Famine & Poverty and Famines Essay Example for Free

famine Poverty and Famines EssayThe phenomenon of famine has been astray described and analyzed in socio-political literature. The topic has been considered a controversial one in terms of its description and its definitive features. In a recent re pile of the concept of famine, Poverty and Famines,Amartya Sen retains die of classical vision on famine offered by Malthus, distinguishing regular starvation, which is a normal feature in galore(postnominal) split of the world, from violentoutbursts of famine, a divorceicularly virulent form of starvation ca victimisation widespreaddeath (Sen, 38-39). USAID defines famine as a catastrophic victuals crisis that results in widespread acute malnutrition and mass mortality (USAID, 2002). Proper commentary of famine matters not only in terms of labeling an event after the fact, but also in terms of how humanitarian organizations and governments respond to crises as they atomic number 18 happening. Maxwell points out that this is in large part because of the emotional weight the term famine has come to carry (Maxwell, 49).Humanitarian workers spent a coarse amount of clip arguing about whether or not to call the 2002-2003 crisis in Ethiopia, ostensibly touch over 13 million people, a famine. Calling it a famine would have stepped up the external response, but it might also be perceived as crying wolf, which would have a pernicious effect on organizations abilities to obtain resources for emergency responses in the long run. Aid agencies want to avoid using the term famine too often because they worry about compassion fatigue or giver fatigue essentially that donors will be less likely to support emergency efforts if there are too many emergencies.There are also political implications for using the term famine, as dismiss be seen in the case of the 2005 crisis in Niger, which President Mamadou Tandja insisted was a fabrication of relief agencies to obtain more funding (Sengupta, 2005). Aid agencies like wise were reluctant to apply the term famine, and referred instead to pockets of severe malnutrition, in part because they didnt want to alienate Tandja (Sengupta, 2005).The general discussion in literature indicates that number of deaths, scale, intensity and time frame were main considerations for when to call something a famine. There also is a consensus that lack of access to food had to be the main problem, to distinguish a famine from other types of humanitarian crises.For instance, the 1984/85 famine in Ethiopia was unanimously considered a famine. Iraq in the 1990s was not, mainly because the time-frame was too long for a famine and many deaths were the result of a health crisis, not calorie-related (IDS, 3). Ethiopia in 1999/2000 was probably a famine, but Malawi in 2002 represented a famine-threat, rather than a true famine because too few people died (IDS, 3). In the latter(prenominal) case, the mortality was estimated between 500 and 3,000, and estimates were complicate d by the prevalence of HIV/AIDS thus, it was difficult to arrogate deaths specifically to hunger and hunger-related diseases.WORKS CITEDInstitute of Development Studies. Report on Operational Definition of Famine Workshop.Sussex, UK Institute of Development Studies, March 14, 2003Maxwell, D. Why do famines persist? A brief review of Ethiopia 1999-2000. IDS Bulletin,33 (4), 48-54, 2002Sen, A. Poverty and famines An essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford ClarendonPress, 1981Sengupta, K. President Tandja The people of Niger look well fed, as you can see. TheIndependent, elevated 10, 2005United States Agency for International Development. USAID background paper Famine.Washington, DC USAID, 2002. Retrieved July 8, 2009, fromhttp//www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2002/02fs_famine.html