Africulture

What motivates us?

 

Simply put, Africulture is motivated by the unsettling incidence and prevalence of world hunger, poverty, and disease.

 

 

 

According to the World Food Programme:

 

 

1. Some 805 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That's about one in nine people on earth.

 

2. The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 13.5 percent of the population is undernourished.

 

3. Asia is the continent with the most hungry people - two thirds of the total. The percentage in southern Asia has fallen in recent years but in western Asia it has increased slightly.

 

4. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence (percentage of population) of hunger. One person in four there is undernourished.

 

5. Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year.

 

6. One out of six children -- roughly 100 million -- in developing countries is underweight.

 

7. One in four of the world's children are stunted. In developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three.

 

8. If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.

 

9. 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.

 

10. WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.

　

Asia and the Pacific is home to 578 million of the world's hungry, compared to 239 million in Sub-Saharan Africa and 53 million in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, the prevalence of hunger and malnourishment is much higher in Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

The number one health risk in America? Heart Disease.

 

The number one health risk in the world? Hunger. It kills more every year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.

 

$50 will feed a child at school for an entire year. $0.25 a day.

 

The number of malnourished people in the world is equivalent to the population of the US, Canada, and the European Union COMBINED!

 

What is most unsettling is that, "There is enough food today for everyone to have the nourishment needed for a healthy and productive life. The problem is access."

 

Unfortunately, solving these problems is not as simple as providing everyone with access to food and agricultural supplies. Many negative externalities arise when approaching the problems with solutions to specific issues. Because of this, we conduct holstic research and development in approaching the issues of hunger, poverty, and disease throughout the world.  

 

We have chosen to begin in Western Africa because it has a higher prevalence than most other areas in the world, its climate and soil conditions are excellent for crop growth, and because we are offered greater access to land. These circumstances provide our organization the greatest opportunity for expansion, and will generate a greater impact than if we were to branch out immediately.

 

 

 

　

1. Source:State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2014
2. Source: State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2014
3. Source: State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2014
4. Source: State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2014
5. Source: Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition, The Lancet, 2013
6. Source: Global health Observatory, WHO, 2012
7. Source: Prevalence and Trends of Stunting among ... Children, Public Health Nutrition, 2012
8. Source: Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development, FAO, 2011
9. Source:Two Minutes to Learn About School Meals, WFP, 2012
10. Source:Two Minutes to Learn About School Meals, WFP, 2012