WORLD HUNGER – CRITICAL ISSUE

World hunger is extensive in spite of sufficient global food resources. Therefore increased food production is no solution. The problem is that many people are too poor to buy readily available food. Therefore, measures solving the poverty problem are what is required to solve the world hunger problem. However, meaningful long-term alleviation to hunger is rooted in the alleviation of poverty, as poverty leads to hunger. World hunger is a terrible symptom of world poverty. If efforts are only directed at providing food, or improving food production or distribution, then the structural root causes that create hunger, poverty and dependency would still remain. And so while continuous effort, resources and energies are deployed to relieve hunger through these technical measures, the political causes require political solutions as well.

Hunger is a term which has three meanings -
a.) The uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite. Also the exhausted condition caused by want of food.
b.) The want or scarcity of food in a country.
c.) A strong desire or craving.

World hunger refers to the second definition, aggregated to the world level. The related technical term is malnutrition. Malnutrition is a general term that indicates a lack of some or all nutritional elements necessary for human health. There are two basic types of malnutrition. The first and most important is protein-energy malnutrition--the lack of enough protein (from meat and other sources) and food that provides energy (measured in calories) which all of the basic food groups provide. This is the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed. The second type of malnutrition, also very important, is micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. This is not the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, though it is certainly very important.

Cause of World Hunger -
There are many inter-related issues causing hunger, which are related to economics and other factors that cause poverty. They include land rights and ownership, diversion of land use to non-productive use, increasing emphasis on export-oriented agriculture, inefficient agricultural practices, war, famine, drought, over-fishing, poor crop yields, etc. The causes of poverty include poor people's lack of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution in the world and within specific countries, conflict, and hunger itself. Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the world’s developing regions, despite the advances made in the last decade till now, which reduced "Dollar/Rupees a day" poverty from Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China.

Hunger in India -

India is long known to have some of the highest rates of child malnutrition and mortality in under-fives in the world. According to the Indian government statistics two years ago, around 60% of more than 10 million children in the state were malnourished. Nutrition experts say the abysmal record is due to an inadequate access to food, poor feeding practices and poor childcare practices in India. And now the rise in the global food prices has reduced the food-buying capacity of many poor families, making their situation worse. In the past year food prices have increased significantly, but people's incomes haven't kept pace, forcing many families further into hunger, experts say. All states also need to improve strategies to facilitate inclusive economic growth, ensure food sufficiency and reduce child mortality.

World level of Hunger -
No one really knows how many people are malnourished. The statistic most frequently cited is that of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which measures 'under-nutrition'. The most recent estimate in 2006 of the FAO says that 854 million people worldwide are undernourished. This is 12.6 percent of the estimated world population of 6.6 billion. Most of the undernourished--820 million--are in developing countries. The FAO estimate is based on statistical aggregates. It looks at a country's income level and income distribution and uses this information to estimate how many people receive such a low level of income that they are malnourished. It is not an estimate based on seeing to what extent actual people are malnourished and projecting from there. It has been argued that the FAO approach is not sufficient to give accurate estimates of malnutrition.

Children are the most visible victims of under-nutrition. Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year--five million deaths. Under-nutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and malaria. Malnutrition can also be caused by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhea, by reducing the body's ability to convert food into usable nutrients.

Solution of world hunger -
Solving world hunger in the conventional sense (of providing/growing more food etc) will not tackle poverty that leads to hunger in the first place. Further, there is a risk of continuing the poverty and dependency without realizing it, because the act of attempting to provide more food etc can appear so altruistic in motive. To solve world hunger in the long run, poverty alleviation is required.

Another view is that the belief that world hunger can be solved by increasing food production is an unsubstantiated myth. It has lead to policies by international organs that have supported farming policies that in practice have boosted production of expensive export foods on the expense of production of basic foods for the population. The real problem is poverty. As the market responds to money and not to actual need, it can only work to eliminate hunger when purchasing power is widely dispersed. As the rural poor are increasingly pushed from land, they are less and less able to demand for food on the market. Promoting free trade to alleviate hunger has proven to be a failure. In most developing countries exports have boomed while hunger has continued unabated or actually worsened according to the book.

(With thanks to various sites)

मोबाईल के खतरे

How to reduce fat - Tricks

First of all it's very necessary to know how much fat is there on stomach. The dieting & exercises would be done accordingly so that we may be healthy with smart look. The increasing of fat is a major cause of many problems.

For the purpose, you should have to fold the skin of stomach and measure the thickness. If the width is less than ½ inches, it may be reduced by doing exercises only without dieting. But if the width is more than ½ inches, the exercises and also dieting will have to be done regularly.

