Mengistu Ermias, aged 4, suffers from acute malnutrition. He was recently admitted to the World Vision supported Stabilisation Centre in Ethiopia. Experiencing severe food shortages, 6.4 million people including 75,000 severely malnourished children in Ethiopia are in urgent need of food aid.

The United Nation's World Food Day (16 October) provides an occasion every year to heighten public awareness of food security in the world and promote a united effort to combat the problems of hunger, malnutrition and poverty. This year, World Vision calls on the public to participate in the Global Food Crisis Awareness Campaign and respond to the needs of those facing starvation and death.

Although food security has never been a problem in Hong Kong, it has been a serious threat to the impoverished in other parts of the world. Droughts and floods triggered by climate change, high fuel prices, greater demand of grains due to higher need for meat, have affected food supply. In addition to population growth, food prices rose 52 percent over the past year and have plunged an additional 75 million people below the hunger threshold. Consequently, the estimated number of undernourished people worldwide surged to 923 million in 2007, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. It has become impossible for the poverty stricken to afford even the most basic foods.

Of the population suffering chronic hunger, children, in particular, have been most affected. Millions of infants die because of a lack of nutrition. Furthermore, 178 million pre-school children suffer devastating consequences including stunting due to starvation and malnourishment. Many families barely survive. Whatever little they have is used for food thus leaving little or nothing for their children's education or healthcare.

World Vision urges you to participate in our Global Food Crisis Awareness Campaign and help these children and families to fight their ongoing battle.

Famine for Children
Through fasting for 8 hours and participating in various educational workshops, primary school students will learn about the relationship between global warming and food insecurity. By understanding the plight of deprived children, students would be encouraged to develop a more caring and generous attitude to the poor. (This programme will be conducted in Cantonese. Please click here for the Chinese webpage.)

Global Food Crisis Awareness Campaign
Students can participate in Global Food Crisis Awareness Campaign including Hunger Quiz, Poster Design and Short Film Competitions, Message Card Design and Essay Competitions, to arouse public awareness to the plight of hungry children around the world.

Make a Donation
Donate immediately to support World Vision's intervention to address food security challenges of needy families and their respective communities.

Sponsor a Child
Become a child sponsor through World Vision's Child Sponsorship Programme. For just HK$7 a day, your contribution will help prevent needy children from falling into the hunger-poverty trap. By pooling donations from sponsors to implement Area Development Programmes in sponsored children's communities, World Vision aims to improve their agricultural productivity and livestock breeding, and consequently help them achieve long-term self-reliance.

Prayer Support
Pray for the world's hungry and malnourished children and their families. May the Lord bless World Vision's work as well as those of other NGOs in responding to the world's needy with adequate resources.