More than 120-million Africans face starvation because much of the £3-billion ($5,6-billion) in aid spent each year to help them is wasted, an aid organisation said on Tuesday.
International aid arrives too late, is targeted at the wrong things and is usually only a short term measure that doesn’t tackle the root cause of hunger, humanitarian aid organisation Care International UK says in a new report.
”It is a disgrace that money is still given too late and for such short periods, then spent on the wrong things to truly fight emergencies,” said Geoffrey Dennis, the organisation’s chief executive.
”There is no excuse, when by spending money more intelligently, we can bring an end to all but the most unpredictable food crises.”
As a result, crises are growing in frequency, the charity said in its report, Living on the Edge of Emergency — An Agenda for Change.
Emergency aid to help Africa has increased from £500-million ($936-million) in 1997 to £3-billion ($5,6-billion) last year. But unless foreign donors change the way aid is spent, Africa will face mounting hunger and starvation, deepening poverty and conflict on a continent already reeling from wars.
In the last year alone, 35-million people in Southern, Western Africa and the Horn of Africa faced starvation.
Care is calling for an overhaul of the emergency aid system. Although it saves lives, say the charity, it does little else and sometimes leaves people worse off.
Aid should be more regular and predictable and should target recovery and prevention programmes like seed distribution and improved veterinary services. Training programmes should also be bought in place.
Often the causes of mass starvation are not because of food shortages but instead due to HIV/Aids, climate change; and lack of cash to buy food readily available in
markets, Care says.
By 2020, HIV/Aids is expected to kill one in five of Southern Africa’s farm laboureres — further depleting its food production.
Handing out food will not solve that problem, Care said.
Ethiopia has suffered food crises almost every year since 1986 yet the United States’ spending on long-term development to withstand shortages is less than 1%of its emergency aid, which for the US can top $500-million a year.
In the 2005 hunger emergency in the West African nation of Niger, $1 a day spent early would have prevented malnutrition among children. Late aid meant it cost $80 to save a malnourished child’s life, the report said. – Sapa-AP