Famine in Africa: A Lost Cause?

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired is, in a sense, a theft from those who hunger & are not fed, those who are cold & are not clothed.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953)

While the definition of famine varies depending on the organization, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) seems to define famine best by officially describing it as “a catastrophic food crisis that results in widespread acute malnutrition and mass mortality. It is a process, rather than an event, with a beginning, middle and an end”. With statistics demonstrating approximately 1 billion undernourished individuals globally (World Food Programme)–and an estimated 200 million Africans suffering and being plagued by constant hunger (Africa Recovery, Vol.17 #1), the outside world’s perceptions of famine tend to be predominately linked with issues such as war and natural disasters being the only sole factors. Realistically though, a variety of factors contribute to African famine including issues such as menial agricultural markets and their unsteady productivity, the negative effects of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, government failure, lack of quality health facilities and even overpopulation to a particular extent.

Considering that HIV/AIDS cases are predominately in Africa where it continues to plague and cripple the population in an alarmingly fast pace, particularly the sub-Saharan region where 22.4 million currently live with the virus, diseases in general and lack of medical assistance are additional fatal factors that contribute in African famine (http://www.avert.org/subaadults.htm). Due to lack of nutrients and basics such as food and water, those affected suffer from a dangerously low immune system therefore making them even more vulnerable to infections and diseases such as malaria, cholera and meningitis. As for food emergency aids supporting famine relief, The Independent states in their famine relief article that in year 2009 alone, “emergency food aid has risen steadily from 4.9 million in January to 5.3 million in May and 6.2 million in June. Another 7.5 million are getting aid in return for work on community projects, as part of the National Productive Safety Net Program for people whose food supplies are chronically insecure, bringing the total being fed to 13.7 million.” With those strikingly high numbers being digested, can one ever be optimistic enough see progression in the future or is African famine a sure lost cause and something all of society must accept? 

Despite the fact that world-renowned economist Amartya Sen seems to lean more towards optimistic approaches on avoiding famine in his book Development As Freedom, he does on the other hand mention that “prevention is strongly dependent on the political arrangement for entitlement protection” (Sen, 169). Although Sen’s concluding suggestions on implementing “antipoverty programs and unemployment insurances” among citizens prove to be quite beneficial, personally, they should be considered once critical levels of famine have reached a more progressive developmental stage.

In accordance with Sen’s perspective, in the African Recovery article Africa Beyond Famine, Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General and current member of the Board of Directors of the United Nations, is stated that since solutions to Africa’s food scarcity and rural poverty not only depend solely on unbalanced agriculture, in order to be progressive yet effective in famine relief, African nations and the global community must take action on following stances as follows:

• Integrating both short-term and long-term emergency programs that address the structural causes of famine by providing community with food, agricultural supplies, education, support for orphans and health services.
• Implementing a stronger health approach especially to conquering HIV and AIDS that also includes introduction to preventive measures and treatment.
• Establishing improved relationships with rural communities in order to develop new efficient natural resource management technologies that also correspond with depleted labor force.
• Ensuring that the children are able to receive an education and promoting its importance among communities.
• Concentrating on improving country’s infrastructure, that also includes vegetation and other support services.
• Funding public agricultural research and strengthening Africa’s scientific institutions in order to achieve improvement in areas such as: soil nutrition, water management and promoting vegetation that can adapt to Africa’s extreme weather conditions.
• Constructing markets that function and correspond with the needs of Africa’s underprivileged population.
• Empowering Africa’s small farmers, especially women, who are both the key food providers.

Overall, though the realistic effects of famine may make solutions seem a bit far-fetched and unlikely to be an overnight success, progression will not only gather further domestic and global support to participate in the cause more avidly, it can also lead to additional positive outcomes making African famine into an improved cause—at the least.

References:

Author Unknown (30 August 2009), The Independent News; Millions Facing Famine in Ethiopia as rains Fail. Retrieved on 1 March 2010: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/millions-facing-famine-in-ethiopia-as-rains-fail-1779376.html

Author Unknown, Famine Photograph 1; Retrieved on 28 February 2010: http://www.israelsmessiah.com/prophecy/end_times/images/children_plate.jpg

Author Unknown, Famine Photograph 2; Retrieved 28 on February 2010: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/millions-facing-famine-in-ethiopia-as-rains-fail-1779376.html

Author Unknown, Famine Photograph 3; Retrieved on 1 March February 2010: http://www.countdown.org/end/pix/famine_2.jpg

AVERT Statistics Website. Retrieved on 1 March 2010. http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-africa.htm

Harsch, Ernest (May 2003) From Africa Recovery, Vol.17 #1, Page 1; Africa Beyond Famine. Retrieved on 1 March 2010. http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol17no1/171food1.htm

Sen, Amartya, Development as Freedom, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1999.

United States Agency for International Development Press Release; U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FACT SHEET . Retrieved 28 March 2010. http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2002/02fs_famine.html

World Food Programme Website: Introduction. Retrieved on 1 March 2010. http://www.wfp.org/hunger

© 2010, Naomi McCleod. All rights reserved.

Tags: Africa, AIDS/HIV, Famine, Hunger

This entry was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 3:33 AM and is filed under 2010, 2nd Article, Health, Public, Security, WPHR Students. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.