An estimated 16 million people in southern Africa do not have enough food to last until next year's harvest, which is 6 months away. The latest data, derived from an emergency food assessment conducted by a United Nations special envoy, indicate that 1.6 million more people are at risk than was predicted in May. “The new figures confirm [that] the humanitarian crisis is devastatingly real [and] worsening faster than originally projected,” said UN spokesperson James Morris. “This crisis must be an absolute top priority for the international community.”
Many factors have contributed to the worst food shortage in a decade, which affects 6 countries: Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. There has been a dangerous combination of floods and drought, an absence of effective security to ensure that food is distributed fairly, a failure of governance, increasing poverty and delays in importing maize. Another factor, both contributing to and affected by the shortage, is HIV/AIDS.
HIV infection rates in southern Africa are the highest in the world; in Swaziland, 25% of adults are infected. For these countries, AIDS means less productivity, less income and less capacity for responding to other crises, such as famines. With the increased number of orphans and elderly heads of households, children are being placed at particular risk. The World Health Organization estimates that much of this disaster could be averted if WHO could dedicate US$3.40 for each person at risk. Current funding from international donors is approximately 35 cents per person.
“The cruel irony is that we know how to save thousands of people and are ready to do it,” said WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland, “yet the world seems unwilling to pay the small cost of making it happen.”
Further information on the crisis and suggestions about how to help are available at www.redcross.org/donate /donate .html, www.wfp.org/index .asp? section=4 or www.savethe children .ca. — James Maskalyk, CMAJ
Figure. Suffer the children Photo by: Canapress