Food and Health 3- Stakeholders in food and health Flashcards
(129 cards)
1
Q
Why is global food security difficult?
A
-A significant share of the world’s population is malnourished
-The global population continues to grow
-Climate change and other environmental changes threaten future food production
-The food system itself is a major contributor to climate change and other environmental harms.
2
Q
What are the main aims of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization?
A
-The eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition
-The elimination of povery and the driving forward of economic and social progress for all
-The sustainable management adn utilization of natural resources, incluing land, water, air, climate, and genetic resources for the benefit of present and future generations.
-In addition, it aims to increase the resilience of people to threats and crises.
3
Q
The FAO’s work in Honduras
A
-The FAO set up a project in rural Honduras to promote entrepreneurship among rural youth.
-Over 2,000 young people were trained in farming skills, marketing and developing business skills.
4
Q
What was the result of the FAO’s project in rural Honduras?
A
-More than 1,500 successful microenterprises
5
Q
The FAO’s work in Bangladesh
A
-In Khulna, Bangladesh, the FAO operated a project to improve food safety among urban street vendors
-The aim was to minimize food contamination during preparation
-Street foods are cheap and an essential source of food and nutrition for people on a low income, and also for schoolchildren
-As a result of the success of this scheme, the project was extended to the capital city of Dhaka
6
Q
What does the World Food Program (WFP) aim to do?
A
-End world hunger
-It focuses on food assistance for the poorest and most vulnerable people
7
Q
What are the WFP’s plan’s four objectives?
A
-Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies.
-Support food security and nutrition and (re)build livelihoods in fragile settings and following emergencies.
-Reduce risk and enable people, communities and countries to meet their own food and nutrition needs.
-Reduce undernutrition and break the intergenerational cycle of hunger.
8
Q
Food security analysis provides information to ___
A
-Identify the most food-insecure people to ensure the most effective targeting
-Identify the most appropriate type and scale of intervention, whether food distributions, school feeding or more innovative interventions such as cash or voucher programmes
-Ensure the most efficient use of humanitarian resources by allocating funding according to needs.
9
Q
Why did many developing nations- including Brazil, China, and India- oppose agricultural subsidies in the US and EU at the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round in 2001? (National and multi-government organizations)
A
Because they argued that the high subsidies were artificially driving down global crop prices, unfairly unermining small farmers and maintaining povery in many developing countries
10
Q
Why is subsidized agriculture in the developed world one of the greatest obstacles to economic growth in the developing world?
A
-These subsidies encourage overproduction.
-Markets are flooded with surplus crops that are sold below the cost of production, depressing world prices.
-Global subsidies may also lead producers to overuse fertilizers or pesticides, which can result in soil degradation, groundwater depletion, and other negative environmental impacts.
11
Q
What were the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)’s main priorities in 1962?
A
-Increase agricultural productivity and self-sufficiency
-Ensure a fair standard of living for farmers
-Stabilize markets
-Ensure that food was available to consumers at a fair price
12
Q
Work of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
A
-Between 1958 and 1968 these aims were implemented: a single market existed in agriculture from 1962 and a common set of market rules and prices were introduced by 1968.
-At the center of the CAP was the system of guaranteed prices for unlimited production.
-This encouraged farmers to maximize their production as it provided a guaranteed market.
-By 1973 the EU was practically self-sufficient in cereals, beef, dairy products, poultry, and vegetables.
-Imports were subjected to duties or levies and export subsidies were introduced to make EU products more competitive on the world market.
13
Q
What did CAP lead to?
A
Intensification, concentration, and specialization
14
Q
What is intensification?
A
The rising level of inputs and outputs from the
land as farmers sought to maintain or increase their standards of living (or profit margins).
-The inputs included fertilizers, animal feed,
fuel, and machinery.
-Beef and butter “mountains” and “wine lakes”
typified the increased outputs.
15
Q
What is concentration?
A
The process whereby the production of particular products become confined to particular areas, regions, or farms.
16
Q
What is specialization?
A
-This is related to concentration and refers to the
the proportion of the total output of a farm, region, or country accounted for by a particular product.
-For example, wheat has become more concentrated in France and the UK as farmers have specialized in it.
17
Q
More info about CAP?
