Food Crisis Grips Developing World
CARE advocates for fundamental changes in tackling global hunger and food price hikes

Residents protest on the streets of Port- au-Prince. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz, courtesy www.alertnet.org )

This spring, deadly riots in Haiti, Africa, Asia and parts of Europe have focused the world's attention on the emerging global food crisis. Today, photos and stories in the media of communities on the brink of starvation paint a stark image of this growing humanitarian disaster.

The situation is likely to worsen in the coming months as food prices are expected to soar to record highs, countries hold back even more food from export and droughts cause food crops from Africa to Australia to fail in record numbers.

According to the World Food Program, food prices have increased 55 percent since June 2007. Numerous factors play a role in the price hike, including rising oil prices and increased demand for food in developing countries at the same time that record numbers of food crops are being converted for use as biofuel.

Click here to read CARE's most recent press release on the food crisis. 

A girl carries a cup with non-potable water on a street in Port-au-Prince. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz,courtesy www.alertnet.org )

In the Horn of Africa, where the extensive drought is aggravated by ongoing civil strife, CARE is:

• Somalia: Increasing food support to reach 1.9 million people, and helping meet emergency water needs in drought-affected areas of the country.
• Kenya: Trucking water to parched communities and working with local leaders to keep wells from running dry.
• Ethiopia: Providing safe drinking water – more than 1 million liters to date – that helps schools and clinics remain open; working with poor farmers to maintain their livihoods and food supply and, due to increased levels of malnutrition, making sure thousands of children get the food they need to grow healthy and strong.

A Haitian woman carries a basket of chickens on her head in Port-au-Prince, April 11, 2008. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz, courtesy www.alertnet.org )

On May 20, CARE was participated in a high-level U.N. panel on the global food crisis, during which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the U.N.'s Global Food Crisis Initiative. Click on the following links to learn more:

• CARE International Secretary General Dr. Robert Glasser's Remarks to the U.N. on the Food Crisis 
  
• CARE International Food Prices Briefing Paper
  

On April 16-18, CARE and Oxfam convened a meeting in Rome to bring together policy experts and leading international aid agencies to discuss what needs to be done to solve the problem of hunger. Attendees addressed a number of issues raised by the new report, Rethinking Food Security in Humanitarian Response:

• Full Report
• Executive Summary
• CARE And Oxfam Convene World Hunger Forum
• CARE and Oxfam Call for Fundamental Changes
  in Tackling Global Hunger and Food Price Hikes

• CARE: White Paper on Food Aid Policy
• CARE: Congressional Testimony
• U.S. GAO: Foreign Assistance: Various Challenges Impede the Efficiency and Effectiveness of U.S. Food Aid

Click here to learn more.

Read more about the global food crisis on CARE Connections.

• CNN: Starvation Claiming Ethiopia's Tiniest
  
• New York Times: Famine Looms as Wars Rend Horn of Africa
  
• BBC News: Food Warning for Indian Children
  
• Washington Post: (Special Series) Global Food Crisis
• CARE: As Cost of Food Triples, Community Eats Dried Berries to Survive
• CARE: Hunger Crisis Looming in Horn of Africa if Rains Fail this Month
• New York Times: Across Globe, Empty Bellies Bring Rising Anger
  
• IRIN: Efforts to Contain Soaring Food Prices and Drought
• New York Times: Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing
• Los Angeles Times: In Africa: from Very Little to Almost Nothing