The Feed

Stories of Feeding God's Children Hungry in Body & Spirit

FMSC Hunger Bulletin | March 2024

March 25, 2024
Julie Smith
From the Field

Each meal you pack, fund and pray over equips FMSC partners to do transformative work around the world. Hunger relief is usually just part of what our partners do — but food is the foundation for so much more.

MEASURING HUNGER

Global Hunger Index

No single measure can encapsulate the full experience of a community, but they each bring specific insights. This month we’re highlighting the Global Hunger Index (GHI). The GHI is a snapshot of a nation’s food security and nutritional status. Score range from 0 (no hunger) to 100 (extreme hunger).

GHI scores are based on four indicators:

Undernourishment

Insufficient caloric intake.

Child wasting

Children under age five with low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.

Child mortality

Death of children before age five.

Child stunting

Children under age five with low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.

Sierra Leone | Africa

A group of kids with boxes of FMSC food in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone scores 31.3 (

Global Hunger Index score (0–100, lower is better): 31.3 — serious (ranked 116 of 125 countries in 2023)

In Sierra Leone, hunger looms large with a staggering 57% of the population grappling with food insecurity. This small yet densely populated country, scarred by a devastating 11-year war and later struck by the Ebola outbreak in 2014, now faces the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a slight economic rebound, recent crises such as war in Ukraine have further compounded the nation's struggles, leading to soaring fuel prices and an escalating cost of living.

For many, access to adequate nutrition remains a distant dream, with 26.2% of children suffering from stunted growth due to chronic malnutrition. While there has been some improvement in stunting rates over the past decade, the prevalence remains alarmingly high.

FMSC food is used to support our partners’ work in Sierra Leone, including: