Kimberly Mega/ Food Scarcity /Wed April 2nd / 11:00 pm
Malnutrition is an epidemic in most African countries and affects mostly women and children. In Karamoja twenty people have already died of malnutrition and with only one harvest season a year more deaths are sure to come. The World Food Programme has declared this region a “humanitarian crisis” but the locals want it to be declared a famine because it has become an extremely severe situation. The locals have resorted to living off of rats and wild fruits and some drink alcohol to satisfy their hunger. Normally periods of famine are spaced apart for this region but they are now two years apart. There is no more livestock to feed the locals due to lack of feed supply and a previous flood. The people have no other option but to starve. Karamoja is a very underdeveloped area with few roads that connect it to the outside world. Levels of illiteracy are over eighty-five percent and the idea of a well balanced diet is a mystery to most of the locals. The World Food Programme isn’t sure whether they can support Karamoja’s population of 700,000 people because their food supply is low as it is. These situations are very hard to deal with because people everywhere are starving. And the world government agencies can only come up with so much food to support a limited number of people. Karamoja is in dire conditions due to its climate changes, flood damage and geographical location, and is not the only region suffering from these factors. Every week there is another country in extreme starvation and the rest of world can only pray. There are too many influences causing malnutrition that I don’t know if everyone can be helped. The article is from an African newspaper and it referred to the twenty people who died as the “lucky ones”. This is a horrible statement and I was taken back. It leaves me to wonder whether living is so unbearable they have come to view death as a blessing? But I now might have my answer. :(
http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/17065
1 comment:
It's really sad when people really believe that dying is better than living. Whenever I think about all the people starving in the world I can't help but think about how nearly 70% of the U.S. population is obese. Granted this is not only because of food but it still makes you think. I know that we can't solve the worlds problems but certainly there has to be something that can be done to help people who don't even have enough food to survive.
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