The International

According to the latest announcement by the European Union, a “strong risk” of famine may be what the world needs to turn its attention to West Africa, where extreme hunger continues to plague the nation. In January, the EU announced that progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving world hunger and reducing infant mortality rates by 2015 now stands jeopardized as West Africa lies on the brink of facing another famine this year.

After a dry season of drought and insufficient harvest, the Government of Niger estimated a cereal deficit of one million tons for 2010 and confirmed half of its 15 million population could face either severe or moderate malnutrition. Amongst those most vulnerable to the imminent food crisis are young children.

Unlike in 2005, when denial by government officials prevented early intervention by aid organizations resulting in a severe hunger crisis that affected 4 million people including 800,000 children, Brian O’Neil, regional director of EU’s aid department ECHO, addressed the current situation calling it “a crisis of enormous proportion,” and declared immediate action must be taken sooner than later. “We are already into what looks like a period of extreme vulnerability and extreme difficulty for the most disadvantaged of the population,” Mr. O’Neil explained, giving warning to the world to press on sustained relief efforts to regions where food shortages are already apparent, before another fruitless harvest arises causing a “catastrophic famine” to follow.

The looming famine in West Africa

West Africa has a long history of malnutrition and high infant mortality rates. Severe droughts and locust invasions have long been the causes of a food crisis in the West African nations of Niger, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Mali and the Sahel. In particular, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Action Against Hunger, and the UN have all documented an increasing number of child malnutrition cases in Niger, Mali and Mauritania. The food crisis is so severe in these regions that many villagers resort to scavenging wild plants or selling their core assets to survive.

Recently, erratic rains—beginning late and ending early—have led to poor agricultural production. In January 2010, the European Commission aid group reported that millions of people in Niger and across West Africa faced food shortages. “The erratic rains in the 2009/2010 agricultural season have resulted in an enormous deficit in food production in these countries,” announced Brian O’Neill, regional sector head of European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).

But with an estimated food deficit of 30 percent for 2010, Niger has been described as the "epicenter of the crisis.” Ranking dead last on a list of 177 developing countries, it is hard to imagine a country less industrialized than Niger, claims the United Nations. According to the UN, 150,000 children under five are severely malnourished in Niger and an additional 650,000 kids are moderately malnourished.

Mr. O’Neil, who recently visited the region, said signs of a potential famine are already apparent in parts of Chad and Niger. According to Mr. O’Neil, high food prices, scarce livestock and low wages are three main indicators of a crisis, and all three are currently prominent in West Africa as the region faces an early start to the hunger season. Typically, Niger families endure starvation during the lean harvest season months from April to September. But in January, the FEWSNET (the US-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network) announced households were already showing vulnerability. Families were selling off livestock and many pastoralists, who generally start migrating in search of pasture and water in March, were seen moving out as early as November 2009. Food prices are also doubling; today, a sack of millet—America’s equivalent of birdseed and many Nigerians’ remaining food source—costs $42 in southern Niger, as opposed to $25 this time last year.

Urging the United Nations and other international organizations to step in and take control of the escalating situation in West Africa, Mr. O’Neil declared a famine could be prevented if aid is mobilized. “If we work fast enough, early enough,” he explained, “it won’t be a famine. If we don’t there is a strong risk.” The Niger government estimates that it will need 165 million euros (US$231 million) in food aid to respond to the crisis this year.

Infant mortality rates amongst the world’s highest in Sahel

Niger is not alone. Countries in the Sahel, which runs along the southern edge of the Sahara desert, are also greatly suffering from severe malnutrition. Reuters reported that a staggering 30 to 50 per cent of the population in some countries along the Sahel continue to be affected by severe malnutrition.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 300,000 children under the age of five die of malnutrition each year along the Sahel belt. This number exceeds those who died in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, and is amongst one of the world’s highest infant morality rates due to malnutrition. But unlike unforeseen natural disasters, aid organizations say “deaths from malnutrition (or hunger) are completely preventable—if leaders made it a priority.”

Rising food prices create demand-supply imbalance

In a report released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) at the annual general meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in January 2008, the lead author and director general of IFPRI stated that the days of steadily decreasing food prices are far from over.

The report, “The World Food Situation: New Driving Forces and Required Actions,” identified income growth, climate change, high energy prices, globalization, and urbanization to be key factors in the current and ongoing transformation of existing food production, markets, and consumption. “Surging demand for feed, food, and fuel have recently led to drastic price increases, which are not likely to fall in the foreseeable future, due to low stocks and slow-growing supplies of agricultural outputs,” announced Joachin von Braun, suggesting climate change will also have a negative impact on food production, further complicating the challenges associated with meeting global food demand. A rise in global food demand and prices means an evident threat to the livelihoods and nutrition of poor people in developing countries. “[This could] potentially exacerbate hunger and malnutrition among the world’s poorest,” stated von Braun, urging countries to derive economic policies aimed at aiding the world’s most poor and hungry so that none are left behind in the wake of economic and global developments.

