KARACHI:
After analysing the current conditions that the world is embroiled in, one cannot help but be encapsulated by a certain feeling of dread. Such a feeling is brought about by the fact that amid worldwide chaos, we are slowly losing the ability to think of a future, any future. The current pandemic — coupled with a looming climate catastrophe, food insecurity and extreme inequality — has dampened the hopes of those who wish for a bright future. However, while it is necessary to imagine and work for a future that may ironically never come, it is also vital address present concerns. According to a UN Food and Security agency report, half a billion people in Asia are hungry and lack access to adequate nourishing food. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a poverty and hunger watchdog, estimates that around one in five of Pakistanis, equivalent to more than 200 million people, are malnourished. These numbers are extremely alarming and as a nation, we need to do something.
Fortunately, Pakistan has a vast network of NGOs and social workers who are ready to provide their services, but lack of funds and resources have severely restricted their operations. In order to overcome this, organisations need to come together, accumulate their funds and resources, and collectively work to ameliorate the deplorable hunger situation in the country. Now is the time to act, not think.
Zofeen Ihsan
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2020.
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