I found this post in the New Era newspaper for Namibia.
I can not help but think about what goes through my mind when i open the cupboards in our home and say the phrase "we have nothing to eat". Do I even understand hunger ? Will I ever? I am not sure, my hope and my prayer is that God will use our family to bring hope to those who have no hope.
06 November 2009
WINDHOEK – Close to half a million Namibians are hungry and lack access to adequate amounts of food, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report says.
The report entitled “The state of Food Insecurity in the World 2009” was released recently and indicates that Namibia has 400 000 hungry people, a figure that translates into 19 percent of the country’s population.
The report further shows that affected people do not get the quality of food they need in order to be in a healthy state of mind.
According to the report, hunger/undernourishment/food insecurity entails being in no state of access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets the dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
Undernourishment on the other hand is said to exist when caloric intake is below the Minimum Dietary Energy Requirement (MDER). The MDER is the amount of energy needed for light activity and a minimum acceptable weight for attained height. It varies from country and from year to year depending on the gender and age structure of the population.
Although the report uses data from the period up to 2006, which was before the food and financial crises, it paints a gloomy picture of the country’s health status, which does not compare favourably with others in the region.
Lesotho, with a population of two million, has 300 000 people who are undernourished, while Mauritius only has 100 000 hungry people from a population of 1.2 million.
Botswana, Namibia’s neighbour with more or less the same population on the other hand, is said to have 500 000 hungry people.
In southern Africa only Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola are reported to be in a worse hunger situation than Namibia given their higher populations.
The report places countries into categories, which range from one to five. Category one is the best-case scenario in which only one sub-Saharan country, Gabon is found.
FAO estimates that about 1.02 billion people – about 100 million people more than last year – are undernourished in 2009, the highest number in four decades.
Countries have the economic and technical means to make hunger disappear, but what is missing is a stronger political will to eradicate hunger forever, FAO Director General Jacques Diouf said as the new annual report on world hunger was released.
It is believed the increase in the number of hungry people is not a result of poor harvests but is due to high food prices – particularly in developing countries – lower incomes and lost jobs.
Even before the recent twin crises of food and recession, the number of undernourished people had risen steadily for a decade, reversing progress made in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Meanwhile, the Director of Disaster Risk Management Japhet Iitenge recently told New Era government would this month begin distribution of food to families experiencing acute food insecurities.
These are families mainly from Oshana, Ohangwena, Omusati, Caprivi and Kavango regions who suffered severe flooding during the 2008/9 rainy season.
Recent livelihood assessments by the Directorate Disaster Risk Management reveal people in some parts of the country especially those in flooded regions face serious hunger, a situation that calls for swift remedial action from government and its stakeholders.
Government in the 2009/10 national budget allocated a total of N$109 million to the Directorate Disaster Risk Management for emergency activities, Iitenge confirmed.
