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
盘点讲述天才故事的十大佳片
《洛杉矶之战》强势来袭 创造2011年单日票房最高纪录
纽约时报组图:纪念伊丽莎白.泰勒
《加勒比海盗4》高清剧照:杰克船长再度热力四射
《里约大冒险》宣传新招 与《愤怒小鸟》合作
一周精彩视频串烧 绿灯侠压轴小片齐玩重口味
迪士尼手绘动画短片《尼斯湖水怪》亮相
2011观影指南:年度22部必看电影
《泰坦尼克号》赶上3D浪潮 能否夺回“票房冠军”称号?
《欢乐合唱团》推出3D剧场版 8月全美上映两周
一周内地新片前瞻 《雷神》拉开暑期档大幕
Jonathan Cake即将入住紫藤巷成为常规演员
威廉王子的爱情故事搬上荧屏!
丽莎白泰勒入土为安 与迈克尔杰克逊同一陵园
《里约大冒险》配音给力 中文版场次少观众遗憾
《暮光之城》男女主角今夏完婚 戏里戏外皆成正果
第31届金酸莓奖提名揭晓 《暮光3》身中9弹杯具领跑
第83届奥斯卡获奖名单完整版(附开场搞笑视频)
《雷神托尔》首曝片段 浅野忠信亮相角色海报
《吸血鬼日记》第三季到底要演什么?制片人Kevin告诉你
《吸血鬼日记》第二季十八集剧情介绍
《黑天鹅》特效揭秘 诡异变身与芭蕾舞替身
Chuck扮演者艾德.威斯特维克打算离开《绯闻女孩》
第83届奥斯卡最佳导演5大提名 诺兰遗憾出局
传记电影《威廉和凯特》中的七大最"俗套"台词
预告片:5月值得期待的动画动作片"功夫熊猫2 
真实故事《国王的演讲》背后皇室与平民友谊
《哈7-下》剧照展学校废墟 上部删节片段曝光
妮可.基德曼携手“国王”科林.费斯加盟《斯托克》
第83届奥斯卡颁奖典礼视频(中文字幕)
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |