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African hunger

Last reviewed: 26-06-2007

The never-ending crisis


It is estimated that 200 million people remain chronically malnourished across Africa. The severe food crisis that hit the continent in 2005 and early 2006 may have eased, but food shortages persist, particularly in East and Southern Africa.

  • 200 million Africans are malnourished
  • Millions without the means to sustain their way of life
  • Emergency food aid ineffective

    Traditional social organisations and welfare systems capable of looking after the most vulnerable are collapsing under the weight of extreme poverty combined with explosive rates of HIV infection. According to UNAIDS, there are now some 25.8 million people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 60 percent of the 40 million sufferers worldwide.

    Despite claims of a near tripling in emergency and development aid since 2000, underlying problems such as HIV/AIDS, climate change, poverty and dysfunctional local markets remain unsolved.

    Soaring global food costs are exacerbating the situation for the poorest, especially the urban poor.

    Increasingly, organisations such as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation are saying aid should be provided in the form of cash or food coupons rather than food shipments, which can affect producers and markets in recipient countries and distort international trade.

    In the search for solutions, the debate over hunger in Africa continues to attract a complex range of intersecting and often contradictory opinions, theories, interests and ambitions. It is also characterised by an almost complete lack of global consensus as to what needs to be done about it.

    Key statistics


    Number of people in sub-Saharan Africa living on less than $1 a day 315 million (UNDP)
    Number of malnourished 206 million (FAO)
    Hunger-related deaths 2.9 million per year (IFPRI)
    Malnourished as percentage of total population 33 percent in sub-Saharan Africa (FAO)
    16 percent in West Africa (FAO)

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