vigorous and healthy life. It is no doubt that a household with adequate resources is a solid framework to execute a sustainable program towards eliminating food insecurity and hunger. In addition, the breadth in which a family experiences hunger in the U.S. solely determines adverse outcomes among children. Therefore, empowering people at the family level through a decent job is among the most sustainable approaches to addressing food insecurity, leading to the actualization of UNSDG of zero hunger.