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WORLD FOOD DAY OR WORLD HUNGER DAY?
Mary Robinson
, OCTOBER 2004 (IPS) - World Food Day, October 16, is a painful reminder of the divide between those who are well nourished and those who live in hunger, writes Mary Robinson, Executive Director of Realising Rights: The Ethical Globalisation Initiative, and former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In this article, Robinson writes that every seven seconds a child under 10 dies directly or indirectly of hunger; more than 2 billion people worldwide suffer from hidden hunger or micronutrient malnutrition.
The crisis is compounded by other global challenges which must be fought vigorously, particularly the fight against HIV/AIDS. Infection rates are rising among African women. Almost 60 percent of those living with AIDS in Africa are women, who make up 80 percent of Africa's small farmers and have traditionally been able to help their families and communities most in times of food crisis, but the toll taken by AIDS makes this task increasingly difficult.
At the heart of any new strategy must be a greater commitment to
implementing the human right to adequate food.
/NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED KINGDOM/ (END/2004)
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