A
18
Q
What is the role of NGOs in combatting food insecurity?
A
-A number of NGOs help deliver food to those with insufficient access to food.
-Many of these are in low-income and middle-income countries, such as Operation Hunger in South Africa, but others operate in high-income countries such as the food banks in the UK.
19
Q
Reasons for food banks in the UK
A
20
Q
What is the WHO?
A
The part of the UN that deals with health issues.
21
Q
Example of international NGO
A
-Oxfam
-Doctors without borders
22
Q
What is the UN?
A
-A major global stakeholder in efforts to reduce hunger and combat food insecurity and disease.
23
Q
Give an example of how some SDG goals are interconnected
A
To improve equitable food security there needs to be a focus on tackling climate change and gender inequality.
24
Q
Which SDGs focus directly on hunger and health?
A
SDG 2 and SDG 3
25
What are the UN's biggest organizations working on food insecurity?
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
26
What are the two approaches to solving food insecurity?
-Short terms efforts that manage either humanitarian disasters or chronic food insecurity (food aid).
-Broader structural support that might be focused on improving governance, finance and agricultural innovation and infrastructure as well trading efficiency. This aims to increase self-sufficiency and productivity at the national scale in order to increase resilience.
27
What are the three types of food aid?
-Program
-Project
-Emergency/humanitarian
28
Describe program food aid
-Subsidized deliveries of food to a central government that subsequently sells the food and uses the proceeds for whatever purpose (not necessarily food assistance).
-Program food aid provides budgetary and balance of payments relief for recipient governments.
29
Describe project food aid
-Provides support to field-based projects in areas of chronic need through deliveries of food (usually free) to a government or NGO that either uses it directly (e.g. Food For Work and school feeding).
-Increasingly cash-voucher schemes are being used by NGOs.
30
Describe emergency/humanitarian food aid
Deliveries of free food to GO/NGO agencies responding to crises due to natural disasters or conflicts.
31
What is the World Food Program (WFP)?
-It's the biggest organization working on food security.
-It provides the largest quantity of food aid in the world.
-It runs the most school feeding programs and it also works on cash transfer schemes and knowledge transfer based on a stakeholder approach.
32
Where does the WFP's funding come from?
-Individual governments
-The USA is by far the biggest contributing country providing more than 40% of its budget in 2020; more than double the second-largest contributor, Germany.
33
EU role in humanitarian food aid
-The EU is one of the biggest contributors to humanitarian food aid in the world and has a broad approach to food assistance.
-Its Humanitarian Food Assistance Policy uses a food assistance ‘toolbox’ that offers ways of safeguarding availability, access, and consumption of safe and nutritious food.
34
Outline the EU's 'toolbox' approach to humanitarian food aid
-Before
-During
-After
-Ongoing
35
EU toolbox approach: before
-In the months before a crisis when markets are still well-stocked and functioning, it can be more effective and cheaper to provide cash or vouchers, rather than food.
-Doing this allows beneficiaries to buy food according to their individual needs, protect their livelihoods and boost the local economy.
36
EU toolbox approach: during
-Depending on the nature of the crisis, little food may be available in local markets during the crises themselves. In this case, it may be necessary to provide food commodities directly.
-If food is available, cash interventions are preferred to ensure access to basic needs, including food.
37
EU toolbox approach: after
-In other contexts, people can best be helped by protecting or supporting their existing livelihood activities (e.g. farming, livestock herding).
-This can be done, for example, by providing seeds and tools, or by delivering veterinary care, which allows people to continue to feed themselves and their families.
38
EU toolbox approach: ongoing
In places where acute undernutrition is widespread, the priority is to treat acutely undernourished children and at the same time prevent other children and vulnerable people from becoming acutely undernourished.
39
What needs to be done to find real long-term solutions (EU humanitarian food aid)?
Undernutrition needs to be addressed from different angles and through a wider approach, for example by reducing public health risks by ensuring access to safe water or by improving mothers' knowledge and awareness about their children's health and nutritional needs.
40
Undernutrition needs to be addressed from different angles and through a wider approach, for example by reducing public health risks by ensuring access to safe water or by improving mothers' knowledge and awareness about their children's health and nutritional needs.
The USA through its USAID Food for Peace program is the biggest single provider of food assistance in the world.
