Urgent Action: UN warns of looming Malawi Starvation. Children starving. by Reuters / ABC News / World Food Program 3:09pm 4th Oct, 2005   October 16, 2005.    "Malawi leader declares disaster over food crisis". (Reuters)    Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika has declared a national disaster over a crippling food crisis affecting almost half of his people.    Hit by a regional drought, the impoverished southern African country of 12 million people is facing its worst corn harvest since 1992, producing just 1.3 million tonnes, or 37 per cent of the food staple needed for national consumption this year.    "A consensus has emerged that we have a serious food shortage affecting many people in Malawi and accordingly ... I declare all districts in Malawi disaster areas with effect from today," Mr Wa Mutharika said in a statement.    People in Malawi's southern province are reported to have resorted to eating water lilies and wild yams to survive, and residents say some have even died after eating poisonous plants.    Aid agencies say some 5 million people need urgent food aid after poor rains made crops fail, compounding problems for an agricultural sector ravaged by successive droughts and HIV/AIDS..    Southern Malawi, 4 October , 2005     "Malawi children starving", by Zoe Daniel. (ABC News)    The World Food Program has issued a new warning that five million people in Malawi will face starvation unless more food aid is received from the international community. Drought has left more than ten million people right across Southern Africa in need of food aid. Zoe Daniel reports from Southern Malawi, it's the children who are already struggling for survival.    ZOE DANIEL: At one of 95 nutrition clinics run by the World Food Program in Malawi, little James is struggling. He's 14 months old, but he looks like a three-month-old baby. Debilitated by malnutrition and HIV, his mother died last week. Now his grandmother tells me she has no food to keep him alive.    Across Southern Africa 10-million people will need food aid between now and March next year. In Malawi, the situation looks even worse than initial United Nations estimates indicated.    It's a country that faces food shortages year after year, but this time most families have harvested nothing due to drought. The price of the staple, corn, is already double what most Malawians can afford.    JUSTICE: Last year I had nothing. But this year it is very difficult for me to suffer with my children.    ZOE DANIEL: Justice is spending the last of his money to feed his 15 children tonight.    JUSTICE: Now, my house, people are starving.    ZOE DANIEL: The World Food Program is already feeding about a million people in Malawi's south, which is the worst affected area.    About 40,000 children are getting fed at school, but Sam Sheku from the World Food Program says that represents only a fraction of the need.    SAM SHEKU: At household level we have currently 79 per cent of the households being food insecure, so you can see the children are highly vulnerable.    ZOE DANIEL: Many of the children get only one meal a day at home. They tell me they often go to bed hungry and weak.    MALAWIAN: He doesn't sleep, and just because he has only one meal.    ZOE DANIEL: So you can't sleep, you're so hungry?    MALAWIAN: Yes.    ZOE DANIEL: But the World Food Program simply doesn't have enough food. It's feeding only 55 per cent of those in need here.    Aid agencies are warning that food aid must be pledged instantly to prevent a full-blown crisis here. It takes between six and 16 weeks to roll out aid and by then, for many, it may be too late.    30 September 2005    "Early lean season in Malawi leaves 5 million hungry". (United Nations World Food Program)    With large numbers of people in Malawi confronted by sharp rises in malnutrition rates and maize prices – three months earlier than the traditional lean season – WFP has given a warning that at least five million people may require international assistance.    At WFP food distribution points in southern Malawi, hundreds of hungry people not registered for food assistance are turning up trying to get rations.    Many report that they are only eating one meal or less per day and that they are resorting to eating water lily bulbs, a food that has little nutritional value and can be highly dangerous to harvest because of crocodiles.    Malnourished children    Data compiled by Malawi’s Health Ministry show that more than 1,000 acutely malnourished children were admitted to hospitals across the country in August, compared to 775 children in the same month last year.    In 76 nutrition rehabilitation units in the northern, central and southern regions, the number of admissions rose 15 percent, 41 percent, and 24 percent respectively in August this year compared with last August.    Many health practitioners are increasingly concerned that the numbers will surge as the lean season approaches.    Worsening situation    It’s critical that donors redouble their efforts to ensure no one starves, especially children    Mike Sackett, WFP Regional Director for Southern AfricaWFP was originally planning to feed about two million of the most vulnerable people in seven districts in southern Malawi until April next year while the Government and other organisations had committed themselves to feeding an additional 2.2 million people elsewhere in the country during the hunger period.    However due to a rapidly worsening situation, WFP is now planning to feed up to 2.9 million people in the southern districts.    This number should be validated by a revised food assessment and a nutritional screening in October.    Rocketing prices    Food prices usually rise from December up to the March/April harvest – when maize is scarcest and often unaffordable on the market and people have consumed their own reserves.    But prices have not only rocketed to levels not normally seen until the height of the lean season (in January/February) - there is also less maize available.    Help to survive    “For six months WFP, together with other aid agencies, has been warning of an imminent food crisis in Malawi and the rest of southern Africa; rising maize prices and malnutrition rates now mean that more people than before will need help to survive the lean season,” said Mike Sackett, WFP Regional Director for Southern Africa.    “Before this turn of events we already had a massive shortage of funds, so it’s critical that donors redouble their efforts to ensure no one starves, especially children.”    12 million people    Earlier this week, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that about 12 million people would need food assistance in southern Africa until the next harvest – up from an earlier estimate of about 10 million.    In the region, WFP had planned to provide food aid to at least 8.5 million people by the start of the lean season in December, but will now be striving to reach up to 9.4 million of the region’s most vulnerable people by January.    Funding shortfall    Cash and food donations must be given now if we are to reach the neediest in time. It will be too late once emaciated images appear on television screens    Mike Sackett, WFP Regional Director for Southern AfricaEven before the increased needs for Malawi, WFP was facing a critical funding shortfall of US$152 million for programmes in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.    So far, the single biggest donor to WFP’s operations in Malawi has been the Government of Malawi, which received significant support from Britain and the European Commission.    Prolonged dry spells    The situation is particularly acute in Malawi where this year’s maize production was the lowest since 1994 due to prolonged dry spells and shortages of seeds and fertiliser during the critical planting season.    The number of those needing food aid in the south alone now almost equals the total number of people WFP fed nationally at the height of the food crisis in 2002.    70 percent rise    According to Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture this week, maize prices in several districts of southern Malawi have already risen to over 30 kwacha ($0.22) per kilo and many other districts are now selling maize at over 25 kwacha ($0.18) per kilo – a 70 percent maize price increase at the community level. This is well beyond the means of the poorest people.    HIV/AIDS    In addition to rising maize prices and malnutrition rates, the agricultural sector across all of southern Africa has been hit hard by HIV/AIDS, with many people either too weak to plant food or required to spend their meagre assets on funerals or medicines.    Southern Africa has nine of the ten highest adult prevalence rates in the world and HIV/AIDS is one of the leading contributors to food insecurity in the region.    Window of opportunity    “Our window of opportunity to help Malawi and the rest of the region is closing fast,” Sackett said. “It can take up to four months to get food to those who need it, so cash and food donations must be given now if we are to reach the neediest in time. It will be too late once emaciated images appear on television screens.”    (The World Food Program relies entirely on voluntary contributions to finance its humanitarian and development projects. None of the 113 million people in 80 countries who ate WFP food last year could have done so without the generosity of our donors. Governments are the principal source of funding for WFP, and the agency invites every UN member state to contribute. Businesses can make a vital contribution through corporate giving programmes, and individuals can join the global fight against hunger by making a personal donation). Visit the related web page
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