Even as Africa Hungers, Policy Slows Delivery of US Food Aid

Intervention, even with the best intentions, can cause unforeseen tragic consequences. Thousands of people starve in Zambia, caught in a web of international health groups that supply drugs for AIDS, improving health yet increasing the pangs of hunger; weather patterns that deliver drought; local politicians who don’t want to release large food supplies; and wealthy nations in the West that provide aid, but insist that the grain must come from their shores. Food aid attracts public support in wealthy nations when policies benefit agriculture or business interests. The Bush administration has attempted to suspend requirements that limit aid to US-grown grain, shipped on US vessels with US crews, policies that slow delivery of aid to a crawl. But the same administration has also reduced funding for population-control measures that might contribute to alleviating poverty. Amid such politics and unnecessary complications, Celia Duggar of “The New York Times” describes tragic scenes of hungry young orphans, quietly collecting their food in school and saving portions to share with younger siblings who would otherwise go without. – YaleGlobal