Causes and conflict

Similar to escalating food prices, the causes of malnutrition are often unforeseen, multi-dimensional and long-term. According to Didier Verse, ECHO’s food advisor, the causes are rooted in culture, behaviour, health, and agriculture. “We cannot say that with more food the problem will go away,” he explains, “because it does not. We need to go deeper to solve the problem.”

“But, Niger authorities are reluctant to admit it is a crisis,” reports the Reuters newspaper. In January, a Niger government spokesman announced food security issues should not be the reason for international partners to enter the country. Denying the food crisis, the Niger government claimed international parties were exaggerating the situation in a manner that was “humiliating” Nigerians. Previously in 2005, the country denied claims that the country was facing a food shortage until photos of starving Nigerian children appeared in international media. Had the situation been addressed earlier, 800,000 children would not have suffered from hunger during the food crisis which engulfed the nation that year.

As ECHO calls for swift action to address the risk of a 2010 famine, officials are also quick to address that such action will be futile if “the leaders of the countries that require help are in denial of the chronic hunger problems they face.”

Progress to date in the global fight to end hunger

Since its instigation a decade ago, instrumental progress has been made towards the Millennium Development Goals of reversing the effects of poverty and hunger in developing countries. In particular, unprecedented humanitarian efforts by the World Food Programme (WFP), Save the Children, and Moving the World have continued to provide food aid to West Africa and reduce infant mortality rates.

Acknowledging the severe hunger season in the world’s second poorest country, the World Food Programme (WFP) instigated a Protracted Relief and Rehabilitation Operation (PRRO) to support its Emergency Operation (EMOP) and distribute aid to affected populations while helping to reinforce government emergency structures. The operation was launched on April 1, 2006 and ran for a period of 18 months. With a total budget of US$49.2 million, PRRO’s primary objective was to target child malnutrition in Niger and provide 61,300 mt of food aid to 3.3 million beneficiaries—70 per cent of whom accounted for the malnourished population. In collaboration with the UNICEF, WFP provided “supplementary feeding rations” and “‘blanket’ supplementary feeding” to moderately malnourished children ranging from 0-3 years old who were living in the most vulnerable areas of the country prone to the lean hunger season.

“Moving the World” has also continued to help fight global hunger. The groundbreaking partnership by the courier delivery company, TNT, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) provides food aid to an average of 90 million people, including 56 million hungry children, in over 80 countries each year. In 2003-2004, the program was successful in transporting emergency food supplies by land and air to West African nations as well as Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, and Sudan. Since it started in 2002, TNT employees have raised an additional € 9 million for WFP’s school feeding projects.

Another organization making headway in Africa’s food crisis is Save the Children. Committed to ensuring children in the poorest countries of the world are healthy to survive and thrive, Save the Children is on the ground in Niger and Mali providing food and health assistance to malnourished children. Widely distributing Plumpy’nut and other food products, the non-profit organization has set up feeding centers and distributing facilities to deliver food aid to households in surrounding villages.

But “decades of nutrition interventions have led to little noticeable improvement in Sikasso,” says Thomas McCormack, Save the Children’s director in Mali, adding that more needs to be done. “It is discouraging. We need to pull together the disparate approaches to child hunger… What we are seeing now is simply a renewed focus on an old problem,” he said comparing the situation to his days as a US Peace Corps volunteer in the southern Mali region.

Belgium’s record WFP contribution to fight world hunger

In December 2009, the Government of Belgium announced an additional €10.6 million contribution to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to help end world hunger. Having previously pledged €18 million in 2008 to ameliorate the crisis, Belgium’s record €26 million donation in 2009 marks its largest-ever contribution to the WFP.

In recognition of the country’s unprecedented efforts to date, Gemmo Loedsani, director of WFP’s office in Brussels, commended Belgium’s generosity in tough economic times to help those who are less fortunate. “In a year when many people in industrialized nations are facing financial difficulties,” Mr. Loedsani announced, “Belgium has been even more generous than before, helping vulnerable people in developing countries.”

Most of the money (€9 million) will be invested in providing urgent food relief to drought-affected regions in Africa, including delivering food aid to malnourished children and vulnerable rural households in Niger. The remaining €1.6 million will go towards the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) to sustain its continued relief efforts. The UNHAS was facing possible closure in certain regions due to lack of funds, but now, thanks to Belgium’s donation, they will resume operations in Chad, Niger, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The service, which is operated by the WFP, will continue dispensing aid workers to some of the hardest-to-reach zones in the world, and providing vulnerable people with access to medicine, clean water, nutrition and other vital services to ensure their well-being.

Plumpy’nut: Africa’s miracle food

Coined as “a revolution in nutritional affairs” by Dr. Milton Tectonidis, the chief nutritionist at Doctors Without Borders, Plumpy’nut is helping save lives around the world. Particularly in Niger, where child malnutrition is so severe, Plumpy’nut has been hailed as a “miracle food."

