Millions Are Starving in the Horn of Africa, but Nobody's Talking About It

From Mother Jones:

The United Nations has called the ongoing drought and famine in Somalia the “worst humanitarian disaster” in the world. It’s going to get worse in the coming months. Yet a new Pew Research Center study released on Thursday shows that news outlets have barely noticed: “In July and August the food crisis has accounted for just 0.7 percent of the newshole. Year-to-date the crisis registers at just 0.2 percent.”

Aid workers say the current famine, which has affected Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti, “is worse” than the one that hit Somalia in 1992—making it perhaps the most serious food crisis since the famine that devastated Ethiopia in 1985.

The statistics are shocking: In Somalia, at least 29,000 children died of starvation in 90 days.Some 2 million children are malnourished, and another 500,000 children are at great risk of starving to death. Some 12 million people in the region need emergency assistance. The crisis has been exacerbated by the al-Shabaab Islamist insurgent group, which has played a hand in causing the famine by forcing out aid groups and preventing starving Somalis from fleeing the country.

As you read this, you might be thinking, “Huh? There’s a famine in Somalia right now?” If you haven’t heard about the crisis before, it’s because US news coverage has been focusing on other topics—a tabloid scandal, Congress’ budget deficit battle, the economy, Middle East revolutions, and, most recently, Hurricane Irene. Some of these are important, attention-worthy stories, but they’ve drowned out almost any coverage of the famine. That matters: Relief organizations say their fundraising efforts have stalled because the media isn’t talking about the famine. The United Nations recently announced that it needs $1.1 billion to adequately respond to the crisis.

Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables

While I’m not wild about this particular course of action, we must do something. Our country continues to gain weight, which adds tens of billions to our collective health care costs. Meanwhile, many Americans struggle to feed themselves. Here in Arkansas, roughly one in four children are at risk of going hungry each day. (Arkansas is currently saddled with the highest rate of food insecurity in the country.)

From The New York Times:

The average American consumes 44.7 gallons of soft drinks annually. (Although that includes diet sodas, it does not include noncarbonated sweetened beverages, which add up to at least 17 gallons a person per year.) Sweetened drinks could be taxed at 2 cents per ounce, so a six-pack of Pepsi would cost $1.44 more than it does now. An equivalent tax on fries might be 50 cents per serving; a quarter extra for a doughnut. (We have experts who can figure out how “bad” a food should be to qualify, and what the rate should be; right now they’re busy calculating ethanol subsidies. Diet sodas would not be taxed.)

Simply put: taxes would reduce consumption of unhealthful foods and generate billions of dollars annually. That money could be used to subsidize the purchase of staple foods like seasonal greens, vegetables, whole grains, dried legumes and fruit.

We could sell those staples cheap — let’s say for 50 cents a pound — and almost everywhere: drugstores, street corners, convenience stores, bodegas, supermarkets, liquor stores, even schools, libraries and other community centers.

This program would, of course, upset the processed food industry. Oh well. It would also bug those who might resent paying more for soda and chips and argue that their right to eat whatever they wanted was being breached. But public health is the role of the government, and our diet is right up there with any other public responsibility you can name, from water treatment to mass transit.

The struggle to eat

From The Economist:

Take food stamps, a programme designed to ensure that poor Americans have enough to eat, which is seen by many Republicans as unsustainable and by many Democrats as untouchable. Participation has soared since the recession began (see chart). By April it had reached almost 45m, or one in seven Americans. The cost, naturally, has soared too, from $35 billion in 2008 to $65 billion last year. And the Department of Agriculture, which administers the scheme, reckons only two-thirds of those who are eligible have signed up.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives want to rein in the programme’s runaway growth. In their budget outline for next year they proposed cutting the amount of money to be spent on food stamps by roughly a fifth from 2015. Moreover, instead of being a federal entitlement, available to all Americans who meet the eligibility criteria irrespective of the cost, the programme would become a “block grant” to the states, which would receive a fixed amount to spend each year, irrespective of demand. The House has also voted to cut a separate health-and-nutrition scheme for poor pregnant women, infants and children, known as WIC, by 11%. (The Senate, controlled by the Democrats, is unlikely to approve either measure.)

A Deeper Look At Child Hunger in Arkansas

Our state, unfortunately, leads the country in the number of people living meal to meal. Data suggests that one in four children go hungry each day.

Here’s more from KATV:

Empty shelves at food pantries and freezers tell the sad story.  The Hunger Relief Alliance reports, demand for food banks is soaring, but less than 30 percent of those who get help from food banks receive benefits from SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and formerly known as food stamps.

“Some people don’t because of pride, they don’t want to feel like they can’t make it on their own,” said Galyean.

The Director of the Growth and Development Clinic at Arkansas Children’s Hospital Dr. Patrick Casey said, “We believe that families who take advantage of these programs, there are benefits to their children that are measurable.”

He continued, “If malnutrition occurs in the first 3 years of life, it increases the chance that the brain may be injured and if the brain is injured it sets the child up with long-term developmental problems.”

He sees about 5 children a week that are underweight come into his clinic.  He said people do not use the programs because of the red tape.