Countries as diverse as South Sudan, Malawi and the Central African Republic have sounded the alarm in recent months. The U.N. World Food Program says sub-Saharan Africa already has the world's highest prevalence of hunger; one person in four is undernourished. Every day in Africa, 23 million children go to school hungry.
The agency's David Orr said that in the lower half of Africa, where weather is the main culprit, 2015 has been an unusually difficult year.
"I think what makes things different this year is the combination of drought and then an El Nino weather event coming right after that, so that people are effectively being hit by two consecutive years of reduced rainfall," he said. "It's particularly difficult on a region where 70 percent of the population are subsistence farmers."
Governments' role
But African governments say they, too, they have an important role to play, and that the hunger crisis is their failure as well. Malawi's minister of finance earlier this year described his nation's hunger situation as "a scandal" and pledged to do more.
In Ethiopia, the government has committed a record $192 million to the problem amid news that as many as 10 million people will face critical food shortages next year because of a crippling drought.
John Graham, Save the Children's country director in Ethiopia, told VOA that African governments need to do more, because international donor budgets are increasingly squeezed by crises elsewhere in the world.
But, he said, they still can't do it alone.
"The Ethiopian government has stepped up," Graham said. "They've pledged about $200 million, which is far more than I've ever seen them pledge for any other emergency, and so I think that they're really trying to do their best. But I think the international community should really stand by them, and also make big pledges. And so far — I've been here for 18 years, and this is the slowest response that I've seen to this type of crisis."
South Sudan conflict
Elsewhere on the continent, such as in South Sudan, the problems are trickier. There, two years of brutal conflict have played a huge role in pushing hundreds of thousands of people to starvation.
But aid officials say aid agencies can only do so much on their own.
"We and the other humanitarian agencies are there to support the governments," Orr said. "And that's more and more what we're doing — not just providing lean-season relief programs, and other forms of food assistance, but actually giving technical support and institutional capacity to really increase the ability of governments to solve these problems for themselves."
That, everyone acknowledges, is a long and difficult process, but one that governments and donors need to tackle if they want to avoid a repeat of 2015.
Vocabulary
ravage:毁坏;破坏
subsistence:两生活;生存
上头!我被《野狼disco》洗脑了怎么肥四?
体坛英语资讯:Ingmar De Vos elected IOC member
国际英语资讯:India to make second attempt of soft landing on Moon: ISRO chief
体坛英语资讯:Barca record signing Dembele out for 3-4 months with hamstring injury
体坛英语资讯:IOC awards Paris 2024, LA 2028
首个白血病治疗基因疗法在美获批
国际英语资讯:iPhone: industrial design legend for 10 years
国际英语资讯:Cuba tries to recover tourism industry hit by hurricane Irma
体坛英语资讯:Report: Ancelotti leaving Bayern in 2018
体坛英语资讯:Former England boss Roy Hodgson appointed Crystal Palace manager
Communicate With the Kid 和孩子交流
国内英语资讯:CPC session important in improving Chinas capacity of governance: Australian scholars
国际英语资讯:News Analysis: Continued uncertainty over Brexit raises concerns over impact on Dutch econom
国际英语资讯:Chicago ranked as greenest place to work in U.S.
欢快的音乐能够激发创造性
国际英语资讯:Presidential election campaigns start in Guinea-Bissau amid political instability
国内英语资讯:Belt&Road Initiative new focus for China-Latin America cooperation: FM
My Happiness 我的快乐
体坛英语资讯:Ronaldo back as Madrid look to cure striker worries in Champions League
体坛英语资讯:Key game as Real Madrid visit San Sebastian
国际英语资讯:Venezuelan opposition lays out ground rules for new political dialogues
英法保证向加勒比海飓风灾区提供更多帮助
A Good Teacher 一位好老师
国际英语资讯:Turkish PM meets Kuwaiti counterpart on bilateral cooperation, Gulf crisis
体坛英语资讯:Uganda suspends national boxing body over disappearance of players in Germany
体坛英语资讯:Lewandowski delighted with Bayern massive win in Champions League
国际英语资讯:Russia says Syrian govt troops controls 85 pct of country
体坛英语资讯:Danish Football Union supports UEFA boycott against countries banning women from entering st
体坛英语资讯:Ronaldo back to steer Real Madrid to comfortable win in Champions League
国际英语资讯:UN chief rings alarm over rise in attacks, threats against journalists
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |