Free children from malnutrition today

World hunger refers to the second definition, aggregated to the world level. The related technical term (in this case operationalized in medicine)  is either malnutrition, or, if malnutrition is taken to refer to both undernutrition and overnutrition (obesity, overweight) as it increasingly is, undernutrition.  Both malnutrition and undernutrition refer to the effects on people of not having enough food.  There are two basic types of malnutrition/undernutrition. The first and most important isprotein-energy malnutrition (PEM). It is basically a lack of calories and protein. Food is converted into energy by humans, and the energy contained in food is measured by calories.  Protein is necessary for key body functions including provision of essential amino acids and  development and maintenance of muscles. Protein-energy malnutriton is the more lethal form of malnutrition/hunger and is the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed