Hunger is the world’s number one health risk. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. Prolonged hunger can lead to stunted growth, low body weight, inability to fight off disease, and premature death.

India is home to 25% of the world’s hungry poor. Over 7,000 residents die of hunger every day.

The good news is hunger is an easy problem to solve. Good nutrition and reliable food bring health and stability to communities. When people work together to solve hunger, they lay the foundation for progress in other areas of development, including education and medical care.

Energy to work

Of the 1.2 billion people living in India, approximately 33% live on less than $1.25 a day, and 69% live on less than $2 a day. Wages this low require families to make sacrifices, sacrifices that too often includes forgoing meals for days at a time. Children are sent to the market to buy cheap, rotten produce, and when the money runs out, families forage through trash heaps in search of anything remotely edible to ease the agony of hunger.

With a reliable daily meal, income earners can invest more time in securing adequate work opportunities, and find the energy they need to increase productivity.

Stamina to learn

Of the world’s malnourished children, one in three lives in India. 43% of India’s children under five years old are underweight. It is no wonder than nearly 50% of children’s deaths here are due to malnutrition.

Insufficient nutrition in early childhood severely affects motor, sensory, cognitive, social and emotional development. Malnourished children have a more difficult time learning in school and are at a greater risk of disease and early death in adulthood. A healthy meal everyday contributes significantly to a child's ability to feel alert, focus in the classroom and finish school.