A large tub of hot, buttered popcorn and a medium-cold iced Coke, please. These are the words millions of Americans will say when they go to the cinema to watch the hit film The Hunger Games. This film depicts the struggles between different sectors of society. The struggle to feed their families as government forces and geographic disparities hinder their progress. Far too often, this film parallels the real life circumstances of people around the world. The term “hunger” in America is not the same as in underdeveloped countries like Africa. According to the United Nations, almost a quarter of children under the age of five are expected to be underweight in 2015. The World Health Organization has named hunger and associated malnutrition as the greatest threat to global public health. Improving nutrition is widely considered the most effective form of assistance. Nutrition-specific interventions, which address the immediate causes of undernutrition, have been proven to provide the best value for money among all development interventions. In Africa, malnutrition rates have increased (Hanson 204-5). For hundreds of millions of people, famine poses a daily threat. In poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, billions of people are suffering from famine. It starts with a pain in your stomach that eventually causes your heart to weaken and stop beating. Today, around five billion out of the five or nine billion people on the planet live in poor countries. (“Hunger and malnutrition”). Low-income children have higher rates of poor health and iron deficiency than higher-income children. Out of forty-two percent of food insecure households, approximately seven point four million received the ass...... middle of paper ...... Dietetic Association. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 95.10 (1995): 1160. ProQuest. Internet. December 3, 2013. Pugh, Tony. “Food insecurity affects 17.6 million American households. » New McClatchy office in Washington DC. September 4, 2013. SIRS Issues Researcher. Internet. December 08, 2013. Russell, Sharman. Hunger. New York: Basic Books. 2005. Print. Struble, MB and LL Aomari. “Position of the World Dietetics Association: Addressing global hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity.” American Dietetic Association. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 103.8 (2003): 1046. ProQuest. Internet. December 3, 2013. “The State of World Hunger.” Nutritional Reviews 52.5 (1994): 151. ProQuest. Internet. December 3, 2013. Uphaus, Charles. “Ending world hunger: the role of agriculture.” » www.Joomag.com. June 2008. The web. March 9. 2014. “World Food Program.” www.wfp.org. January 2, 2013, Internet. March 10, 2014.