WELCOME TO IWUINU ENGLAND

Student actions for the development of organic,

Ethical, natural farming and environmental protection

IWUINU is an international charity that promotes healthy eating for students and was founded in spring 2020 during the outbreak of the pandemic by students from different countries - by students for students. At that time, there were more and more negative testimonies from students about food insecurity, which led to increased "junk food" consumption. We at IWUINU take these reports to heart and are ready to fight for a balanced diet for students, for their HEALTH and their FUTURE!

OUR MISSIONS

One of the main goals IWUINU has is to promote healthy eating to students while making it available to them. In this way, we aim to provide them with stable health, which in turn will guarantee their performance. However, this is only the beginning, the root of this nutritional problem, which affects a large part of the international population, lies much deeper. In order to get one step closer to solving the problem, we need to work in the five fields: Education, Social Welfare, Economics, Finance, and Environmental Activism. Our missions are as follows:

- Pedagogical: To educate children and young people about the hygienic properties of food, as well as the needs of their bodies; to make them happy with regional products so that they gradually turn away from artificially processed food.

- Social: Improve young people's vision of life and relationships, make them aware of how important personal health is for a fulfilled life and that health must always come first!

- Economic: In 2018, total sales of organic food in the UK increased by 5.3 per cent. This steady growth reveals that over £45 million is spent on organic food in England. By 2020, the market is expected to be worth £2.5 billion.

- Financial: Eating a healthy, balanced diet increases the body's nutritional intake while leading to less and less frequent shopping. 

- Environmental: Supporting farmers and organic farmers, educating them about their hard work, which is essential to the circle of life.

OUR STORY

At the beginning of the year 2021, the media put on the first page of their agenda the students' cry for help: No food, unhealthy food, too little or no money.... In connection with this cry for help, scientific research was then carried out, which provided the first clues to the extent of the students' plight.

Through the transatlantic collaboration of academics, three main risk factors were highlighted based on student reports: the high level of food insecurity, the loss of employment and the low level of mental well-being during the pandemic. The health crisis caused a general panic and most people were forced to quarantine themselves due to political decrees in order to avoid the risk of infection and stay alive. With the loss of jobs and lack of monthly salary, people and especially students, who usually face constant financial difficulties anyway, had to rely on cheap food, which mostly meant unhealthy food.

For most students, eating junk food during the outbreak was - and still is - a way out to survive. Many universities were not prepared for this situation at all, or were inadequately prepared. Some students reported overpriced and unhealthy meals in the canteen and meal boxes filled with junk food, sometimes resulting in stomach aches for days. Eating cheap food was the only way for students not to starve until real and lasting action could be taken. The negative effects of processed food on mental health cannot be denied, and the food insecurity that remains widespread among students also consumes a large part of their minds, severely limiting their performance and productivity.

As numerous studies have shown, unhealthy food consumption, which profoundly affects the intrinsic immune system of the human body, can lead to a higher risk of infection and a more severe course of viral illness. A high number of people who suffered severe acute respiratory problems during the course of a viral illness were people with underlying chronic diseases, such as heart problems, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, which are mostly due to an unhealthy, unbalanced diet. You can find more information about this in the following documents.