41
What are the two key strategies of the USAID Food for Peace program?
-The first is to maintain its efforts for reducing hunger poverty through food aid.
-The second is to improve food security and sustainability with a particular focus on improving 'nutrition security'.
42
Why has the USA long been criticized for its program aid?
-Although this is one of the largest sources of food aid in the world, it is generally based on low quality and low nutritional value.
-Some go further to suggest that US food aid is more about subsidizing US farmers and supporting US shipping jobs than it is about improving or reducing food insecurity.
43
How does the USA send the vast majority of its food aid support?
-The USA continues to send the vast majority of its food aid support through shipped aid from the US.
-This is an outdated approach and is inflexible and unable to respond fast enough to dynamic food insecurity problems.
-Shipment orders typically take 3-5 months.
-In contrast, cash transfers or purchases within a country's region would be instant and boost the local economy.
-Large shipments of food aid rather than supporting local economies can actually undermine it.
-Local farmers are undercut by cheaper US imports and so actually suffer increased food insecurity of their own.
-Some refer to this as 'food dumping'.
44
How is the US slowly changing its approach to humanitarian food aid?
It is slowly changing its approach to adopt more holistic approaches to food that include greater scrutiny on the nutritional value of food aid, the growing importance of cash transfers, and broader structural support that aims at increasing nutrition security through improving community resilience.
45
What is health care in many HICs based on?
Curative medicine and the use of high-technology techniques
46
What is healthcare in LICs base don?
-Low-technology, preventative measures
-Primary health care (PHC) is preventative rather than curative
47
How much of the world's population lacks basic healthcare?
Just less than half
48
Different health care systems
-The Beveridge Model
-The Bismarck Model
-The National Health Insurance Model
-The Out of Pocket Model
49
Describe the Beveridge Model of health care
-Named after William Beveridge, the social reformer who designed Britain’s National Health Service.
-In this system, health care is provided and financed by the government through tax payments.
-This system tends to have low costs per capita, because the government, as the sole payer, controls what doctors can do and what they can charge.
50
Examples of countries using the Beveridge plan or variations on it
-Great Britain, Spain, most of Scandinavia, and New Zealand.
-Cuba represents the extreme application of the Beveridge approach; it is probably the world’s purest example of total government control.
51
Describe the Bismarck Model of healthcare
-Named for the Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck it uses an insurance system —the insurers are called “sickness funds” —usually financed jointly by employers and employees through payroll deduction.
-Unlike the US insurance industry, though, Bismarck-type health insurance plans have to cover everybody, and they don’t make a profit.
-Tight regulation gives the government much of the cost-control clout that the single-payer Beveridge Model provides.
52
Examples of countries using the Bismarck model of healthcare
The Bismarck model is found in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, and, to some degree, in Latin America.
53
Describe the National Health Insurance model of healthcare
-This system has elements of both Beveridge and Bismarck.
-It uses private-sector providers, but payment comes from a government-run insurance program that every citizen pays into.
-Since there’s no need for marketing, no financial motive to deny claims, and no profit, these universal insurance programs tend to be cheaper and much simpler to administer.
-The single-payer tends to have the considerable market power to negotiate for lower prices.
54
Examples of countries using the National Health Insurance Model of healthcare
The classic NHI system is found in Canada, but some newly industrialized countries including Taiwan and South Korea have also adopted the NHI model.
55
Describe the Out of Pocket Model of healthcare
-Most of the nations on the planet are too poor and too disorganized to provide any kind of mass medical care.
-As a result, there is great inequality in provision.
-In rural regions of Africa, India, China, and South America, hundreds of millions of people go their whole lives without ever seeing a doctor.
-Patients and their families are required to scratch together enough money to pay a doctor's bill.
-If they have nothing, they don’t get medical care.
56
Describe the WHO's role in tackling major killer diseases
-It is widely credited with leading a 10-year campaign to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s and has also led global efforts to end polio, a battle that is nearing its final stage.
-In the past few years, the WHO has also coordinated battles against viral epidemics of Ebola in Congo and West Africa and Zika in Brazil.
-Covid-19
57
WHO role in Covid-19 pandemic
-It was widely praised during the Covid-19 Pandemic but was criticized for slow responses and inconsistent advice at times.
