Ethiopian Famine Essay

Worldwide, 870 million people — about one in eight— are hungry. That is nearly three times the population of the United States. It is hard to imagine in the modern world that a country cannot feed its people, but in 1984, the Ethiopian Famine took over one million lives. There were many causes that contributed to the complications faced in Ethiopia. These problems received major attention in the global Community. The famine drastically changed people’s lives because of the lack of food and resources and affected Ethiopia to our present day.

There were many factors that led to the major catastrophe of famine in Ethiopia in 1984. One of the main contributors was the substandard harvest caused by a devastating lack of rain. In 1983, Tigray

Western nations were reluctant to be involved. They feared that they would have to bear all the costs of aid for the drought. They did not realize that without their help 1,000s of people would die of starvation and related diseases. Ironically, Europe experienced a record harvest around the time of the Ethiopian famine. Even after relief organizations asked for 60,000 tons of grain per month, the nations of Europe refused to contribute. This made grain only available to aid agencies in the open market. After many months of no donations the aid to Ethiopia was lower than that given to any other developing country. The aid that did arrive was much too late to stop the famine (Flashback 1984: Portrait of a

“While there is currently a high level of suffering in Ethiopia and surrounding countries, today’s crisis is not comparable to the famine of 25 years ago” The government has learned how determine early signs of a famine, and are in the process of developing local government systems and ways of delivering aid to the different communities. 90% of the children are also enrolled in primary schools. The government is also giving 7.5 million people aid for volunteering on community projects as a part of the National Productive Safety Net Program. This program is helping citizens sustain a healthy and safe lifestyle and assuring that the land of Ethiopia is being kept in good shape. The Ethiopian government is also no longer entangled in a civil war and is not being ruled by the Derg