Post by Blaque on Jul 13, 2006 12:08:22 GMT -5
Starvation in Africa
(one thing blacks and white share, no one cares)
By Howard A. Gutman
Over 4 million Africans face famine and starvation. Think of the pain you feel not eating for 12 hours, imagine this over a period of weeks, months and even year as people, particularly children slowly die.
Help is needed to prevent massive
starvation in Southern Africa
Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, DisasterRelief.org, said on May 24, 2002, "Thousands of southern Africans - many of them children - have succumbed to hunger-related causes because of a food shortage, according to relief groups. Without immediate international aid the situation could grow into widespread starvation, they warn."
Malawi is facing its worst food crisis in 50 years. The hunger and malnutrition inflicting some 20 million Africans is the result of severe droughts that dried crops and floods that destroyed much of what survived in countries already wrought with economic instability.
The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) warned last month that six nations in the region already face food shortages. Some 2.6 million people are going hungry. Relief organisations warn that up to four million people face starvation as a result of food shortages in Southern Africa. About 19 million are said to be in need of food aid.
An Associated Press reporter recently described the familiar, but horrifying, effects that hunger is taking on children in Malawi: "The children's eyes are bulging and listless, their shoulder blades jab out of their emaciated backs and their heads and bloated bellies seem grotesquely huge next to their shriveled limbs." The leaders of Malawi, Lesotho and Zimbabwe have declared states of emergency, appealing to the international community for food assistance.
Experts warn that the current stocks located in the countries and already promised by donors will not prevent massive starvation. In all, an estimated 11 million people throughout southern Africa will need food aid to survive over the next six months. The latest harvest figures show that Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Lesotho - as feared - face the most desperate situation. Mozambique and Swaziland also face grave food shortages.
Starvation Looms For Millions
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has pleaded with the international community to take action against mass starvation in southern Africa. The Malawian government has recently declared a state of emergency as nearly 80 percent of the population is said to be suffering from malnutrition and inadequate food sources. An estimated three to four million Malawians will suffer from starvation by the end of this year.
Hunger rising in Malawi, Zambia
The past year ravaged Sub-Saharan Africa with flood and drought, hitting Malawi and Zambia especially hard with the worst food shortage in fifty years. Currently, over three quarters of the population is without food stocks in countries that are already economically fragile and unable to provide sufficient health care and education for their citizens, let alone lose their only means of subsistence to adverse weather conditions. Both countries are waiting for debt relief from the stalled IMF/World Bank program.
In February, Hayley Coristine wrote about a young Malawian mother who attempted to sell three of her children into slavery to earn money to feed her two other children. Her sixth and youngest child died earlier that week after starving to death. She explained her situation with utmost lucidity: "I cannot provide food for all my children; they will certainly die if I keep them all. If I sell the oldest ones who are strong enough to work, I will have money to feed my two youngest and perhaps they will have a better chance of surviving.. Relief volunteers gave the woman food to nourish all five of her children, yet the current situation enveloping Malawi is leading to an environment where similar incidents are not only possible but certain.
Ranked 151st of 162 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index, Malawi's average life expectancy is 37 years. One quarter of children do not live to see their fifth birthday; 48% of those under five are malnourished.
(one thing blacks and white share, no one cares)
By Howard A. Gutman
Over 4 million Africans face famine and starvation. Think of the pain you feel not eating for 12 hours, imagine this over a period of weeks, months and even year as people, particularly children slowly die.
Help is needed to prevent massive
starvation in Southern Africa
Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, DisasterRelief.org, said on May 24, 2002, "Thousands of southern Africans - many of them children - have succumbed to hunger-related causes because of a food shortage, according to relief groups. Without immediate international aid the situation could grow into widespread starvation, they warn."
Malawi is facing its worst food crisis in 50 years. The hunger and malnutrition inflicting some 20 million Africans is the result of severe droughts that dried crops and floods that destroyed much of what survived in countries already wrought with economic instability.
The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) warned last month that six nations in the region already face food shortages. Some 2.6 million people are going hungry. Relief organisations warn that up to four million people face starvation as a result of food shortages in Southern Africa. About 19 million are said to be in need of food aid.
An Associated Press reporter recently described the familiar, but horrifying, effects that hunger is taking on children in Malawi: "The children's eyes are bulging and listless, their shoulder blades jab out of their emaciated backs and their heads and bloated bellies seem grotesquely huge next to their shriveled limbs." The leaders of Malawi, Lesotho and Zimbabwe have declared states of emergency, appealing to the international community for food assistance.
Experts warn that the current stocks located in the countries and already promised by donors will not prevent massive starvation. In all, an estimated 11 million people throughout southern Africa will need food aid to survive over the next six months. The latest harvest figures show that Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Lesotho - as feared - face the most desperate situation. Mozambique and Swaziland also face grave food shortages.
Starvation Looms For Millions
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has pleaded with the international community to take action against mass starvation in southern Africa. The Malawian government has recently declared a state of emergency as nearly 80 percent of the population is said to be suffering from malnutrition and inadequate food sources. An estimated three to four million Malawians will suffer from starvation by the end of this year.
Hunger rising in Malawi, Zambia
The past year ravaged Sub-Saharan Africa with flood and drought, hitting Malawi and Zambia especially hard with the worst food shortage in fifty years. Currently, over three quarters of the population is without food stocks in countries that are already economically fragile and unable to provide sufficient health care and education for their citizens, let alone lose their only means of subsistence to adverse weather conditions. Both countries are waiting for debt relief from the stalled IMF/World Bank program.
In February, Hayley Coristine wrote about a young Malawian mother who attempted to sell three of her children into slavery to earn money to feed her two other children. Her sixth and youngest child died earlier that week after starving to death. She explained her situation with utmost lucidity: "I cannot provide food for all my children; they will certainly die if I keep them all. If I sell the oldest ones who are strong enough to work, I will have money to feed my two youngest and perhaps they will have a better chance of surviving.. Relief volunteers gave the woman food to nourish all five of her children, yet the current situation enveloping Malawi is leading to an environment where similar incidents are not only possible but certain.
Ranked 151st of 162 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index, Malawi's average life expectancy is 37 years. One quarter of children do not live to see their fifth birthday; 48% of those under five are malnourished.