May 5, 2015

Taking the challenge by eating on $2 a day

Associate Professor Karen Charlton has now embarked on living below the line – the extreme poverty line that is by eating on $2 a day for five days.

Professor Karen Charlton (right) is 'living below the line' for five days to raise awareness about global poverty. Professor Charlton is pictured with journalism lecturer Shawn Burns and Dr Karen Walton ahead of a community conference in 2014.

The nutrition and dietetics academic from UOW’s School of Medicine has encouraged fellow academics and students to join her in a campaign where funds raised help rebuild schools, train teachers and provide education opportunities of people in East Timor.

The idea is to experience how impoverished people across the world live.

Global poverty statistics are staggering, according to Professor Charlton, with well over a billion people living in extreme poverty with many of those people undernourished.

Even in an affluent country like Australia, Professor Charlton said that many people still struggled to eat properly.

Professor Charlton and other team members of ‘UOW Nutrition and Dietetics’ are undertaking the five-day challenge from 4-8 May.

The challenge team will be scouring supermarket shelves for specials and local fruit and vegetable markets for best prices.

“What we will be doing is certainly not in line with Australian Dietary Guidelines but the cause is a most worthy one,” Professor Charlton said.

Coffee and alcohol will certainly have no place in the $2 a day budget.

Anybody wishing to contribute to the challenge can visit Professor Charlton’s fundraising page at https://www.livebelowtheline.com.au/me/karen_charlton

Professor Charlton and her team is aiming to raise $3,000.

Media contact: Media seeking further information can contact Professor Charlton on + 61 2 4221 4754.