Why are we losing ground to hunger? Well, part of the answer lies in this massive overload from emergencies -- an overload I am convinced may ebb now and then but will definitely not go away. Donors -- including the United States -- did not anticipate anything like this developing in the 1990s and quite naturally they tried to keep a cap on historic funding levels for food aid.
One result is that funding for non-emergency food aid targeting pregnant and nursing women, infants and children in the most vulnerable areas is simply drying up. WFP's donors want to keep images of dying women and children off of our television screens, but the chronically hungry are suffering neglect. A stunted child in Kabul covered by an emergency operation stands a far better chance of being fed than an equally hungry child across the border in Pakistan.
So there is much more that could be done with a major infusion of funding for food aid. But hunger today has its roots in politics and it demands political solutions. There are really no obstacles -- other than lack of political will -- that would prevent us from ending hunger tomorrow. There is more than enough food worldwide, even developing countries collectively have had enough food for every man, woman and child for decades. But instead of ending hunger, wealthy and poor countries alike have unwittingly adopted political policies that make that goal unattainable. There is not enough donor money now to feed those starving today, and trade and economic policies -- national and international -- make it unlikely all will be fed in the future.
I do not, by any means, intend to paint a picture that is hopeless. People have asked me if mass starvation in Africa is inevitable. In fact, there has not been a major famine in Africa since the massive loss of life under the Mengistu regime in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s. The international community has successfully countered potential famines now for nearly two decades. I believe that USAID can take a lot of credit for this as it has helped fund increasingly sophisticated early warnings systems and paid attention to the critical issue of helping poor families maintain their assets through crises so they are not even more vulnerable when the next drought, flood or conflict arrives.
USAID, the World Bank and UNDP have also begun to address the really thorny issues of good governance, corruption and interference with commercial markets. It was gratifying to see that the additional US assistance announced by President Bush in Monterrey will reward those governments who adopt pro-market policies and show a real commitment to devoting their own resources -- however limited -- to sectors like education and health.
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