We are losing the battle against hunger. Not only are we losing the battle in emergencies like those in Afghanistan, North Korea and Africa where we often lack the funds needed, we are losing the battle against the chronic hunger that bedevils the lives of hundreds of millions of families who are not the victims of war or natural disasters.
Last year WHO released a report ranking the greatest threats to health and life. Was the leading threat heart disease, cancer or AIDS? No, the greatest threat to life remains what it was a hundred years ago, five hundred years ago, a thousand years ago -- it is hunger.
The problem is not that trade, investment, and economic aid are not producing results. They are. In the 1990s, poverty was reduced by 20 percent world wide, but hunger -- its most extreme manifestation -- was cut by barely 5 percent. In fact, if you exclude China from the data the number of hungry people actually rose by more than 50 million across the developing world.
I cannot say the resurgence of hunger has received much attention from the media. Perhaps that is because there is such a long history of progress. We have always assumed that hunger was declining and would continue to do so. But, in fact, we are losing the battle against hunger. No agency is more aware of that than the World Food Program, as we struggle to bring food aid to the growing number of families living on the brink of starvation.
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