Famines& Starvations In the 3ed World Countries

Abstract

Have you ever thought about what it is like when havingno food? I am sure that most people do not have to worry about being hungry every day, butthere are people who do.In fact, there are millions of people who are starving to death around the world at each moment. According to the definition of the Oxford dictionary, hunger is "uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite and also the exhausted condition caused by want of food."

This subject "Famines and starvations in the third world countries" has been chosen for many reasons and purposes. The main purposeis for the lack of knowledge about the subject and the effects that it has on a specific country. This research is going to shed a light on the solutions of this problem. This research will examine the causes of famine, the health effects it has on sufferers, and the solutions.

chapter one

What does famine mean?And what is the history of starvation?(Introduction).

Famine nowadays is a serious threat to the existence of humans in many parts of the world. As most of us have seen on many TV news stations, these populations decrease and many people in the affected regions die as a result of famine, hunger, and diseases accompanied by famine.

Starvation is a common and widespread problem in the third world countries, which means suffering or death caused by lack of food or hunger. It is also defined academically as a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and, eventually, death.

According to the World Health Organization, hunger is the single gravest threat to the world's public health. The WHO also states that malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all causes.

Undernutrition is a contributor factor in the death of 3.1 million children under the age of five, every year. Figures on actual starvation are difficult to come by, but according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the less severe condition of undernourishment currently affects about 842 million people, or about one in eight (12.5%) people in the world population.

So, the vast majority of those hug numbers in the death toll are children who, because they have not had the right nutrition in the very earliest parts of their lives, are really susceptible to any infectious diseases. Of course there will be extreme circumstances where children starve to death, and if we have a look bake at some of Africa's crisis, we will find that it shows conditions still faced by many Africans today such as, poverty, conflict, and environmental degradation.

Children in the affected areas will be hit the worst, with their health and development drastically impacted. People are struggling to get enough to eat in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Yemen, and south Sudan. So, there are some ways and protocols that charitable and humanitarian organization follow to help these countries to overcome the root causes of hunger and malnutrition.

Chapter two

Characteristics of areas famine is spread in

 (The affected regions).

Usually famine spreads among undeveloped countries, where they lack good governmental decision, regions with inhabitants that still use hunting and gathering techniques, regions that lack pure or processed water, and regions that continuously suffer from bad weather conditions, floods, droughts, and heavy rainfall.

Most famine spreads in areas where one or more of these factors apply to. In Ethiopia for example inhabitants rely on themselves to support each other. And still tend to use old and primitive machinery in agriculture.

But why do some countries like Somalia have been living in famine for a long time, while other cities have managed to survive and overcome famine successfully? When bad conditions hit those countries, rich countries, like Arizona,that were experiencing floods and droughts, import all their main needs and food from other countries , even with their shortage of agriculture.

The total lack of agriculture in an economically strong area does not cause famine. Arizona and other wealthy regions import the vast majority of their food, since such regions produce sufficient economic goods for trade.

Famine in Africa

Many parts of the 3ed world are suffering from famine and diseases accompanied by hunger and contaminated water. Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Ethiopia, and many other countries examining famine are all located in Africa alone.

A common case for famine in Africa is Ethiopia, because it has been suffering from famine through many repeated periods of time. The world food program and government policies have distributed food aids to millions of people in Ethiopia, but their situation isgetting worse with the ongoing droughts and starvations. The dry and hot weather barely supportplants and crops. In addition, animals have also starved from the lack of grazing.

Mauritania is another country facing starvation in Africa, in the west of the continent. They were depending on sorghum and maize crops for their food. But the lack of rain prohibited the use of land and harvesting.

Lesotho has experienced recently frost, heavy rainfall, hailstorms, and tornadoes for the second year. All these disasters have lessened the fertility and the capacity of the lands. And as a result of less farming and agriculture, the famine has increased to higher rates.

Almost two thirds of Africa's population live below the poverty line. The prices of crops and wheat have been rising in all of the African countries. A recent report has warned that the number of hungry children in Africa could increase to 3.3 million by 2025.

Chapter three

Roots and factors that lead to starvation (Causes).

Famine can be caused by many different reasons. There are some natural factors, such as floods, droughts, earthquakes, and the environmental causes which are uncontrollable, or some factors that humans contributed in or responsible for, such aslack of food, shortage in food distribution and governmental issues.

Famine has managed to spread around many parts of the world. For every time famine stroke a region, it would be as a result of many causes, which differ from a period of time to another and from a place to another.

There are main causes of starvation. The basic cause of starvation is inflation which can be defined as an imbalance between the energy intake and the energy expenditure. In other words, the body spends more energy than it gains. This imbalance can arise from medical conditions or circumstantial situations.

 The political issues and thecivilian wars are other factors contributing in this issue. Dictatorial governments around the world have put policies that indirectly caused famine to spread in their regions. And civilian wars have led many countries to counter hunger, because they devastatingly destroy all the infrastructure of the country and prevent allthe exporting and importing processes.

The weak economy of a country is the main reason of poverty. Poor people cannot buy enough foodstuffs and thereby they fail to fulfill the caloric demands of the body.

Food scarcity and malnutrition have caused people to face severe famines in regions where there is only access to the contaminated food and water. These cause a decrease in the supply of healthy food and water to the whole population, and thus mass starvation may occur.

Diseases can cause rapid weight loss either due to the nature of the disease, or the inability of the person to either eat or eat enough due to symptoms including fatigue, nausea, and vomiting.

Clinical conditions, such as recovering from surgery or burns in which the person may become too fatigue or incapacitated to eat enough during their period of convalescence are other main causes contributing in making this problem worse.

Many natural disasters tend to hit countries and reduce or deplete the wealth of the agricultural lands of the region sharply. The most common natural disasters that encouraged famine to arise are droughts and floods. And the recurring droughts in the same zones prevent the residents from the main and the only way they have to make alive which are farming and working in the agriculture fields, because a drought makes it too much difficult for farmers and herders to produce crops and feed or graze their livestock.

Chapter four

The impacts and the results of famine (Effects).

Hunger and malnutrition make the body weak and vulnerable to diseases and infections as the body does not have the fuel to build muscle and fight off infections. In children, this is deadly and many children die in hunger prone areas because of this reason. Pregnant and malnourished mothers also deliver underweight babies, who struggle for survival. Children often have stunted growth as a result of malnutrition. Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five which means 3.1 million children each year.

Without proper foods and the right balance of vitamins and minerals the brain is not able to develop properly. Hungry also makes it difficult to concentrate on anything, especially for children. Children in famine areas are unable to stay in school. Hunger keeps children away from school, as they have to walk for miles to do some farm work to make a living with their families.

Young adults who are able to migrate to nearby towns and cities end up in slums or run down communities, as they cannot afford the high living standards in the cities. Their low education level also makes them unsuitable for many good paying city jobs. Many of them end up doing drugs, robbery, prostitution and other crimes to make a living.

Countries with lots of hunger tend to do poorly with the economy. This is because adults and young people do not have the right frame of mind to work. They are constantly ill and work input and interest are very low. Fewer hands on farms also mean that there is not enough produce from the farming villages into the towns for consumption and further export. People live from hand to mouth with little to invest in the wider economy. Additionally, governments are forced to spend more on food aid and care, rather than investing in schools, infrastructure, and healthcare.

Another notable conditions are the anemia and cholera. There can be a lot diseases that are caused due to famines. Apart from diseases, famine also cause lower frailty rates, poor living conditions, and fewer income options.

For the survivors of famine and starvation, there are lifelong effects on their health. These health effects even can be passed down to the survivors 'children, and may to the survivors' grandchildren.   

Chapter five

Actions to prevent starvation

 (Solutions).

A lot of actions have been taking in order to reduce famine to reach its lowest levels. Famine can be in its minimum statues by working in some steps but they should be taken as experiments or solutions for the next generations, or they will suffer from starvation again because of the same reasons.

The main skill that the inhabitants of the lands should learn is how to hunt for food if they are living in in regions where they depend mainly on animals. Growing, trapping, and storing food are also basic skills residents should consider learning in order to survive and prevent famine from spreading.