-It was also heavily criticized by the US administration for being too soft on China, which led to a temporary withdrawal of funding from the Trump administration.
58
Example of wealthy philanthropists
-The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was set up following the resignation and departure of Bill Gates from Microsoft.
-The Foundation is the largest private organization in the world with a net asset value of over $46 billion.
59
Need another case study? (doctors without borders)
60
The policies and practices of transnational companies (TNCs) are steadily ___
Displacing traditional food systems around the world
61
What does the term 'big food' refer to?
The food and drink TNCs that increasingly control the production and distribution of ultra-processed food and drink throughout the world. The products are generally high in “refined” starches, sugars, fats and oils, preservatives, and other additives. They are generally packaged as “fast foods” or “convenience foods”.
62
What is the main interest of TNCs and their shareholders?
To make money
63
Impact of TNCs in HICs vs. LICs
-Their market penetration in HICs has largely plateaued, and TNCs have now developed “designer water” and “healthy drinks” to satisfy the demand for healthier diets in HICs.
-TNCs have increasingly looked to LICs to sell convenience foods, in countries such as China and India, where incomes are rising and many people are leaving rural areas for urban ones.
-The potential for food TNCs to achieve greater market share is therefore immense.
64
What was Brazil's traditional dietary pattern?
-It had a varied dietary pattern, showing the influence of native Amerindian populations, Portuguese, and African slaves, and descendants.
-Rice, beans, and cassava were common, with added oils, spices, and herbs.
-The amount of meat and fish consumed depended on availability, price, and income.
65
How have the means of consuming food changed in Brazil?
Families would traditionally eat homecooked meals together – but TV and Internet advertising, as well as changes in lifestyle (increasing urbanization, for example), have led to an increase in the consumption of convenience foods.
66
Problems with the traditional Brazilian diet
-It would be simplistic to suggest that the traditional Brazilian diet was good whereas the modern one is bad.
-Salt was commonly used to preserve fish, but a high salt intake is related to high rates of hypertension and stroke.
-The traditional Brazilian diet is also high in sugar – the cheapest source of calories in Brazil.
67
How have TNCs changed diets in Brzil
-Food and drink TNCs are changing the diet in Brazil.
-In NICs and LICs, where the demand for convenience foods still has the potential to rise, TNCs are marketing their products as best they can and there has been a huge increase in the availability of snack foods in Brazil.
68
What does global value chain (GVC) analysis focus on?
The role of “lead firms” in global industries (in this case global agri-food companies like Kraft, PepsiCo, and McDonald’s), and how they interact with local-level companies.
69
Each stage of the food production system connects countries on a ___ scale and each of these connections is driven by the practices of
-Global
-Lead firms in developed countries
70
What are the different elements of the global value chain?
-The global agri-business companies, food manufacturers, fast-food franchises, and retailers.
-These segments of the chain are linked to each other at the global and local levels
71
Diagram showing the interaction of global and local food value chains
72
Give an example of how TNCs adapt their products or their marketing to local preferences
For example, in 2000, McDonald’s introduced salads, low-fat desserts, a wider range of fish and chicken dishes, and more regional dishes (that is, glocalization – the adaptation of a global product to a local market).
-In 2004 it discontinued the super-size option.
-In 2006, it began to put nutritional information on their packaging with icons for fat, protein, calories, carbohydrates and salt.
73
Who dominates food production at the farming stage?
-Small-scale farmers
-Over 2.5 billion people rely on farming for their livelihoods and due to population pressure, this is increasing in Asia and Africa with farm sizes getting smaller.
-The opposite is true in HICs such as those in Europe and North America, where small farmers are disappearing and are unable to compete with the industrial-scale farms and large agribusiness units.
-Industrial farms have lowered food prices through mass production and specialisation of a smaller and smaller group of high yield food types.
74
Who dominates the global consumption of food?
-This is shaped further by TNCs that control food processing and manufacturing.
-These powerful food producers control food markets through their vertical business structures where they have controlling assets vertically through the value chain and then dominate distribution rights to large retailers.
75
Role of food manufacturers in selling food products
-Large food producers and retailers use the media to package and market their products in enticing ways.
-Supermarkets are experts at leading people to consume the products that make them the most profit.
