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Topic: Famine Around the World
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BORN AGAIN
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In the United States, we are still trying to break some weather records dating back to the 1870s, when the population of the earth was only about 1.4 billion people, and did not possess any harmful industrial output (other than smoke) to release into the atmosphere.
The earth's weather is to a large extent tied to what is happening in the sun, and some of the earth's weather patterns finally return after having been away in large orbits.
Howbeit, the relentless deforestation and resultant desertification of the planet is undoubtedly contributing to more chaotic weather patterns on us as well, since more of the earth's surfaces are hotter now than when they were covered by forests, which in turn causes the rainclouds to pass over areas which formerly received adequate rainfall.
The population has increased. The nations are in place. This earth is ready for its final act.
_______________ ![[Cross]](graemlins/cross.gif) ______
God bless, BORN AGAIN
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helpforhomeschoolers
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Ethiopia
Many fear a worse famine than in 1984
Although the government and agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP) have been distributing food aid to millions of people, the failure of two successive rainy seasons and the resulting food shortfall mean that six million people are already in dire need of assistance with another eight to nine million at risk in the coming months.
Eritrea
More than a million people are threatened with starvation as Eritrea's last two rainy seasons have failed to produce the necessary water for food crops and livestock.
The Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission estimates that a total of 2.3 million (about two thirds of the entire population) Eritreans will need food aid in what is being described as the worst drought since the 1980s.
The WFP says that the cereal harvest this year will meet only 15% of the country's food requirements. In a good year, the figure is 40-50%.
In areas near the border with Ethiopia, food production has been hampered by the presence of landmines left over from the border conflict with Ethiopia, which ended two years ago.
The UN believes that 400,000 tonnes of food aid will be needed to prevent malnutrition or starvation on a large scale.
Mauritania
In West Africa, Mauritania is facing severe food shortages after six poor harvests in a row.
The most recent rainy season, from June to August, failed and rural communities dependent on the country's sorghum and maize crops are now in desperate need of food aid.
Angola
The medical relief organisation Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) estimates that at least 1.5 million people are suffering from acute malnutrition.
The WFP says that it will be feeding 1.9 million people by the end of this year.
An estimated 221,000 tonnes of food aid is required to meet the country's needs
At least 1.5 million suffering from acute malnutrition, MSF says many are suffering from malnutrition in demobilisation camps set up for former Unita rebels.
The crisis is seen as the direct result of drought, the long civil war and strategies followed by the government and the rebels, which led to an exodus of people from rural areas to the towns.
It has been exacerbated by corruption on a massive scale which means that the huge revenues from oil exports do not always find their way into the government treasury.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that $900m disappeared in 2001 - three times the value of humanitarian aid supplied this year.
Zambia
The Zambian Government has declared the country's food shortage a national disaster.
Tension over Zambia's food shortages
The charity Christian Aid estimates that 2.3 million people will need food aid by December and that the country could soon run out of food.
High rates of Aids mean many are vulnerable to hunger
Severe drought has caused total crop failure in the south of the country.
Maize production fell by 30% in the 2000/2001 season, meaning there was little in store when this year's crops also failed.
The drought has also affected parts of eastern Zambia.
A maize shortage of 630,000 tonnes is estimated.
President Levy Mwanawasa has reaffirmed that Zambia will not accept food aid containing genetically modified grain.
In November aid officials working in a refugee camp housing 125,000 people said they had no non-GM food to give to the refugees after the government rejected donations of GM food.
High rates of HIV/Aids mean many people are especially vulnerable to hunger, while thousands of young people who should be working in the fields have died.
Zimbabwe
In September, the Southern African Development Community Regional Early Warning Unit said that Zimbabwe needed more food aid than any other country in the region facing famine.
It is estimated that six million people - half the population - are in need of food aid following the combination of poor rains and the adverse effects of the seizure of most white-owned farms.
Zimbabwe could face a maize deficit of 1.5 million tonnes.
Zimbabwe has the highest rates of HIV/Aids of the affected countries.
Mozambique
After two years of devastating floods, a prolonged drought is said to have affected an area of 90,000 hectares and about 100,000 households.
Mozambique has been hit by floods and drought
Christian Aid estimates that 515,000 people are facing severe food shortages and 355,000 of these need immediate food aid.
The situation is also compounded by sharp rises in price of staple foods and delays in maize deliveries, particularly from South Africa.
