African countries can do more to reduce the number of malnourished children, according to international researchers.
The proportion of malnourished people in sub-Saharan Africa has remained at about 35% since 1970, the International Food Policy Research Institute said.
But population growth means the numbers affected rose to 200 million by 2001.
Further deterioration could be averted if African states invested more in farming and gained better access to rich world markets, the report says.
It warns that the number of malnourished children could grow from 38.6 million now to 41.9 million by 2025.
The report comes amid a severe food crisis in Niger - where up to three million people are suffering shortages."...
The UN says 32,000 children with severe malnutrition could face death without the necessary food and medical treatment.
Besides Niger, hunger also looms in neighbouring Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
The crisis was triggered by poor harvests and locusts last year.
'Daunting' task
The IFPRI report says the UN Millennium Development goal to halve child malnutrition in Africa by 2015 will fail unless more radical steps are taken now.
According to the Washington-based institute, the entire continent needs at least at least $303bn (£167bn) in new investment to halve hunger by 2015 - a prospect it describes as "daunting". ...
The lead author says the recent pledge by world's richest countries to double aid to the poorest, as well as a promise by African leaders to boost investment in agriculture, would be beneficial.
"Improved crop, land and water management must be supported," Mark Rosegrant said.
Building roads and boosting the information and communication technology sectors would have a positive impact too, the report says.
It also called for better access to world markets for African produce.
Trade liberalisation in agriculture would bring an additional $5.4b to Africa by 2025, it says.
Posts
3 comments:
Hello: I rarely see an article addressing the main issue IMO and this article is no exception. Birth Control. Increase harvests, get rid of the locusts, build infrastructure, increase trade, and finally quintiple the population. Do you think there would be less starvation?
In terms of population, it has been proven through countless examples (including the U.S., Western Europe, Hong Kong, Kerala etc.), that increasing economic properity (and increased status and education of women) leads to lower birth rates. Conversely, there are compelling arguments/rationales for higher birthrates in predominantly agrarian societies...
Agreed, corruption is a huge problem in various African countries, Zimbabwe being probably the greatest example of what happens when corruption, megalomonia, and paranoia are congealed into the monster-man Mugabe. However, corruption is also present to a large scale in countries such as Russia, India, China, Saudi Arabia. In absolute dollar amounts, scandals involving Enron, Healthsouth etc...probably massive dwarf misallocation of funds in many African countries combined!
The problem is more than corruption in Africa. (I also feel it is important to look at African countries individually, rather than tarnishing the entire continent as a unique swamp of corruption).I would encourage those who wish to pursue this in greater detail to read Jeffrey Sach's book, "The End of Poverty." Sachs is an international economist at Johns Hopkins. Much of the G8 summit and organizations such as One.org are centered on his prescriptions for bringing Africa out of extreme poverty.
Post a Comment