Campaign aims to help save 38 million people from hunger

Drawing international attention to an unprecedented hunger crisis in Africa, where 38 million people face starvation, is the aim of a campaign officially launched on Monday by the World Food Programme (WFP).

The Africa Hunger Alert campaign represents a global response to a growing number of spontaneous grassroot initiatives in North America, Europe and Asia, WFP said in a news release on Monday.

The initiatives include "The Baltimore Declaration: Africa in Crisis", a unified pledge - unveiled on 3 December by the executives of American humanitarian relief organisations - to take action to prevent famine from taking hold in parts of Africa, WFP said. Others include a 9 December concert held in Tokyo to highlight the plight of the hungry in Africa, and initiatives by students in Canada and the United States. A French radio station, France-Info, was scheduled to devote its Monday broadcast to the hunger crisis in Africa, while in Hong Kong, a lobbying campaign has begun to urge the local government to provide financial support for Africa, WFP reported.

And in a growing sign of concern among ordinary citizens, hundreds of people of different nationalities eager to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe recently sent unsollicited donations to WFP.

"Right now, these are all individual, isolated expressions of concern and compassion which we expect to intensify and spread as the catastrophic nature of this crisis becomes more apparent to the public worldwide," said WFP Deputy Executive Director, Jean-Jacques Graisse.

"If we are to avert starvation in Africa, ordinary citizens have an important role to play," he added. "It's critical they join the campaign and urge their governments to address the needs of the hungry now before it is too late, before we have to endure the shame of seeing images of dying children on the news."

The hunger crisis in Africa has grown particularly acute in the wake of two major, simultaneous emergencies in the past year, WFP said: in Southern Africa, almost 15 million people are threatened in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia, while in Ethiopia and Eritrea, an additional 12 to 16 million are at risk. Millions of people also face starvation in Sudan, Angola, the Great Lakes region and West Africa.

These catastrophic conditions are primarily the result of drought, HIV/AIDS and, in some countries, political turmoil and failed economic policies, WFP said. Of particular concern, it said, was the new phenomenon of shifting weather patterns, causing floods and droughts.

The global campaign is open to all organisations and individuals, according to WFP, which says it is using its website to provide information on the emergency as well as a forum for ideas.

"Progress is possible, if the political will is there," Graisse said. "To avert mass starvation we need a massive response by governments, private charities, non-governmental organisations, citizens' groups and individuals.

"If the relief community is not given the necessary resources to respond, the result will be a humanitarian catastrophe."

[For more information, go to www.wfp.org/AfricaHungerAlert ]