Five Billion Dollars to End Child Hunger in Africa - WFP
Date: 08-Mar-06
Country: UK
Speaking to reporters after a trip to drought-hit eastern Africa, WFP executive director James Morris said getting children fed and into schools was the most powerful investment Africa could make for its future.
"We could eliminate hunger among children in Africa for $5 billion," said Morris.
"There are so many kids in the world that are hungry and don't go to school and don't have shelter and don't have healthcare and don't have an adult that cares about them," he said. "It's not right."
Tens of billions of dollars of aid has been poured into Africa in the past 45 years but the continent remains the poorest on the planet. The bottom 24 countries in the UN's human development index last year were all in Africa.
Western countries blame poor governance and corruption for the lack of improvement in living standards in Africa, despite the huge sums of aid.
Morris, battling with rival agencies to raise money from donor nations to fund WFP campaigns, said the only way to transform Africa was to transform the people there.
"If you help a little girl go to school for five years in Malawi everything about her life changes for the better. She's a better mum, she's a better citizen, a better teacher, a better farmer," said Morris.
Facing increased competition for aid money, WFP has said in the past donors should adopt a "food first" policy, fighting hunger and malnutrition before putting development aid into infrastructure projects such a roads and ports.
"Today, 25,000 people will die of hunger, 18,000 children, one every five seconds, all day long, and 90 percent of them plus will not die in a high-profile situation."
"They will die off the beaten track that the world is not focused on. And it is a very tough challenge for us to raise the resources," Morris said.