Using modern science, genetic engineeringis an efficient solution that can be used in order to stop the past attacks and to kill the insects and also to fix the disorders in low yields.

As a long term solution, stakeholders and authorities can provide farmers with new machinery or new farming equipment, and encourage them to use the efficient and the developed techniques in agriculture and cultivation instead of the old ways which waste time and money.

Rising awareness and improving education methods by opening a variety of educational fields such as, universities, schools, faculties, and institutes can prevent famine from spreading. This idea offers poor people a chance to labor and an opportunity to get an independent income instead of giving them their needs as an aid.

Food assistance, including emergency feeding and cash is also an effective way that most of the charities and organizations follow to reduce the number of starvation and mortality.

As it was mentioned previously, the vast majority of the humans who die because of hanger are children. So, by making diagnosis and treatment operations of childhood malnutrition, the number of death-toll will decrease.

Providing pure and healthy water and sanitation for areas affected by famine will prevent the infectious diseases from spreading, because those diseases spread through the polluted water which is used for drinking and irrigation.

 A process of land rehabilitation and restoration can fertilize the capacity of the lands in producing and improving the quality of harvests and crops.

Adjusting and supporting the rights and the democracy of the affected countries can minimize or lessen the average of conflicts and civilian wars.

Poor countries should have a great investment of support in infrastructure, education, improvements of health care and domestic markets. These things can easily be done with the help of developed countries and cooperation between each other in order to help poor countries.

Chapterfive

This problem in our beloved country
 (Famine in Yemen)

                         

The war in Yemen has claimed over 10,000 lives and left 3 million displaced since 2014. As a result, Yemen is currently facing the largest food emergency in the world and 65% of Yemenis currently does not have reliable access to food. The price of food spiked severely in September 2016, as the conflict in the country escalated. Around 7 million people in Yemen depend entirely on food assistance, with the rate of child malnutrition being one of the highest rates in the world.

According to Food and Agriculture Organization, 14.4 million Yemenis, more than half of the population, have no food insecure. In late December 2016, the World Food Programreported that 7.8 million of 24 million Yemeni people are facing acute life-threatening of malnutrition. The WFP also said that 10 of the country's 22 provinces are in the grip of severe food insecurity at the emergency level.

In Taiz, about 250,000 ofinhabitants have been going hungry for weeks as theWFP claimed. The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldricksaid recently that the basic services in Taiz are scarce, including access to water and fuel.

The severe shortage of food, fuel and medicine across Yemen has led to an increase in the number of children suffering from malnutrition, while the destruction of health facilities led them to death.

According to theUNICEFreported in January 2016, 3 million children under five years in Yemen require services to treat or prevent malnutrition from happening.

Doctors of the world began working in Yemen in 2015, focusing mainly on food security and child health. “We now support 8 health centers and one maternity clinic in the governorates of Sana’a and Ibb. We also operate an emergency team, which provides assistance and emergency supplies in conflict areas,” said one of them in his report.

Conclusion

Famine is a serious and dangerous state that a region can experience, and should be avoided when a country is threatened to have famine. We always see in news and other stories on TV,newspaper and internet pictures for children with extremely skinny bodies, together with their skinny mothers. Those are very difficult images to ignore, but they are real.

In many places in the world, there are families who cannot even bring themselves to think, talk, walk or even sleep because there are simply no energy in their bodies to do so. The food energy is measured in kilocalories, and it is recommended that the average person need about 2,200Kilocalories each day to live a healthy life.

There is no evidence to doubt that all famines in the world can be preventable by human actions, because when there are people who starve to death, there is invariably some massive social failure. And that the responsibilities for that failure deserve explicit attention and analysis, not evasion.

Finally, it is very easy to think that people who are hungry in the 3ed world countries and all the zones which are affected by famine are just lazy, and hunger is the only result they deserve. That is not the case. It is just difficult for individuals to help themselves, especially if they are caught up in the usual conflicts, extreme and hard climates, political or economic difficulties involved.

Done by:

       Khaled Al-Yousifi

       Osama TajAl-Deen

       Ramy Al-Nwairah

April, 2018