Summary:
According to Charlie Cooper’s article “Look back in hunger:
Britain’s silent, scandalous epidemic” as published on the website of the
Independent on the 4th of April 2012, evidence is mounting
that thousands of children in the UK are not getting enough food to eat. As
financial hardship spreads, their numbers are increasing rapidly. He calls
these hungry children the victims of a “silent epidemic” of malnutrition in the
capital and beyond. Many agency’s and organization that provide help are short
of funding and see a more widespread problem than before. Kids Company is launching its
"Plate Pledge" to help tackle food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition among children.
Commentary:
Who are these hungry children? Many hungry children are from families whose parents are not eligible to work or claim benefits. There are also children from working parents who are struggling to make ends meet. It seems a bloody disgrace that there can be malnourished children in this rich country. After reading the article, I searched the Internet and found out that according to the Trussell Trust website, there are 13 million people in the UK who live below the poverty line. Isn't this really shocking and disturbing? Apparently, nowadays hunger is not just a third world problem.
The information was retrieved on April 18th
2012 from the article ‘Look back in hunger: Britain’s silent, scandalous
epidemic’ from the website of the Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/look-back-in-hunger-britains-silent-scandalous-epidemic-7622363.html
What a terrible discovery! UK Government is obliged to respond to this horrible phenomenon. I believe it is necessary to create free food suppliers like we do in the Netherlands. Huge amounts of food from supermarkets for example dissapear in the dustbin because these products are near expiry date, but most of the time good enough to eat.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenRenate Pollemans / s3904663
13 million does seem like a terribly big amount of people. Of course not all of them are malnourished. But thousands of children are, and that is awful. I instantly wonder if this is also happening in the Netherlands. I had never heard of it before but I hope the “plate-pledge” works.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThis is terrible, particularly now numbers show that the 10% poorest people in the UK will fall in wage the following year. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/11/poorest-families-tightest-squeeze-income)
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThis is not a problem that only appears in the UK. One of my students did not get enough food at home and was given a sandwich now and then by one of my colleagues to help her get through the day.
It is indeed a discrace that children suffer from malnutrition in a rich country as Britain. But it doesn't only happen in Britain the same problems occur in Holland and the numbers are increasing rapidly here as well. More and more people live below the poverty line here as well need to go to the food bank because they are unable to pay for their food any longer. This is where the financial crisis has brought as. I think Holland and Britain should help their own citizens first and cut on donating money to organisations in the third world. We can't help other if we don't first help ourselves...
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