AMERICA/HONDURAS - The right to food for 700,000 people suffering hunger: it is not food that is lacking, but justice

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Tegucigalpa (Agenzia Fides) - "Hunger is not caused by lack of food, but by the lack of justice": this is how the text sent to Fides Agency by local sources begins, which presents the campaign of Caritas in Honduras. "Caritas is the main witness of the harmful consequences of this lack of justice, of unequal access to food and nutrition. It is a moral and humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by unjust policies and practices, market distortions caused by excessive financial speculation, by the deviation of food resources to produce energy", continues the statement.
The Caritas Honduras campaign started a week ago and joins the global campaign "Food for All" (see Fides 07/10/2014).
The report sent to Fides reports that more than 700,000 Hondurans do not have their basic food necessities. Children pay the consequences of not receiving adequate nutrition: Honduras is the second largest country in Central America with the highest prevalence of child malnutrition, which affects about 240,000 children. One in four children suffer from chronic malnutrition, and the areas most affected are the poorest in the country (south and west area). For experts malnutrition during the first two years of life can lead to irreversible damage to the bodies and minds of children.
The Social Pastoral Caritas Honduras has long been committed to contributing to the elimination of malnutrition and to ensure food security. "As regards to food security, we no longer have the traditional approach, but we rather speak of the Right to Food", the statement concludes, explaining that the concept of food security is limited to considering the availability of necessary food, while the Right to Food "is much more than this, it is its availability, access, consumption and sustainability". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 22/10/2014)


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