File:Girl_affected_by_famine_in_Buguruslan,_Russia_-_1921.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
starvation
Sign in to saveAlso known as inanition
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death. The term inanition refers to the symptoms and effects of starvation. Starvation may have a natural cause or be man-made. Deliberately inflicting starvation upon a population is a crime according to international criminal law and may also be used as a means of torture or execution.
Key facts
- Medical condition (new).name
- Starvation
- Medical condition (new).image
- Girl affected by famine in Buguruslan, Russia - 1921.jpg
- Medical condition (new).image_size
- 250px
- Medical condition (new).caption
- Starving Russian girl during the Russian famine of 1921–1922
- Medical condition (new).field
- Critical care medicine
- Medical condition (new).symptoms
- feeling weak or tired, lack of energy, loss of consciousness
- Medical condition (new).complications
- Anemia, low blood sugar, dangerously low blood pressure, organ failure
- Medical condition (new).causes
- Malnutrition
- Medical condition (new).diagnosis
- based on symptoms
- Medical condition (new).treatment
- intensive care
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
43,040 papersvia PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Starved girl.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Starvation
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~16 min read
Article
17 sectionsContents
- Signs and symptoms
- Changes in behaviour or mental status
- Physical signs
- Weakened immune system
- Other symptoms
- Stages of starvation
- Causes
- Biochemistry
- Prevention
- Treatment
- Organizations
- Statistics
- Capital punishment
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death. The term inanition refers to the symptoms and effects of starvation. Starvation may have a natural cause or be man-made. Deliberately inflicting starvation upon a population is a crime according to international criminal law and may also be used as a means of torture or execution.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hunger is the single gravest threat to the world's public health. The WHO also states that malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases. Undernutrition is a contributory factor in the death of 3.1 million children under five every year. The results also demonstrates that as global hunger levels have stabilized, however, despite some progress in specific areas such as stunting and exclusive breastfeeding, an alarming number of people still face food insecurity and malnutrition. In fact, the world has been set back 15 years, with levels of undernourishment similar to those in 2008-2009, with between 713 and 757 million people undernourished in 2023, and over 152 million more than in 2019 when the mid-range was 733 million.