Some noticeable points are here:

1. Do your breakfast freely, lunch be done lesser and dinner be taken much lesser than that.
2. Dinner be taken soon just after evening so that there is no need to take meal meanwhile.
3. Try to reduce the use of more sugar and oily food. Take grains, green vegetables and fruits, etc. for fulfilling the required energy of body.
4. Take Vitamin C as much as you can which is generally found in some grains, green vegetables and fruits, etc. You can take tablets of the same after some intervals.
5. Soft drinks, coffee, tea, wines, meats and sweet drinks may not be taken because these things reduce our digesting process.
6. Take water alternatively as much as you can.
7. Light food be taken in the dinner because in the night, the digestion system is not much active. It results more insulin to change the carbohydrate into fat and more deposition of fat in the stomach.

योग से भगाएं सर्दी के रोग

1st Dec. -World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is observed every year on December 1st. The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988. World AIDS Day provides governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations, and individuals with an opportunity to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). By killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers.
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV is different from most other viruses because it attacks the immune system. The immune system gives our bodies the ability to fight infections. HIV finds and destroys a type of white blood cell (T cells or CD4 cells) that the immune system must have to fight disease.
AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection. It can take years for a person infected with HIV, even without treatment, to reach this stage. Having AIDS means that the virus has weakened the immune system to the point at which the body has a difficult time fighting infections. When someone has one or more of these infections and a low number of T cells, he or she has AIDS.
Whereas there are symptoms of HIV, the only way to know that you are living with the virus is to be tested. Everyone should know their HIV status to protect themselves and others.

Over one million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS today. Worldwide, the figure is over 33 million. Effective HIV care—including antiretroviral drug therapies and regular access to primary health care—can help people manage their HIV disease and live longer.

Prevention & education:

HIV and AIDS are life threatening conditions. There is no cure yet for HIV/AIDS. The transmission of HIV occurs through three well documented means: 1) having sex (anal, vaginal, or oral) with someone infected with HIV; 2) sharing needles and syringes with someone infected with HIV; and 3) being exposed (fetus or infant) to HIV before or during birth or through breast feeding. HIV transmission can be prevented through avoiding behaviors that expose someone to the means of transmission and by taking preventive measures if identified risk behaviors occur.
To protect yourself, do not inject illicit drugs and remember these ABCs:
A=Abstinence
B=Be Faithful
C=Condoms
HIV is not transmitted through day-to-day activities such as shaking hands, hugging, or a casual kiss. You cannot become infected from a toilet seat, drinking fountain, doorknob, dishes, drinking glasses, food, or pets. You also cannot get HIV from mosquitoes.
There is no cure for HIV or AIDS yet despite the large efforts underway to develop a preventative and therapeutic vaccine. However, research has advanced HIV/AIDS treatments greatly since the early days of the epidemic, and HIV drugs can slow down the virus’s attack on the human immune system. People with HIV/AIDS can now live healthier, longer lives.
Living with HIV/AIDS requires consultation with an HIV doctor who can help individuals with treatment and drug decisions. The decision to start drug treatment is a very personal decision and one that should only be made in consultation with a health care provider based on clinical status (symptoms), immune system health (CD4 count and viral load), whether a diagnosis of AIDS has been made, and whether a treatment plan can be maintained (treatment adherence). While treatment has its benefits, it also has its risks, such as multiple side effects from HIV drugs and therapies, potential toxicity from drug treatments, as well as possible resistance of HIV to drugs over time.
As HIV attacks the human immune system, the immune system weakens over time and becomes more susceptible to opportunistic infections (OIs). Opportunistic infections are generally illnesses that don’t make people with a healthy immune system sick or don’t occur as often. There are many kinds of opportunistic infections, including other viruses, bacterial infections, and some types of cancers. Even common colds can become more dangerous and the flu is considered a serious condition in persons with HIV/AIDS.
To name just a few, common HIV/AIDS related health issues include:
Tuberculosis (TB)
Hepatitis C
Cryptoccocal meninigitis
Pneumocystis carinii pneumosia (PCP)
Cryptosporidiosis (crypto)
Toxoplasmosis (toxo)
HIV/AIDS can make treating opportunistic infections more difficult. The longer an individual’s immune system can be kept healthy through diet, exercise, and working with health care providers regarding making treatment decisions and adherence to treatment regimens, the less likely opportunistic infections may occur.

Let’s swear to get this world rid of AIDS, today.

On World AIDS Day - Dec.01, 2008

Hello !

This December 1st, 2008, ‘Friends-Love’s group requests its members to join the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of HIV/AIDS Policy’s AIDS.gov for Bloggers Unite For World AIDS Day.

