 Food, The Poor, and HIV
The Economist called it "The new face of hunger." They went on to elaborate that the global food shortages took everyone by surprise. The Economist April 17, 2008.
As we travel to resource poor countries and try to provide for the basic needs of orphans and vulnerable children, we are acutely aware of how difficult it is to find a sustainable and low cost supply of food. But we too did not expect the food crisis to become so much worse so quickly.
Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC says, "World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period."
Last year wheat prices rose 77% and rice 16%. These were some of the sharpest rises in food prices ever. However in 2008, the increase in food prices have accelerated - in some locations the price of rice soared by 141%. We saw a big difference in the 6 months between visits in Liberia, where one of our HIV programs is located.
It is not surprising that riots follow food price increases in some countries. Protesters in Haiti forced the prime minister to resign. In Egypt, the army was ordered to start baking bread. In other countries the hoarding of rice was made punishable by life imprisonment.
But in a way, it all seems strange. The Global Economy was supposed to improve the daily life of the poor. For the most part it has not done that, especially for the very poor. It is also a paradox that our U.S. and European emphasis on biofuels to protect the environment precipitated dramatic food price increases even in remote countries such as Liberia and the Congo where we have our HIV programs.
Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Program and the largest distributor of food aid, points out that this food crisis is different. Previously a harvest fails because of drought, war or strife, and the burden in the affected region falls heavily on the poorest. This time the food crisis is even affecting those who have some income. Sheeran observes,
It means cutting out medical care. For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster.
Recently, we heard from an orphan program in Kenya.
The inflation rate increased from 10% to 31%. A bag of rice could be purchased for 1800 Kenya shillings. That same bag of rice now costs 3400 Kenya shillings. In general the price of food has gone up 60%, this coupled with the weakening U.S. dollar has had quite an impact on the standard of living.
We are trying to respond to the food crisis in our HIV programs by increasing not only the amount of food for orphans and vulnerable children, but also the quality. In a previous newsletter, we highlighted our volunteer efforts on developing production of a fortified peanut butter-based supplement, http://globalstrategies.org/news/documents/08-09VolunteerSnapshot_000.pdf. Adequate nutrition is essential, especially for HIV infected children, to be certain that antiretroviral drugs that control HIV infection are effective.
We are planning for sustainability as well. Rather than remaining dependent on the vicissitudes of the local market and global pressures on food prices, we are developing local production of fortified food. We are also in the process of purchasing land in Liberia so that food can be grown locally for the HIV infected orphans and vulnerable children. Saving costs and building in price protection could allow us to provide for more children.
I look at food prices here in the U.S. Our recent economic upheaval is causing us to pay closer attention to them. But as we look at the rise in price of bread or milk or eggs, it serves us well to take a moment to reflect on how we can help those who care for orphans. These caregivers look at the same price increases and have no choice but to walk away empty handed.
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