Famine (global issue) - Research Paper Example

Globally, a high number of people are faced with food problems, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia, Latin America and North America. Famine results free free-market processes that have restructured the global economy, dating back to the debt crisis of the early 1980s. Famine as a phenomenon has been ongoing for a while. Modern scholars define famine in terms of a short-term effect of supply and demand for agricultural goods. Famine is a global issue, although many people attribute it to the developing world.

This paper focuses on famine as a problem facing the world in general. While many countries rarely face famines in these modern times, it still remains a disturbing, yet controversial issue. The argument that developing countries are faced with higher chances of famine strikes, the assumption that developing countries are immune is not true. History has demonstrated that famine can strike at any time to whichever country, without necessarily the country being economically struggling. Natural calamities such as floods, earthquakes and drought have been found to be the biggest contributors of memorable famines in the history of the calamity.

By addressing the major factors causing famines and instances in which major famines happened in the world, the paper seeks to prove that famine is a global issue. . Increase in global inflationary levels has seen a steady increase in general global food prices with time. Statistics reveal that increase in food prices has contributed significantly to the increase in global famine levels. In some cases, famine effects have been so devastating that it almost escalated into a crisis. An example of such a country is Haiti, where food prices rose at an average rate of 40 percent in less than a year, with rice prices doubling.

Famine is caused by acute hunger, characterized by short-term problems of food security that develops to intensive levels (Digby, 102). Famine is one of the major challenges facing human beings in the modern day world, claiming lives of a lot of people in third world countries, most of which fall in the African continent, Asia and Latin America. The other challenges that have similar devastating effects to humanity in the world are diseases such as HIV/AIDs and cancer. Many people have perished in times of hunger due to starvation.

Although still at high levels, the current rates of famine in the world have reduced significantly. Stringent measures have been put to ensure that occurrence of famine incidences such as those that faced the world in the 19th century are not experienced again. The UN has through the United Nations Food Development Program (UNFDP) tried to save people from such adverse situations. The Red Cross also carries such a program like the relief food program to provide food to the hunger stricken areas.

Such organizations, operating globally, dedicated to ensuring that people have enough food during times of hunger, show that famine is a global issue. Effects