Posted by ""Paulo Goncalves"" <
paulog@MIT.EDU>
Doug,
Thanks for your comment. There are indeed several ways that providing
short-term relief (such as food aid) can undermine long-term development
(solve the entitlement problem of populations afflicted by famines). For
instance, making large quantities of grain available to poorer nations for
free or below market prices, as in non-emergency relief food aid, makes
local farming unprofitable and unsustainable, driving local farmers into
poverty and food prices up, ultimately making local populations more
vulnerable to famines. However, I strongly disagree with the metabolic
example you provided.
To your point, it is well understood that calorie restricted diets extends
life span and retards age-related chronic diseases in a variety of species,
including rats, mice, fish, flies, worms, and yeast. Calorie restriction
also reduces metabolic rate and as you suggest improves the efficiency of
the organism in animals. The mechanisms through which this occurs in animals
are not well understood; for humans, many of these effects are not
scientifically proven, but are often assumed to take place.
To make the leap between metabolic efficiency and the role that it may play
in famines, however, it is important to look more closely at the causes of
famines and its victims. There are two types of famines. Those caused by
lack of food and those caused by lack of purchasing power (what Nobel prize
economist Amartya Sen defines as the entitlement problem). The most
prevalent type of famines are the second one. That is, most people starve
not because food is not available, but because they cannot afford to buy
food.
Among the main causes of famines are conflict, drought (or other
environmental disruptions), and other political, logistical, or economic
disruptions. But most often famines are caused by conflict and drought.
Conflict can cause famines by driving farmers from the land, destroying
stored harvested goods, disrupting market processes all of which create food
shortages that drive prices above families' income. Conflicts can also cause
famines when governments deny access to food to specific populations as a
means to control rebel areas. Droughts have a primary effect of overtaxing
and drying up water supplies causing losses of crops and livestock. In
addition, droughts cause families to search for better grazing lands for its
livestock, migrate to cities, seek jobs or alternative sources of income.
Because famines caused by conflict and drought force famished people to
fight in conflict, migrate to cities and seek jobs they disproportionately
affect young children (between nine months and five years old), pregnant and
nursing women and the elderly. These groups are most vulnerable to famines
because they are the least adaptable to the direct and indirect effects of
drought and conflict, not to mention that their nutritional needs are
higher, and they cannot provide for themselves. For instance, young children
depend on their mothers for survival, women with dependent children cannot
easily leave home to seek work, elderly are not fit for manual labor and may
not survive migration, all of them (young children, pregnant women and
elderly people) make poor soldiers. Slowing the delivery of foods to such
groups would only deteriorate their condition and amplify the disparities.
In fact, because food aid is more likely to be distributed among those that
can earn money or share some of the routine family tasks (fetch water and
wood in far distances), it is common that organizations provide food in
excess of dietary needs precisely with hopes to meet the needs of the most
vulnerable.
But at a more basic level, the food staple of many subsistence societies is
a carbohydrate-rich, protein poor diet, which can lead to protein deficiency
malnutrition and severe physiological imbalances. Starvation also impairs
the immune system, so it is common to find a host of epidemic diseases among
famished populations. And, because disease and malnourishment go together,
it is not only necessary to provide food, taking into consideration the
protein deficiency, but also necessary to provide the appropriate conditions
(e.g., clean water) and medications.
If anything, where famines are concerned, improved results come from
providing more food, more infrastructure, more sanitation, more medication,
more education.
Cheers,
Paulo
Posted by ""Paulo Goncalves"" <
paulog@MIT.EDU>
posting date Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:56:59 -0500
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