When the United Nations World Food Programme or WFP for short was founded, the main goal the founders had in mind was to help feed those who did not have stable access to food. With the help of this new program, millions of people were given aid. However in recent months, the WFP has undergone several changes leading to a lack of funding and causing those in charge to make difficult decisions.
According to Cindy McCain, the director of WFP, “To put it succinctly so that it's easy for everyone to understand, for every 1% cut at WFP, this means 400,000 people are pushed further into hunger.” Unfortunately, with this change in funding amounts, the WFP struggles to provide emergency food as well as enough food that would sustain families for a longer term. Along with that, the rations being provided to people have also been downsized and some families have been cut off altogether.
What was once a program able to provide much needed resources to those seeking aid in Afghanistan has now unfortunately also been forced to cut off another two million families on top of the eight million that have already been unable to get further help. Many of these families who are in need are mostly made up of women who have been left widowed and need to provide for their families. Due to the fact that the Taliban is currently running the government in Afghanistan, a lot of women have been unable to find jobs, with families even sending their young sons out to go find work and help provide for the household. One such mother in Afghanistan has resorted to feeding her young child a type of allergy medicine to help curb the effects of going hungry via sedation–a common side effect of the drug. But that is not all, doctors have also stated that many families like this one have also had to resort to using other drugs such as antidepressants as a way of helping their children make it through this unimaginably tough time. Without the much needed help that would usually come from the WFP, unfortunately, malnutrition rates nowadays have been the worst that the UN has ever seen in Afghanistan and change must be brought about soon.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/12/1198925108/un-food-programme-hunger-starvation-security
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67707715
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1140662
5 comments:
It is extremely sad and unfortunate that budget cuts are leading to this new level of hunger. No child should have to take drugs in order to cope with hunger. Although, I wonder if the resources/funds from WFP can be allocated more efficiently? From one of the articles already listed, it seems like the WFP delivers food to families, but what if they taught people in Afghanistan to grow their own food? Or provide resources that would allow communities to be more self-sufficient? On the other hand, I'm not sure if the Taliban would allow women/communities to create their own farms if they aren't letting them work, but I think that these families should at least have the opportunity to provide food for themselves.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67707715
It is always devastating to see how changes in a budget have a real-world impact on people and lower the standard of living of people in a country. I agree with Mia that only giving people food will not solve a hunger problem, and I may be in favor of investing resources into building means to produce food rather than providing goods.
This relates to what we learned in economics: accumulating factors of production can help raise the standard of living, as compared to only dealing with the products created. If people in Afghanistan were supported to develop their own industries for food or they could specialize in producing valuable resource then trade, it may help them long-term.
It doesn't seem sustainable for the United Nations to need to funnel money into other countries so that their populations do not die, though I understand this is important until the country develops. Helping third world countries develop is always a difficult decision, as people are still unsure about how best to do that. I hope the families, in the meantime, who are not receiving food are able to find ways to overcome this change.
This is absolutely terrible. While I do agree that it would be ideal if WFP could teach people to sustain themselves, I do think that is just that: an ideal. Some places lack the environment necessary to grow sufficient food, are too poor, or whatever other obstacles. Especially the time that we live in, those in war torn countries might be more worried about surviving every passing day than about trying to settle down.
The WFP official website states that the "economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then the war in Ukraine, has pushed prices up". These people represent the underlying, forgotten population that is severely impacted by the world's recent events. The fact that hundreds of millions of people will struggle with hunger simply because of an economic issue is devastating.
Global inflation is currently at about 3% (as of Jan 2024). JP Morgan predicts that while core goods inflation will slowly drop, the same can't be said about core services. The market is so unpredictable, but hopefully things will soon look up for the WFP and its cause.
https://www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-glance#:~:text=Funding%20shortfall%20and%20ration%20cuts&text=WFP%20is%20in%20the%20midst,hunger%20is%20at%20record%20levels.
https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/global-research/economy/global-inflation-forecast
I find it rather unfortunate that this cutting of funding is leading to drastic effects to the well being of individuals within Afghanistan and find it saddening to see that the Taliban is not investing resources into their people. I think this idea connects to the idea that the higher ups in a sense believe in rivalry in consumption, as the problems of the poor aren't their problems, and therefore won't do anything to act for them.
Everyone needs food to survive. Unfortunately, a budget cut led to people experiencing poverty not receiving a necessity to survive, especially in Afghanistan. The fact that some families have been so desperate to keep their children from starving by feeding them allergy medication to suppress their hunger. There needs to be some form of immediate aid to alleviate their suffering. Although I agree with Mia that one solution could be to teach those in Afghanistan to grow their food, other geographical factors might make growing food in Afghanistan hard.
Post a Comment