-This doesn't tend to be fresh food and vegetables but rather processed and manufactured foods.
-These foods predominatly follow a western diet type because the global food producers are western.
76
Role of media in selling food products
-The media is also used expertly to market food choices through commercials.
-The media can be used by governments to promote healthier choices but this is normally only done where significant private backing is made, which isn't in the interests of most major food producers and retailers.
77
Why have diets changed in middle-income countries?
-Middle-income countries have seen dramatic changes in economic growth.
-These economies are fully integrated into global markets and through reductions in trade barriers, experience efficient supplies of increased variety of (international) foods all year round.
-With improved access to markets, western diets are pushed aggressively by TNCs.
-As a result, world consumption is shifting away from traditional foods towards globally traded foods.
78
Describe the growth in packaged and processed food varieties in Asia and Latin America
-In Asia, there has been an increase in the consumption of packaged dried foods, sauces, condiments, and edible oils.
-Interestingly in Latin America, a fall in baked goods has caused a drop in overall consumption of packaged foods.
79
Despite this increase in quality, quantity, and diversity of food types, there is also a trend that is leading to more ___
-Homogenous diets across the world, through the loss of local, traditional foods for more global food types that are intensely marketed, freely supplied, and affordable.
-Trade in global food types has grown at the expense of local producers and traditional food systems.
80
Info on female carers?
81
Food insecurity for women in developing countries
-In developing countries, rural women and men play different roles in guaranteeing food security in their household and communities.
-While men grow mainly field crops, women are usually responsible for growing and preparing most of the food and rearing small livestock, which provides protein.
-Rural women also carry out most food processing, which ensures a diverse diet, minimizes losses and can provide marketable products.
-Women represent about half the food-producing workforce in South East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but often as unpaid workers involved in subsistence farming.
82
Examples of the positive impacts of closing the gender gap in agricultural production
-Studies suggest that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they would increase yields by 20 to 30 per cent, raising overall agricultural production in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 per cent.
-Women’s access to education is a determining factor in levels of nutrition. Studies from Africa show that children of mothers who have spent five years in education are 40 per cent more likely to live beyond the age of 5.
-Access to land and land ownership for women is very limited in most parts of the developing world. This means that they have little control over their land and the size of their holding is only large enough for subsistence farming.
83
Why do females have higher survival rates (in general and in prenatal survival)?
-Genetic and physiological superiority to males.
-Due to their importance for reproduction they have evolved to be healthier and less susceptible to morbidity.
-As a consequence, female life expectancy is higher in all countries at all stages of development.
-This demographic trend is present despite a significant gender bias in favour of males in both food and health.
84
While women live longer than men, they live more years in ___
-A poor state of health
-This is most pronounced after the age of 65
85
Why do women live more years in a poor state of health than men?
A gender bias that favours health care for men over women
86
Why do women live longer than men?
-Over a life time women make better lifestyle choices and are more risk-averse.
-A dominant gender role for women is caring and so women develop a closer relationship with health practitioners for both their children and themselves.
-Women as principle carers also adopt a caring role towards their male partners, which may reduce poor health in males.
-It is well documented that married men live longer than single men
87
Gender bias in healthcare
Gender plays a significant role in a range of situations that either create or exacerbate causes of disability for women.
88
Examples of female health concerns being under-researched
-Female health concerns such as migraines, menopause, and postnatal depression go under-researched too.
-Historically, medical research has been biased to white male health concerns and largely conducted by white males.
89
Example of gender bias in health care
A study in Canada found that physicians were more likely to recommend total knee arthroplasty for male patients when both men and women present with similar levels of disability, meaning that women will experience disability for a longer period before surgery.
90
What is the driving force behind physicians being more likely to recommend total knee arthroplasty for male patients?
This is partly due to a gender culture where men are more assertive than women as well as a predominant attitude that men are physical and active and so must require a knee transplant.
91
Why do women in LICs face significant gaps in health care provision?
Because of underdevelopment and poor health capacity but also because of careless neglect of maternal care provision.
92
Example of gender bias in healthcare in LICs
-In many LICs maternal deaths also go unreported, highlighting their lack of significance to authorities.
-For example, in Chad, 1 in every 15 women will die due to complications in birth.
93
What societal pressures do women face that impact their health?
