The NEWS (Monrovia)
Stanley McGill
8 September 2000
Monrovia — Statistics from the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP) have revealed that there is a high prevalence of undernourishment in developing countries including Liberia.
The statistics, as shown on the World Hunger Map, state that though there is enough food in the world to feed its five billion population, almost 200 million children under five years are underweight due to lack of food.
Countries that have very high undernourishment in Africa (about 35 per cent of the population) include Liberia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Chad, Central Africa Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Others are Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The rest includes Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Kenya.
In category two, the WFP World Hunger map records 11 African countries that have a moderately high undernourished population. These countries include Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Congo (Brazzaville), Uganda, Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho. Between 20 and 34 percent of these countries' population is moderately high undernourished.
The World Hunger Map also indicated in category three that 11 countries in Africa have a moderately low undernourished population of between 5 and 19%.
Countries in this category include Swaziland, Gabon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria and Mauritius.
According to the statistics, the WFP put Egypt in category four with the total percentage of undernourished population at 2.5-4%.
Three countries (South Africa, Libya and Tunisia) are placed in category five with less than 2.5% of their population undernourished.
The statistics did not include Guinea Bissau, Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea as no information was obtained from them.
The WFP hunger map also indicated that more than 800 million people around the World have experienced going to bed hungry.
The statistics disclosed that most of these people are women and children, apparently in crisis countries.
Accordingly, one child dies every seven seconds from hunger and related causes, the WFP said.
The WFP attributed this global situation to many causes including the lack of money to buy enough food.
The WFP further said some people live in remote places far away from food markets with no roads or means to get there.
Other reasons include the people's inability to acquire land, seeds and proper tools to cultivate crops.
On the other hand, the statistics said those who grow food are often affected by insects, drought, floods and war, while many people don't understand the importance of a balanced diet of cereals, vegetables, meats, dairy products and other food items.
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