Somalia Famine Is A Crime: Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy:

Deprived of food long enough, the bodies of starving people break down muscle tissue to keep vital organs functioning. Diarrhea and skin rashes are common, as are fungal and other infections. As the stomach wastes away, the perception of hunger is reduced and lethargy sets in. Movement becomes immensely painful. Often it is dehydration that finally causes death, because the perception of thirst and a starving person's ability to get water are both radically diminished.

Civilization has defeated mass starvation. So why are so many Somalis dying of hunger?

Read the whole story: Foreign Policy

Comments

[Mike Straw]

12:39 AM on 07/28/2011

what's being done? are the gov't troops assisting or stealing the aid? I just don't understand in the world of ours how this can be happening or let happen. where the heck is the rest of the African Continent on this one? Africa should be able to help their countries.............or.......do I just live in a land far, far, far away............... whether it's education in reproduction, farming techniques or what (didn't Peace Corps address this there over the last 4-5 decades), there's a crime somewhere. Does anybody know what time it is, does anybody really care???????

[TYRANNASAURUS]

09:55 PM on 07/27/2011

Somalia Famine Is A Crime.....

It is a crime created by the ignorant Somali people that keep breeding even though they live in a desert area that's getting worse because of global warming...the Sahara has been moving south for 50 years...it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look beyond the staving people to see the barren landscape they inhabit. TRUST ME...you keep feeding them and this will continue to happen and it will worsen as time progresses.

[George Hanshaw]

05:19 PM on 07/27/2011

Certainly famine s a crime. And those politicians who passed an ethanol subsidy that allowed ADM to get rich(er) while grain prices akyrocketed to improve the agribusiness bottom line are murderers.

[TYRANNASAURUS]

09:58 PM on 07/27/2011

No George....the people who are over breeding and staving to death are the murderers.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

04:21 PM on 07/27/2011

The dismaying context for yet another famine crisis in the "Horn" of Africa:

Total fertility rate: 6.35 children born/woman (2011 est.)

Definition: This entry gives a figure for the average number of children that would be born per woman if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years and bore children according to a given fertility rate at each age. The total fertility rate (TFR) is a more direct measure of the level of fertility than the crude birth rate, since it refers to births per woman. This indicator shows the potential for population change in the country. A rate of two children per woman is considered the replacement rate for a population, resulting in relative stability in terms of total numbers. Rates above two children indicate populations growing in size and whose median age is declining. Higher rates may also indicate difficulties for families, in some situations, to feed and educate their children and for women to enter the labor force. Rates below two children indicate populations decreasing in size and growing older. Global fertility rates are in general decline and this trend is most pronounced in industrialized countries, especially Western Europe, where populations are projected to decline dramatically over the next 50 years.

Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of July 12, 2011

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

04:15 PM on 07/27/2011

If this famine is a crime, where is the statute? Who is the perpetrator? Why do Somali (S. Somali) woman always seem to carrying, at least, one infant?

It should be noted that East Africa has some of the HIGHEST birth rates in the world, an egregious distinction which has endured for nearly a half century.....or more!

[22Keys]

03:30 PM on 07/27/2011

Let me make this easy for everyone.

High fertility rate (6-7 children) + Inability to develop civilization + Inhospitable environment = Famine.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

04:24 PM on 07/27/2011

You have made it not only easy but SUCCINTLY accurate. The "ugly"(???) truth is: The earth can only support only a finite # of people; and parts of the planet can support ONLY a limited number/density!!!

Thanx for your incisive brevity!!!

[Climp Jones]

02:31 PM on 07/27/2011

The world know's who is behind this ongoing atrocity. Let the AU & other's, rather than the predictable collection of Samaritan's, pick up the tab & handle logistic's & operation's. This' flood plain' of predictable behavior's and it's accompanying human flotsam continue's run it's course has grown weary due to those most deeply affected least willing to 'fix what's broken.'