Whilst we are busy preparing food for our families at home, there are many who are struggling to find as much as a hot meal.
Hunger is a major problem affecting hundreds of millions across the world. Even where famine is not the immediate cause, the grinding poverty that characterises many parts of the world leads to malnutrition, illness, and in the worst cases, death. Most people who battle hunger deal with chronic undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility to illness.
Countries in which a large portion of the population battles hunger are usually poor and lack the social safety nets we enjoy, such as soup kitchens, food stamps, and job training programmes. When a family cannot grow enough food or earn enough money to buy food, there is nowhere to turn for help.
The Gambia’s poverty rate remains at 48%, to prevent or treat acute and chronic malnutrition SPOT Project provides nutritious foods to vulnerable people in some of the poorest communities. Your food donations will allow our brothers and sisters to get by comfortably and feed themselves thanks to your support.
59 million children in Africa suffer from a form of malnutrition known as 'stunting'. This occurs when a child is undernourished during the first 1000 days of their life, which leads to stunted growth as well as impaired cognitive development. Progress towards eradicating this form of malnutrition has been insufficient in Africa since the turn of the century; whilst rates of stunting fell by 62% in East Asia and the Pacific between 2000 and 2016, they fell by just 18% in West and Central Africa in the same time period. Despite a fall in percentage terms, the actual number of stunted children has increased by 4% in Eastern and Southern Africa and by 23% in West and Central Africa during this period. A further 14 million children under the age of 5 suffering from wasting - also known as acute malnutrition - with 4.1 million children categorised as 'severely wasted'.