Starving to death
Starving to death
Wars in four countries have left 20 million people on the brink
Our world produces enough food to feed all its inhabitants. When one region is suffering severe hunger, global humanitarian institutions, though often cash-strapped, are theoretically capable of transporting food and averting catastrophe.
But this year, South Sudan slipped into famine, and Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen are each on the verge of their own. Famine now threatens 20 million people more than at any time since World War II. As defined by the United Nations, famine occurs when a regions daily hunger-related death rate exceeds 2 per 10,000 people.
The persistence of such severe hunger, even in inhospitable climates, would be almost unthinkable without war.
Each of these four countries is in a protracted conflict. While humanitarian assistance can save lives in the immediate term, none of the food crises can be solved in the long term without a semblance of peace. The threat of violence can limit or prohibit aid workers access to affected regions, and in some cases, starvation may be a deliberate war tactic.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/2017-famines/?utm_term=.f5bba62635ce
Solly Mack
(90,778 posts)shadowmayor
(1,325 posts)To feed these people? To provide them medicine?
How much do we so easily spend on wars? To kill other people. Are we actually civilized?
And nobody really gives a shit.
What in the hell did the people of Iraq ever do to the people of the United States?
CrispyQ
(36,487 posts)Good question.