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Feeding Hunger and Insecurity: In run-up to UN food summit, ACF launches report on the impact of the global food crisis
22 Jan 2009 15:59:00 GMT
 Source: Action Against Hunger - UK
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Background

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•  E. African hunger

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In view of Monday's UN food security summit in Madrid, international humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF) announces the publication of its latest report titled Feeding Hunger and Insecurity. Drawing on field research in the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the report explores the impact high, fluctuating food prices, globally and domestically, have on food security and malnutrition.

In Ethiopia, as food prices increased, there was an increase in malnutrition. ACF also found that high prices had a significant and consistent impact on livelihoods and dietary diversity in all four countries because high prices decrease access to food and lead to a reduction in the diversity and quantity of diets, trapping millions of children in a downward spiral of poverty and malnutrition. Interviews in Ethiopia, for example, revealed that pastoralists were selling more assets or assets of greater value to ensure enough income to purchase enough food. Selling their best sheep would previously have bought 25kg of sugar and 25kg of cereals - today they must choose between the two.

Lessons from seasonal domestic price fluctuations show that this type of household response can have long-term implications for poverty, vulnerability and malnutrition.

The report argues that it is paramount that the international response takes notice of the vulnerabilities and needs of those communities that are exposed to the debilitating effects of seasonal and global price fluctuations.

The similarity between household reactions to seasonal domestic price fluctuations and global price rises provides an opportunity to mount immediate, proven interventions provided there is sufficient and sustained political will.

The financial crisis, the cessation of local protests, riots and violence, and the decline of global food pric­es have led many to refocus their attention on other priorities. It would be irresponsible for national gov­ernments and the international community to assume that the global food crisis was a one-off event and to wait for the next to come.

The Madrid meeting offers a unique chance to come up with concrete steps to combat malnutrition. However, interventions must be inclusive, coordinated and comprehensive, addressing both agricultural production and malnutrition in tandem.

A full version of the briefing paper is available on www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk.

Notes to editors: When riots in many places brought into sharp focus the impact of soaring food prices around the world UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in April 2008 established a Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis. In July 2008, this Task Force released an Action Plan, the Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA). The follow-up meeting in Madrid will be held during 26 and 27 January and is hosted by Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero.

Action Against Hunger (ACF) is an international humanitarian organisation working in 43 of the world's poorest countries. Its vocation is to save lives, especially those of malnourished children, and to work with vulnerable populations to preserve and restore their livelihoods with dignity.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Background information

Briefings
African hunger - [Who works where]
E. African hunger - [Who works where]
S. African hunger - [Who works where]
W. African hunger - [Who works where]

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Working in Relief
Facts & figures
Central African Republic Ethiopia Liberia Sierra Leone
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