-Patriarchy
-Lack of access to land rights
-Reproductive rights
-Female genital mutilation
-Stigma and marginalization
94
How does patriarchy impact health care for women?
Gender roles
95
How does lack of access to land rights impact women's health care?
Lack of access to land rights and daily food needs hits women hardest and so women are more likely to suffer malnutrition.
96
How do reproductive rights impact women's healthcare
-Teenage and age-disparate partnerships impact girls' health through longer fertility periods and teenage pregnancy.
-In Europe, law changes in Poland over women's rights to abortion will have profound physical and mental health impacts on Polish women.
97
How do stigma and marginalization affect women's healthcare?
-Women face shocking levels of stigma and marginalization in some societies.
-Infertility and ill health can lead to women becoming outcasts.
-Stigma in India for example associated with TB remains a massive problem as the following example suggests.
98
How does female genital mutilation impact women's healthcare?
The continued practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in 29 countries despite it being forbidden by law has a devastating physical and emotional impact on girls.
99
What factors affect gender bias in food?
-Decision-making power
-Access to credit and land tenure
-Cultural taboo
-Customs and culture
100
How does decision-making power affect gender bias in food?
101
How does decision-making power affect gender bias in food?
-In LICs and in particular rural regions, women have less decision-making power in households.
-They have fewer opportunities for income-generating activities in the market and this has a direct impact on the quality of nutrition in their diets.
-An analysis of poverty measures in rural Ghana and Bangladesh showed that more persons in female-headed households are below the poverty line.
102
How do access to credit and land tenure affect gender bias in food?
-Across many regions of the world women face discrimination in terms of access to credit and land tenure.
-Many inheritance laws favor the husband of the wife or even their son.
-In this circumstance widows and divorced women become outcasts, not only shunned by family members but also the community.
-These women are suddenly thrown into poverty and are at the greatest risk of food insecurity.
-Divorced women around the world are often the victims of circumstance and suffer short-term poverty.
103
Example of decision-making power- gender bias in food
-In many rural regions of sub-Saharan Africa, males are the primary decision-makers within extended families and polygamy in some countries is quite common.
-In this arrangement, most women are allotted a small plot of land and from this, they are responsible for providing food for themselves and their children.
-In a study based in Burkina Faso, women in polygamous households were considerably more food insecure in comparison with their equals in monogamous households
104
What is a famine?
A long-term decline in the availability of food in a region
105
What factors affect a famine's severity?
-The length and severity of drought
-Governance
-The power of the media
-Access to international aid
-Population growth
-Unemployment and entitlement to food
-Civil unrest, including war
-Access to land and production of food
106
How does the length and severity of a drought affect the severity of a famine?
The longer and more severe the drought, the greater the impact of famine
107
How does governance affect the severity of a famine?
Where there is poor governance, populations are not protected and the risk of food scarcity increases
108
How does the power of media affect the severity of a famine?
The media has great power in bringing to the attention of the public the impacts of hazards, and the ability to raise funds for disaster relief.
109
How does access to international aid affect the severity of a famine?
Aid needs to be directed to those who need it
110
How does population growth affect the severity of a famine?
Rapid population growth, particularly as a result of refugees and internationally displaced people (IDPs), increases the impact of famine in an area.
111
How do unemployment and entitlement to food affect the severity of a famine?
People unable to pay for food are just as vulnerable to famine as those who cannot grow food
112
How does civil unrest, including war, affect the severity of a famine?
This disrupts food production, food supply and decreases the number of young workers, thereby increasing the impacts of famine.
113
Solutions to famines
-Emergency aid can help those suffering the effects of famine in the short term, but long-term plans need to be put in place to mitigate the effects.
-Food assistance interventions must be designed to empower poor people to build productive assets such as water-harvesting tanks, dams and irrigation projects.
-Foreign companies should not be permitted to grow crops for export only.
114
When have there been famines in Ethiopia?
In 1973 and between 1983 -1985
115
Describe the famine in Ethiopia in 1973
40,000 starved in the north-east and around 55,000 died in the Ogaden region
116
What parts of Ethiopia were affected in the famine between 1983 and 85?
Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea
117
Casualties from the 1983-85 famine in Ethiopia
-Estimates of the number of deaths ranged from 400,000 to one million people.