Malawi
President Bakili Muluzi declared a state of emergency in February.
Hundreds have already died in Malawi
Relief agencies estimate that 3.2 million people are now threatened by famine, the majority in the southern part of the country.
Out of 27 districts, 14 were hit by floods and six others experienced dry spells.
Maize production is said to have fallen by 10% since the last year.
But the situation has been made worse by the sale of surplus grain in 2001 after a bumper harvest in 2000.
Malawi needs 560,000 tonnes of food to avert widespread hunger, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF announced in September 2002 that it was providing an emergency loan of $23m to Malawi for the purchase of food. The fund said that Malawi would continue to face food shortages this year because of another poor harvest.
HIV/Aids is also taking its toll and in August Malawi suffered a worse than usual outbreak of cholera in which over 1,000 people died.
The Malawian Ministry of Health said that 33,000 people had been infected and the results had been more severe because people had been weakened by malnutrition.
Lesotho
Lesotho needs food The government declared a state of famine in April.
The 2002 harvest is said to be 60% below normal and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) says 650,000, a third of the population, will need emergency food aid by March 2003.
Other factors are: the decline in production of Lesotho's major crops; and falling remittance from Basotho workers employed in South African mines because of retrenchment and poverty.
Again, HIV/Aids is exacerbating the situation.
Swaziland
Erratic weather for a second consecutive year is being blamed for food shortages. According to the UN agencies, production is 18% down on last year's already poor harvest.
Swaziland normally imports crops from South Africa, even in good years. This year more than 100,000 tonnes of cereal will need to be imported.
Two-thirds of Swaziland's population live below the poverty line and prices of maize and wheat have been rising.
Aids continues to undermine food security. One third of Swazis are estimated to be HIV positive.
There is a growing problem of children orphaned by Aids and unable to fend for themselves.
Against the background of the food crisis, poverty and Aids, King Mswati III of Swaziland is to take delivery of a $45 million royal jet, despite the country's parliament voting to cancel the order.
MPs and donors have condemned the purchase because of Swaziland's severe food crisis, with about a quarter of the one million population needing food aid after failed harvests.
Sundan
Ten years after a famine claimed 250,000 lives, the Sudan faces a new catastrophe. In a country divided by 15 years of civil war and devastated by two years of drought, aid officials say 2.6 million people face starvation. You see walking skeletons everywhere," said Dr. Marial Achol, a medical officer in Tonj county. "Children, mothers and the elderly are particularly badly hit." Even with the support of aid organizations, the area's medical resources are unable to cope with the crisis, he said.
North Korea
The UN team visited hospitals, where it found two-thirds of the babies were underweight.
For more than three years, the people of North Korea have been suffering from chronic food shortages, which have left its people dying or malnourished and susceptible to disease.
Relief agencies estimate that around two million people may have died in total, but precise information is hard to obtain because of the closed and secretive nature of the regime.
India
While the threat of large scale famine has been eliminated; starvation still rages in most parts of Inda
Argentina
Argentina, once the richest nation in South America, is now home to scenes of famine and desperate poverty. With the continuing financial crisis digging deeper into the fabric of Argentinean society, hunger is becoming a real problem, one that is set to have lasting consequences even after economic recovery has begun.
In Argentina, tens of thousands of children are going hungry. This is a humanitarian problem with repercussions beyond the obvious discomfort and pain. "Because they don't receive enough proteins or iron, children are much more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis," explains Alejandro O'Donell, the managing director of the Nutrition Centre for Minors in Buenos Aires.
Hati
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and without education there is little hope of breaking out of the endless cycle of poverty.With no significant rainfall this year, many parts of Haiti are experiencing a severe drought. Famine has already claimed scores of lives, and in the worst-hit region, the Northwest, over 350,000 people face starvation. In order to survive, Haitians in the famine-affected areas are reported to be eating cattle that have died in the fields, as well as weeds and roots. Some have even taken to frying and eating government-provided seeds rather than planting them in the parched earth where they will shrivel and die.
Afganistan
Even before the world focused on it as a sanctuary for Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, Afghanistan was on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, the site of the greatest crisis in hunger and refugee displacement in the world. After four years of relentless drought, the worst in three decades, and the total failure of the Taliban government in administering the country, four million people have abandoned their homes in search of food in Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan and elsewhere, while those left behind eat meals of locusts and animal fodder. Five million people inside the country are threatened by famine, according to the United Nations.
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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