BBC website today. 'Does a Child Die of Hunger Every 10 Seconds?' Nutrition over Vaccines

Extremely interesting story on the BBC website today 'Does a Child Die of Hunger Every 10 Seconds?'

Well when you read the story   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22935692, you see that the story is critical of the manipulation of the facts by playing with statistics.  Everyone I'm sure will know the quote accounted to Disraeli, 'Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics'  but look at what this story is about.  It is looking at children's deaths through hunger and why that is occurring.

Stats can be used to shock and of course if you are the charity that wants to touch the nerve and pocket of people to give money to help, then it is tempting to present the figures in a way that conjures up the most shocking image. 

An image of a child dying every 10 seconds is indeed a harrowing one and not true as you might be lead to believe by that stat. So surely it has to be better to look at the cause of this and promote that accurately, then we are all aware of what needs fixing.

This is a good article and I like the way that it is highlighting the importance of health on nutrition.

If you are wanting to give money, you want it to be in sustaining health and not a 'one off' attempt at providing a bowl of rice!

The west might not be starving, but it also has a good way to go to understand the importance of nutrition.

It goes on to state that it is not hunger and it's not that children in these stricken countries are going to bed hungry, they are just not receiving a broad enough range of food to give the spectrum of nutrients that are important for the body to survive.

It is stating that we don't need to be relying on grain, it is not enough and so therefore we do not need GM wheat to feed the world! Or GM corn, we need the variety of fruit/vegetables,dairy and of course the education of a population to know why that is important. Again, a good many in the developed world could do with that lesson!

Most of all, we need this food to be good quality, and not over bred, not GM fed, sustainable and organic....not difficult in this world!  We have been doing it for millenia! 

Isn't it amazing that here in the UK, a doctor has very little time for talk on optimising nutrition to sustain health, in fact almost the opposite in a recommended cancer diet here....but then all the emphasis is on the plethora of drugs....

In poor countries, drugs are not affordable, so guess what...food and nutrition are recognised as crucial in maintaining health.  When the chips are down, it is back to good old nutrition, clean water  and sanitation.  The very basis of eradication of most major viral illnesses,way way before vaccines.

This is a story on lack of nutrition, not a lack of food. There is no vaccine for this - Mr Gates!!, there is only food and nutrients...So look at the paragraph that states children rarely die of starvation, they die of disease because they are malnourished.....yes Mr Bill Gates and the pro vaccine lobby...malnourished!  In fact the article says that infectious diseases such as measles, in a well nourished child, would be just shrugged off   It's not being referred to here as a 'killer disease' whoever catches it, only in those undernourished (not underfed!!) and not the un-vaccinated!

In 2013, it should not be beyond the wit of man to be able to feed the children of the world properly. (No, this is not an opportunity for MacDonalds!!)  Never has the world seemed so small and so accessible.  Tracking devices to see where tribes in Africa are so they can be vaccinated - I hope the same mechanisms are being used to know where food needs to be aimed at.

So education, nutrition, clean water and sanitation are at the base of saving lives...not rocket science is it? Not a reliance on drugs, just the political will to achieve it....G8!!!

Having said that with the developing world in mind.....we can apply that to many in the developed world also!

Be wary of what statistics hide and promote for the organisation using them. Here my thoughts turn to the vaccination programmes and scaremongering that goes on to frighten people to do it....just remember this BBC report....a well nourished child will 'shrug off' measles...It is not the killer the media would have you believe. And just look at the importance placed on nutrition....are we finally waking up?