-Millions of others were made destitute.
118
Media response to the 1983-85 famine in Ethiopia
-It was widely reported in the media and received much publicity.
-It also led to the Band Aid and Live Aid concerts.
119
How do early-warming systems that alert the government when famine threatens compare now to those in the late 1900s?
-These days, early-warning systems alert the government when famine threatens, and in 2015 the government was able to respond
more quickly to the crisis than in 1983–5.
-There is evidence that in 2015–16 the Ethiopian government
made provision to mitigate the impact of poor harvests, such as establishing a social security net so that poorer farmers can access funds for public works such as digging water holes.
120
Ethiopian government's response to the drought in 2015
-The Ethiopian government pledged $192 million for emergency food and other assistance, diverting money from projects such as road construction.
-The “international community” promised a further $163 million.
-Aid agencies suggested that $600 million was needed.
121
Drought in Ethiopia in 2015
-In 2015, the seasonal rains that usually fall between June and September in north-eastern, central and southern Ethiopia did not arrive.
-Around 90 per cent of cereal production is harvested in autumn, after the summer long rainy season, and the rest at the end of spring after the end of the short rainy season.
122
What caused the drought in Ethiopia in 2015?
The drought was caused by the El Niño weather system, and resulted in a 90 per cent reduction in crop yields.
123
What was the famine in Ethiopia in 2015 caused by?
-While the drought was caused by the El Nino weather system, the famine was brought about by factors including poor governance and state neglect.
The key factors driving the famine, include the selling off of land to
international corporations for industrial farming – that is, “land grabs”.
-Another criticism was that in 1983–5 much food relief was channelled towards the military.
-A further factor was the large number of refugees in Ethiopia: more than 650,000 refugees from Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Eritrea are in Ethiopia, and this places a large burden on water and land resources.
124
Responses to the Ethiopian famines
-The Ethiopian government
-International donors
-Organizations e.g. WFP and FAO
125
Response of the Ethiopian government to the famines
At first, some in the Ethiopian government claimed the country could handle the drought itself.
-In December, they said about 10.2 million people were in need of
$1.4 billion in aid, with 400,000 children severely malnourished.
-This was is in addition to 8 million people supported by the government safety net even before the drought.
-To date, less than 50 per cent of the appeal has been met, and the worst could be yet to come.
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Response of international donors to famines in Ethiopia
-In 2015–16 international donors were distracted by a string of humanitarian disasters around the world, such as in Syria and South Sudan.
-This meant that there was much less media coverage, and so less publicity compared with 1983–5.
-Events in Syria were more dramatic than the failure of the rains, although the failure of the rains probably caused more deaths.
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Responses of organizations such as the WFP and the FAO to the famines in Ethiopia
-The WFP is helping to feed the refugees and also supporting the government’s second five-year Growth and Transformation
Plan (GTP), a school meals programme and a vulnerability and mapping unit (VAM).
-The FAO announced a $50 million plan to assist agriculture- and livestockdependent households.
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How are TNCs able to influence food consumption habits?
-Changing nutrition: TNCs tend to have large marketing budgets to develop advertising campaigns that influence consumer choices in relation to food and beverages. This could result in an increase in a person's daily calorie intake.
-Science funding: Some TNCs have helped to fund scientific research into the health advantages of certain foods, e.g. Mars funding studies into the health benefits of dark chocolate.
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Case study of famine in Somalia
2011-2012
Causes:
- Al-Shabaab, a rebel group fighting against government forces, controlled many famine-affected areas and had sabotaged relief efforts during previous droughts
- A rise in global food prices affected Somalia, which imports most of its food
- Little rainfall for consecutive rainy seasons created the worst harvest in 17 years
- The WFP had withdrawn in 2010 due to attacks on staff, reducing support
Effects:
- 260,000 people died between 2010 and 2012
- There were 3.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid in IDP camps and refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya
Responses:
- Non-traditional donors contributed to relief (e.g. Saudi Arabia), although contributions were not sufficient
- UNICEF coordinated cash transfer and voucher programs, with approximately US $110 million allocated. This was effective, as 85% of the total budget was received by those in need.
- Power of the media: The news media broadcast images of people affected by the famine, which led to a large-scale international response
