AFRICA/KENYA - Over 5 million people at risk for starvation in Kenya, 923 million at risk worldwide

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) – At least 5 million people could die of hunger. This is what has been declared by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group. The organization has found that at least 1.3 million people in rural areas will be facing a serious food shortage in the next six months, while some 3.5-4 million inhabitants of the slums are already in state of shortage. The number of people living in the slums, suffering from hunger, was about 3 million in 2007.
The worsening food conditions have come as a result of the serious political crisis at the beginning of the year (see Fides 7/1/2008) that paralyzed the country for months, destroyed agricultural structures, and forced at least 30,000 people to flee their homes, impeding farmers from planting and caring for the crops. Some 1,500 people lost their lives in the conflict. There have also been droughts and flooding affecting the country in recent years, in addition to the rising costs of food worldwide. In Kenya, the inlaton rate in August was 27%.
The Minister of Special Programs, Naomi Shaban, says that an estimated 74 million dollars (53 million Euros) will be needed in order to prevent an irreversible catastrophe.
Among the most affected zones are the semi-arid regions of Turkana and Mandera, where the malnutrition rates are 29% and 22%, respectively. In these areas, the government has begun giving out alimentary aid and medicine for children and mothers who are breastfeeding.
The dramatic situation in Kenya is only one of the many food emergencies affecting various parts of the world. According to the FAO, there are 923 million people in the world experiencing this crisis. According to the Vice Director General of Economic and Social Development for the FAO, Hafez Ghanem, “The devastating effects of high food prices on the number of hungry people compound already worrisome long-term trends: food prices have gone up 52% between 2007 and 2008 and the price of fertilizer has doubled.” Th impact of the rise in prices, which will probably continue rising (considering the increase of cereals in 2008), will be “devastating” especially for the poorer and developing countries, where 907 of the 923 million starving people live. The United Nations agency estimates increases of another 24 million people in Sub-Sahara Africa, 41 million in Asia and the Pacific, 6 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 4 million in the Near East and North Africa. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 18/9/2008)