Millions at risk as crops fail in central Africa

[cory777]

Source: The Independent

Hundreds of thousands of children across central Africa are at risk of death from starvation and disease after flash flooding worsened an already chronic humanitarian crisis caused by drought.

Aid agencies warned yesterday that 10 million people are already facing severe food shortages, particularly in the landlocked countries of Chad and Niger, after a drought led to the failure of last year's crops. As many as 400,000 children are at risk of dying from starvation in Niger alone, according to Save the Children.

Now unusually heavy rains have washed away this year's crops and killed cattle in a region dependent on subsistence agriculture. Organisations including Oxfam and Save the Children say that the slow international response to the emergency means that only 40 per cent of those affected are receiving food aid. As many as four out of five children require treatment for malnutrition in clinics.

Such is the shortage of international aid that the United Nations World Food Programme has had to scale back its £57m operation to feed eight million people in Niger and instead concentrate its efforts on the most vulnerable – children under two – according to Oxfam.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/millions-at-risk-as-crops-fail-in-central-africa-2064802.html

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[Bigmack]

1. Notice the HUGE response this post is getting?

Reckon that if it were about this sort of thing going on in North America or Europe a few more folks might have something to say.... Ms Bigmack

[depakid]

4. Disaster fatigue

[Posteritatis]

6. It's more that Africa's off everyone's mental radar

Ask most people what the deadliest conflict since the Second World War was and I guarantee you they won't know it was going on in central Africa not ten years ago.

Disaster fatigue's probably a factor, yes, but even if it wasn't an especially crappy year in that department something like this, or much worse than this, would just whiz by most people in any developed country.

[psychopomp]

10. Just mention "crisis in Africa" and most people's attention quickly wanes

It's time for a "war on famine" in Africa, if only the richest nations would be so far-sighted.

[Oldtimeralso]

2. K & R and off to the greatest n/t

[Warpy]

3. It's also Russia, the Ukraine, and a lot of other places

where staple crops like wheat were simply combusted by record heat or drowned by record rain.

Expect food prices to rise across the board this winter because there are going to be a lot of people around the world competing for a lot less food.

Let's just hope this pattern doesn't start to repeat.

[dkf]

5. More global warming. Sigh.

[dipsydoodle]

7. K & R

.

[SpiralHawk]

8. The Coming Global Famine

From the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/books/excerpt-the-coming-famine.html?_r=1&ref=books

"Over an eighteen-course banquet prepared for them by sixty chefs, the eight global potentates declared, “We are deeply concerned that the steep rise in global food prices coupled with availability problems in a number of developing countries is threatening global food security. The negative impacts of this recent trend could push millions more back into poverty.”

[Turborama]

9. Millions also at risk as crops flooded in Pakistan

Interesting difference in reaction.

[Seminol3]

11. Pakistan has

nukes...

If a central African country had nukes that could end up in the hands of extremists in a revolt, you'd see a different degree of attention, I'm sure.

[sabrina 1]

12. Yes and that is all the more reason to support Pakistanis now

so that the current secular government doesn't collapse. This is why the U.S. is sending in the military to help the image of the current government. If the world does not provide the help that is needed, exactly what you are saying can happen. The extremist groups will provide it and the people will see THEM as their only hope. If the current government collapses as a result of not being able to handle this crisis, the results could be disastrous.

The people just want to survive and in the areas where the U.S. military has been helping, people's minds have been changing towards the U.S. This is what is needed and I think people like John Kerry eg, who has been there to assess the situation, realizes how important it is for the world to get involved.

[Turborama]

13. I think you might have taken what I said the wrong way

Let's just say, this thread has been rated quite highly. Rightfully so, I must add.