Unfortunately, the fight against famine and hunger is not yet over. In Kenya, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia, famine has left 22 million people in urgent need of vital humanitarian assistance. To this end, organisations such as Life ONG, are setting up programmes to raise funds to combat these phenomena in order to eradicate them.
Between conflict and drought, famine continues to spread
The factors of food insecurity differ from country to country. They range from poor rainfall performance leading to insufficient harvests, to water quality deterioration and epidemics. In Southern Sudan, crop failure combined with internal conflict has led to fatal food insecurity. Nevertheless, Life ONG believes that there is still some time to prevent the situation from worsening further and spreading around the world. But at present, the crisis is still not receiving the attention it needs to protect the affected populations. From Ethiopia in the early 1980s to Somalia more recently, entire nations that have fallen to these levels of hunger have unfortunately become commonplace. According to UN reports, more than 20% of households do not have the recommended daily caloric intake; more than 30% of the population is malnourished and 2 out of every 10,000 people die every day.
Is it possible to make a commitment against famine?
For those who live above the poverty line, hunger does not look so bad. It’s just the feeling you get before you eat. But for those living in developing countries, hunger means a lack of potentially fatal nutrients. These deficiencies can lead to impaired cognitive development in children, disease and weakened immune systems, and even death.
According to Life ONG, the most common cause of hunger is lack of money, as those with money often have better access to food in famine areas. The desert regions of the Gulf, for example, are less fertile than any African country, but because they have money to support themselves, they are not as hungry.
Lack of fertile land to grow food is considered the second major cause of hunger. For example, African soil absorbs little water and hardens quickly when exposed to sunlight and air. This makes it almost impossible to cultivate.
Add to this the many factors that contribute to land infertility, such as drought, deforestation, poor growing conditions and the fact that the majority of farmers in the regions concerned do not have the opportunity to learn modern farming methods.
Through the Africa Emergency Appeal, Life ONG is raising emergency funds to help the people concerned meet their nutrition and livelihood needs.