Formulated by French nutritionist André Briend in 1999 for aid in famine relief, Plumpy’nut is a fortified peanut butter paste made with peanut butter, powdered milk, powdered sugar, and enriched with essential vitamins and minerals. Sold in a small 2-inch square package, requiring no water preparation or refrigeration, and holding a 2-year shelf life, Plumpy’nut is revolutionizing the global fight against hunger.

“It is like an essential medicine. In three weeks, we can cure a kid that is looked like they’re half dead,” says Dr. Tectonidis. “We can cure them just like an antibiotic. It’s just, boom! It’s a spectacular response.”

Sweet to taste, easy to make, affordable to buy ($1 a dose in Niger), and simple to consume, Plumpy’nut—derived from the words “peanut” and “plump”—is helping drastically reverse child mortality rates in developing countries, particularly in West Africa.

Before this Ready-to-Use Therapeutice Food (RUTF) was introduced, malnourished children had to visit and stay at a hospital to be given milk and other essential vitamins, by drip, in order to regain strength. Upon leaving the hospital, their survival was vastly depended on their mothers, who were often weak from hunger themselves and unable to care for their children. As a result, in 2008 CBS reported that malnutrition was the cause of one in every five children dying before the age of five.

Now thanks to this nutrition aid, children who had to be previously admitted to hospital can be treated at home. "The reason we can do that,” explains Dr. Susan Shephard, a pediatrician who runs Doctors Without Borders in Niger, “is because we can give children Plumpy’nut here in the ambulatory center, and they take a week’s ration home. Moms treat their children at home and come back every week for a weight check.”

Although Plumpy’nut is helping drastically reduce infant mortality rates around the world, extreme hunger still remains a prominent cause of death amongst young children in developing nations every year. The UN death toll estimates show that despite significant progress, increased efforts need to be taken to keep every child well-nourished and alive. Dr. Tectonidis says it is a matter of granting kids early access to the nutrition program. “We don’t have to feed the whole world. We have to go for the jugular,” he says, adding that if children are fed well until they are two or three years old, then malnutrition can be won. “They’re healthy, they can get a healthy life. If you miss that window, it’s finished."

Dubbed as the “undisputed hero” of the Niger food crisis by The Times, Plumpy’nut’s instrumental impact on the well-being of children worldwide has earned it unanimous support. Currently, Plumpy’nut is being produced by a company in Normandy that specializes in food relief, in partnership with the UNICEF and UN’s Children’s Organisation. But Doctors Without Borders says a little peanut butter can go a long way and production of this miracle food product must be steadily widespread. Asking the United States and the European Union to spend a portion of their food aid on Plumpy’nut, the doctors believe more companies will be encouraged to start making the peanut butter paste if sufficient funding is provided.

Additional aid efforts on the horizon

Having passed the halfway benchmark for the Millennium Declaration timeline, the UN has set new goals to alleviate hunger before the target date of 2015 approaches. “The most urgent,” says the UN, “is to increase emergency food aid and to assist poor people in obtaining the maximum yield from the next season’s crops.” This will be done by following a number of concrete steps initially identified by The High-Level Conference on World Food Security, in Rome in June 2008. Distinctively, the UN hopes to enhance food security by promoting national, regional and international cooperation and reducing trade distortions.

The organization also aims to equip developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the necessary tools to transform subsistence agriculture and ensure long-term, sustainable productivity increases and a more diversified economic base. Additionally on the agenda are efforts to “urgently increase” emergency food aid to enable WFP and other food-aid programs to provide emergency food assistance where it is needed most.

By the end of 2010, ECHO aims to have committed $140 million to a malnutrition prevention program in the Sahel. The USAID and the UK Department for International Development are amongst the other donors who have pledged to increase their contributions and combat malnutrition in the regions severely affected by climate change.

Children need to be the top priority

The United Nations, together with Save the Children, is urging the international community to come together and respond to the food crisis in West Africa sooner than later. “If the international community had responded to Niger’s appeals for help last year,” said the UN, “a child could have been saved from malnourishment for as little as a $1 a day.” Now, in the midst of a worsening economic and food situation, the UN estimates it will cost 80 times as much to save a child. According to the organization, “we can avoid the high cost of emergency spending if we begin to invest in the underlying causes of hunger and malnutrition.” Saving lives is therefore a matter of time, and organizations like the UN fear more lives could be lost if developed countries fail to step in and answer developing nations’ plea for the basic of life’s necessities: food.

As the UN strives to bring international leaders together on a firmer track towards a more prosperous, sustainable and equitable world, free of hunger and malnutrition, the organization says “urgent interventions” are needed to address immediate food shortages for the countless of people facing moderate or severe malnutrition. Humanitarians at Save the Children agree, acknowledging Africa’s inability to independently support its vast disadvantaged young population. “We are learning once again that world hunger is still a huge problem, especially in Africa. We need more resources and better systems in place to respond more quickly to these natural disasters and to make the needs of children a top priority.”