Global_Maro_Practices

Global Macro Practices in Human Services Hunger is a huge issue that affects many people around the world. Based on the world population in October of 2010, which was estimated at 6.8 billion people worldwide, 925 million people around the world did not receive adequate amounts of food and went hungry (Hunger Notes, 2011). There are many reasons why people around the world are going hungry and even more social issues that this population is facing. In order to reduce world hunger human service workers must find ways to spread awareness and help those in need by the use of macro practice interventions. Hunger is not only a problem in the United States; it is a problem around the globe. Nature of the Population World Hunger is becoming a larger problem, especially in the United States. The economy failing, the rise in food prices, and the fact that there are no jobs in the United States have created the problems of people in need of food stamps, food banks, and soup kitchens. In other parts of the world poverty is the biggest creator of hunger. Drought, over fishing, war, famine, and poor crops are some reasons why other cultures are struggling with poverty and lack of food as well. Economics is a problem that causes poverty and it is a never ending cycle. If human service workers cannot teach people how to bring themselves out of poverty then there will always be a dependency on help for food. More than nine million people around the world die each year because of malnutrition and hunger, five million of these people are children (Shah, 2010). In the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States there is somewhere around an average of 15 to 40 percent waste of food not used or just thrown away. In Africa the food in the crops goes bad before they can get a chance to eat it, the crops end up drying out, insect infestation and just lack of technology. With all the waste that other countries have with food they don’t just throw away food. There is the fuel to ship it; there were the pesticides used and the labor paid to bring in those crops. There are several workers, truck drivers, businessmen and corporations involved in the production, packaging and shipping of the food people eat and throw away. World hunger will continue as long as we continue to fail to fix poverty as poverty is the main reason for hunger. Many of the social issues that confront many of these people with poverty is the lack of jobs, the lack of land to grow food, exporting to other places and keeping it in the United States where it is needed. Also the poor and homeless face the fact that many of them are uneducated and cannot get a job without the education most employers require. Some of the people in need of food have religious problems and persecution that makes it more difficult to have jobs and food in other parts of the world. Also companies and other countries are buying up land in the poorer countries but this does not solve the famine problem because now the poorer countries have no land to grow food on and the money they make from the land does not feed them very long. With all of the difficulties facing these countries and communities of the states poverty is not likely to go away any time soon and as long as there is poverty there will remain hunger and famine. The saying give them a fish feed them for a meal teach them to fish feed them for a life time is very true in the war against hunger and just giving poor people food is not going to solve the problem. Social Issues Some social issues that affect world hunger are aid and funding not being used to its full potential and lack of support from rich communities. In 2004 the United States joined with other nations to strengthen international voluntary guidelines on the right-to-food (Marchione & Messer, 2010). These guidelines want nations who give food aid to take into consideration the local diet traditions and cultures, community traditions, not establishing a dependency for the food aid and use the countries markets to meet the needs in countries liable to famine. Not all United States government food aid programmers follow these guidelines because they don’t view them as laws that need to be followed with the right-to-food principles. “The security concerns of U.S. foreign policy and the political-economic interests of U.S. stakeholders deflect the program from a human rights approach that would more sustainably and effectively reduce world hunger and meet the food needs of hungry people” (Marchione & Messer, 2010). The partial compliance to the right-to-food guidelines shows how starving communities can receive less or non-efficient aid. It’s possible that food aid programmers have different social and economic agendas that determine where their money and resources will go. There are also other cultural and religious issues that contribute to hunger in certain nations. Some oppress their women by not letting them attend school and become contributing citizens of the community. If a country is not letting 50% of its population go to school, vote and help build society then it appears they will never change their situation. Some nations can afford to oppress half of their society because they have rich natural resources like oil to compensate. People are aware of the world hunger dilemma along with other issues in the world that has millions of unfortunate people suffering and because of issues like poverty, natural disasters, lack of education and unemployment that affect people daily, it will be hard to overcome hunger in the world. According to Martin (2007), the world is getting smaller on a global outlook due to growing simplicity in communication, international connectedness and mutual trade. There are informative websites on world hunger that make the world pay attention. Macro Practice Interventions I think there are several effective ways to end or at least reduce world hunger on a macro level. What is needed is every country that has the resources, put a percentage of funds to teaching poverty stricken communities to better their situation. There is also need for regulation on political and social agendas for donating countries trying to take advantage of poor countries by exploiting their situation to make money instead of helping them. These communities should be able to thrive after they learn the necessary job skills to produce and sustain their much needed resources for living healthy. Another supportive idea is to create a lasting media buzz on world hunger. There is the Pandora application on cell phones that air commercials for breast cancer, life insurance, and bubble gum. So why not have more commercials about world hunger on this cell phone application' Commercials like the one for breast cancer let you know you can donate funds through your cell phone or computer. To donate from your cell phone, you text a word to the number provided on the commercial and a set amount of money will be charged on your cell phone bill. At some supermarkets and drugstores the clerk will ask each customer if they want to donate one dollar to different social causes like cancer research, humane society, or adoption services. Some customers are willing to pay a dollar because they are already ready to pay for groceries. Society will view ending world hunger the same as buying ring tones or downloading applications for every day usage. If society wants to raise money for hunger awareness, there needs to be suitable ways for people to donate. Advertising and informing people thru the internet and cell phones is a great way to garner attention to world hunger on a macro level. Conclusion Hunger and malnutrition has affected many people from around the world for many different reasons such as lack of money, rise in prices of food, lack of food resources, and economic hardships. Approximately one in seven people in the world are hungry and suffering from malnutrition (Hunger Notes, 2011). There are social issues that contribute to world hunger that can be changed by society, but until then hunger and malnutrition will continue to be a huge issue facing people around the world. By educating people worldwide of the problem of world hunger and using macro practice interventions human service workers are making people more aware of the problems that need to be addressed and how they can be addressed. Human service workers need to make information more accessible about world hunger in ways that people may listen. Uses of new technologies are a good way for human services workers to spread a message. Human service workers have the power to help.