The statistics are grim. More than 852 million people in the world go hungry, according to the Bread for the World organization.
In developing countries, 6 million children die each year, mostly from hunger-related causes. In the United States, 14 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet.
Society’s increasing involvement in the fight against hunger and poverty is the theme of the annual World Food Day Teleconference. “Power of the People: Bottom-up Solutions to Hunger,” hosted by Ray Suarez of the Jim Lehrer News Hour on public television, will air 9 a.m.-noon, Monday, Oct. 16, in Hulbert 3.
The free public event is sponsored by WSU faculty members Kim Campbell of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and Peter Wyeth of WSU International Programs.
Three experts will discuss grassroots activism to address world hunger:
• Makanjuola Alaseinde Arigbede, a Nigerian medical doctor with 25 years’ experience as a development activist
• Eva Clayton, a former U.S. congresswoman who served as assistant director general of the United Nations World Food and Agriculture Organization.
• Deepa Narayan, the World Bank’s senior adviser for poverty reduction and economic management and lead author of the acclaimed, three-volume publication, Voices of the Poor.
