Children and elderly are especially vulnerable. Governments worldwide tend to maintain policies and services which benefit well-off people at the expense of those who are poor and hungry. Racial, Ethnic, And Gender Discrimination contribute to hunger and poverty. Seventy percent of absolutely poor people are female . Inequality in labor markets, ill treatment in social welfare systems and lower status in the family all play a part.
Debt is a significant cause of hunger and poverty in developing countries.
African countries spend more than twice as much on debt service as they do on health and primary education. Africa has the greatest proportion of hungry people - two in five are undernourished. Asia and the Pacific have the greatest number of undernourished people - 528 million. One of every three children under twelve is hungry or at risk in the United States . Within the body of the world's richest nation grows a deadly disease.