Monday
Sep292008
UN World Food Programme tries to stop "silent tsunami"
Monday, September 29, 2008 at 4:13PM
According to the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Josette Sheeran, the food hunger crisis has become a "silent tsunami" causing violence, corruption, and starvation in more than 40 countries worldwide.
In her address to the Women's Foreign Policy Group, Sheeran attributed this crisis to the increase in natural disasters as well as soaring food prices. "Hunger is not a solely humanitarian challenge," said Sheeran, who explained the effect that unstable foreign governments have on the United States such as the export bans and trade restrictions passed in recent years.
Sheeran spoke of the World Food Programme's efforts to establish school feeding programs to enable girls to attend schools their families would usually not let them attend. Also, the WFP has created similar programs for AIDS orphans that also gives them extra rations at the end of the week so families are more likely to take them home.
Specialists have helped WFP health workers develop "power packed food" for infants and toddlers to prevent undernutrition using locally grown crops, Sheeran said. In countries like Egypt, India, and Haiti, this has provided "the greatest impact for the least investment."
Sheeran hopes that the World Food Programme will help supply the world with twice the amount of food currently produced by 2050 and will provide opportunities, specifically for African farmers, to make their move onto the world stage as major food producers.
In her address to the Women's Foreign Policy Group, Sheeran attributed this crisis to the increase in natural disasters as well as soaring food prices. "Hunger is not a solely humanitarian challenge," said Sheeran, who explained the effect that unstable foreign governments have on the United States such as the export bans and trade restrictions passed in recent years.
Sheeran spoke of the World Food Programme's efforts to establish school feeding programs to enable girls to attend schools their families would usually not let them attend. Also, the WFP has created similar programs for AIDS orphans that also gives them extra rations at the end of the week so families are more likely to take them home.
Specialists have helped WFP health workers develop "power packed food" for infants and toddlers to prevent undernutrition using locally grown crops, Sheeran said. In countries like Egypt, India, and Haiti, this has provided "the greatest impact for the least investment."
Sheeran hopes that the World Food Programme will help supply the world with twice the amount of food currently produced by 2050 and will provide opportunities, specifically for African farmers, to make their move onto the world stage as major food producers.
Nobel Prize winning author condemns world hunger
“A human being can live with suffering, but no one should have to live with hunger. It means being subjected to torture, the worst of all kinds.”
Wiesel made haunting observations about the physical and psychological toll hunger takes, describing the eyes of those starving and asking how the world could tolerate such images without losing sleep.
Wiesel said that while he appreciated the efforts of those who study the crisis through pragmatic means, hunger can only be solved by “simple fellow human beings who listen to the call of their own humanity.”
Before closing, Wiesel recounted his own experiences with the threat of starvation. He described his life in Auschwitz, and how they worked, slept, and lived in a constant state of hunger.
“Those of us lucky enough to survive remember that hunger”