We Need Your Help!
Nearly half of all AIDS cases in the U.S. involve people 13 to 24 years of age, placing many of ‘Friends-Love’ members or their children in the highest risk age groups. More than 250,000 are estimated to be HIV positive and not know it. And more than 1 million are estimated to have AIDS.
Of course, AIDS is not limited to the U.S. There are an estimated 33 million people with AIDS worldwide. It affects every country, city, and town in the world. And, the most frightening thing about it is that is going largely unchecked. In fact, that is one of the reason that worldaidscampaign.org is continuing its "leadership" theme, which it developed after learning that many leaders who promised to support AIDS were not keeping their promises.
As always, what you choose to write about is up to you. However, you might consider checking the NIDA and AIDS.gov research and prevention resources on the Bloggers Unite resource page. Or, for a more global view, check out http://www.worldaidscampaign.org

Unlike most campaigns where we hope awareness led to action, this is one campaign where awareness is action! If even just 10 percent of our members get involved, we can reach an estimated 4 million Blog readers. And if half of our members participate, we can reach 20 million. And if all bloggers participate, we can reach the entire world. But more importantly than all that. If your post just touches even one person and convinces them to get tested or helps someone learn about AIDS prevention, won't that will be worth it? Your words, voices, videos, and actions can all help people become more aware about AIDS and how to prevent it. And by doing that, you might not only save someone, but save someone close to you.

Please join us. We look forward to reading all of your posts this December 1st!…

...The ‘Friends-Love’ Team

ऐसे भी फैलता है ज़ुकाम

सर्दियों के दिनों में बड़ी संख्या में लोग ज़ुकाम का शिकार होते हैं. अकेले ब्रिटेन में कुल आबादी का पाँचवाँ हिस्सा ज़ुकाम से पीड़ित होता है.
विशेषज्ञों ने चेतावनी दी है कि रिमोट कंट्रोल, बाथरुम के नल, रेफ़्रीजरेटर और दरवाज़ों के हत्थों के ज़रिए भी ज़ुकाम के वायरस फैलने का अंदेशा बहुत होता है.वर्जिनिया यूनिवर्सिटी के शोधकर्ताओं ने 30 घरों में ऐसे घरेलू उपकरणों की सतहों का अध्ययन किया और पाया कि उनमें 42 प्रतिशत बार ज़ुकाम के वायरस मौजूद थे. उनका कहना है कि हालांकि ज़ुकाम सबसे ज़्यादा खाँसने और छींकने से फैलते हैं लेकिन घरेलू उपकरणों की इन सतहों की भी नियमित सफ़ाई होनी चाहिए. संक्रमित होने वाली बीमारियों पर हो रहे एक सम्मेलन में शोधकर्ताओं ने कहा कि घरेलू उपकरणों की सतह पर ज़ुकाम के वायरस दो दिनों तक जीवित रहते हैं.
उनका कहना है कि घर का ही कोई सदस्य या बाहर से आने वाला कोई व्यक्ति दरवाज़े के हत्थों या नल के सतहों पर ज़ुकाम के वायरस छोड़ सकता है.
उन्होंने पाया कि वायरस से संक्रमित किसी सतह को छूने के एक घंटे बाद तक उंगलियों पर ये राइनोवायरस जीवित रहते हैं.
प्रमुख शोधकर्ता डॉ बरगिट विंदर का कहना है कि लोगों को पता होना चाहिए कि ज़ुकाम का संक्रमण इन स्रोतों से भी फैल सकता है.
उनका कहना है, "कुछ लोग संक्रमण ख़त्म करने वाली दवा का घर में छिड़काव करते हैं लेकिन यह समझने की ज़रुरत है कि ये वायरस हवा के ज़रिए नहीं फैलते. इसके बदले उन्हें सार्वजनिक रुप से उपयोग में लाई जाने वाली चीज़ों की सतहों को साफ़ करना चाहिए."
संक्रमण विशेषज्ञ प्रोफ़ेसर जॉन ऑक्सफ़र्ड का कहना है, "ज़ुकाम के वायरस बड़े जीवट क़िस्म के होते हैं क्योंकि ये किसी भी सतह पर लंबे समय तक जीवित रह लेते हैं."
उनका कहना है कि ठीक तरह से साफ़-सफ़ाई करके पूरे परिवार को संक्रमण से बचाया जा सकता है.
ब्रिटेन में नए नियमों के अनुसार डॉक्टर अब ज़ुकाम के लिए एंटीबायोटिक दवाएँ खाने की सलाह नहीं दे सकते, ऐसे में संक्रमण से बचने के उपाय करना ज़्यादा फ़ायदेमंद साबित हो सकता है.