Exam 2 Flashcards
How many memorials exist for famine victims
we tend to have alot of memorials for wars but very little for famines
-people are not interested in deaths due to hunger
what is an exception of the norm to not have famine memorials
the irish famine memorial in Dublin
what was one of the greatest famines in history
The Chinese famine in 1958‐60 killed more
people than Holocaust, Vietnam War and Iraq
war combined!
-most people dont know about the chinese famine
what seems to have happened to our compassion over time
there seems to be a compassion fatigue where it is is a condition characterized by a gradual lessening of compassion over time
Ex.
-there are currently famine like conditions in four countries but people dont seem to care much
-there are very few works of literature, films on hunger as a topic
what is the exception in the lack of literature in famines
Knut Hamsun- “an attempt to describe the strange, peculiar life of the mind, the mysteries of the nerves in a starving body.
-an outstanding example of modern psychology driver literature
who is kevin carter
he published the picture of the little girl next to the vulture. ( 1993)
- famine in sudan –> people started noticing famine
- The girl collapsed on her way to a feeding ground as a vulture lurks in the background
What was the title of the picture that was published by the new york times of the girl and the vulture
‘Wanting a meal”
- kevin carter chased away the vulture until the girl made it to the feeding grounds
- he then sat under a tree and cried while smoking a cigarette
- he always carrier around the of the work he did
what are some examples of famine
- India (bengal) - 1943 caused y monsoonal delays
- Sudan- 1988- man stealing corn from starving child at the feeding center
what famines were created by the free market
the irish potatoe famine 1840
free market - is an economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control.
what famines were created by government policies
The Ukrainian Famine, 1932-1933 (result of Joseph Stalin’s policy of forced collectivization.)- quota paid first and they peasants get food
The Chinese Great leap Forward Famine, 1958-1961 (Mao za dong- introduced drastic changes in farming policy which prohibited farm ownership)
gov policy: A government policy is a rule or principle that hopefully better guides decisions, resulting in positive outcomes that enhance the community or unit
war and famine in the 20th century
- famines are aften triggered war
* war does not determine who is right, war determines who is left
direct death vs indirect death
about 5x more people die from displacement nd hunger than directly from wars ( bullets)
what is the worst 20th century war and famine
china because of their government policies
30 million
describe the current famine in yemen
the famine in yemen is currently caused by war (man made)
-cause by Houthi rebels vs. SaudI Arabia
-in 2007 it worsened– saudi ith the help of US tightened their sea, air and land blackage. Food not getting to devastated areas.
-worst famine in the last 100 years
-We cannot separate international politics from
international hunger
which famine did Amartya Sen Study
-ethiopian famine (1972-1974)
Most of the people tat dies during the ethiopian famine were
-pastoralist or animal herders
Describe the deaths in Ethiopia ( general)
- people had to walk long distances to reach the main highways beging for food
- a large number of people that dies were in Wollo province
- a major national highway runs through the Wollo province
Deaths in Ethiopia ( run through of everything beginning to end)
- Ethiopia had a good road system
- crop production was only 7% below normal in Ethiopia -per Capita calorie intake were not significantly down
- the price of animals in terms of food (sorghum and maize) fell drastically
What was the main problem for the pastoralist in ethiopia
- the price of animals in terms of food (sorghum and maize) fell drastically
-Pastoralists saw deteriorating terms of trade as grain prices skyrocketed in Ethiopia and
animal pricesfell.
What was the sens conclusion
-decline in aggregate food availability is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for
famines to occur
-Famines can occur if rising food prices prevent poor from being able to purchase food by selling the items that they produce.
-People who have direct access to food – farmers – do not generally suffer from famines
-People who produce non‐food items, such as baskets, garments etc. may find that prices of
those items are falling- lower supply of food
-If the “price” of “teaching”falls, professors who do not have farmland, may starve.
- artisans and traders are affected by generalized
recession
Why did pastoralist starve to death and not kill their animals for food
- animal protein does not help people who starve for log periods of time
- animal protein is very expensive and no enough.
- one can easily store grains but hard to store ( or keep animals alive ) will require large amount of feed and water
sen focused on entitlements
entitlements: the bundle of commodities‐‐and
ultimately rights‐‐that individuals can command, including ex. exchange, sharecropping)
-sen believed that entitlement failures cause famines and starvation not shortage of food
* ex. food output was actually high during the great chinese famine
what is an example of exchange failure according to sen and why is causes famines (describe how it applied to the famine i ethiopia)
speculation and hoarding lead to
spiraling food prices and bubbles
ex. demand for animals fell
-people started storing food grain
-animal herders started stress selling their cows
-animal hearders dies because they could not buy food grain
What was a striking find by sen regarding famines and democracy
Democracies do not have famines because a free press in democratic countries tend to make people aware of famines and the governments are forced to take action. Free press, however, tend to ignore chronic hunger because such stories become boring
over time.
should rich countries intervene with military force if these is a famine – who studied this
Martin Ravallion
Ravallion draws the following lessons
for policies in response to famine:
• Better governance. Greater democratization and freer flow of information in a society make it more difficult for a government to ignore famines.
• Early warning and rapid response. Policy interventions are more effective if they take place before famine conditions are firmly entrenched.
• Increased aggregate food availability. Policies to increase the total amount of food available in famine areas include food aid, policies to discourage hoarding in private or public storage, and policies domestic food production.
• Distribution policies. Cash or coupon payments to potential famine victims can provide more effective relief than the usual policy of importing and distributing food.
• Stabilization policies: Buffer stocks are
programs in which the government purchases food in periods when it is plentiful and sells food out of their stocks when shortages occur.
* other policies: credit programs, improved infrastructure, and
assignment of property rights
how many children die unecesaily every hour
1000
which is worse famine or chronic hunger
chronic hunger
what determines the global hunger index
• First, values for each of the four component indicators are determined from the available data for each country
what are the four indicators for the global hunger index
- the percentage of the population that is undernourished
- the percentage of children under five years old who suffer from wasting (lowweight for height),
- the percentage of children under five years old who suffer from stunting (low height for age), and
- the percentage of children who die before the age of five (child mortality).
what is wasting
low weight for height
what is stunting
low height for weight
how much does undernourishment and child mortality contribute to GHI
1/3 EACH
how much does the child nutrition indicators contribute to GHI
- child nutricion ( wasting ,stunting)
* 1/6 of the score
what is the scale of GHI
100 Point scale where zero is the best score with zero hunger and 100 is the worst
are the threshhold standards set above or below the highest observed values
they are set above to allow for the possibility that these values migt increase int he future
how would you calculate the standardized # for undernurishment
take the result you and divide it by the max * 100
is id the GHI calculated?
1.) take the percentage of each category
2.) ex. # you have/ Max for that category * 100
3.) aggregate the numbers based on how much each contrinutes to the overall GHI
1⁄3 Standardized PUN + 1⁄6 Standardized CWA
+ 1⁄6 Standardized CST+ 1⁄3 Standardized CM = GHI
which are has the worst GHI
sub-saharan africa
which dollar values are used to meaure extreme poverty
$1/day, $1.90/day or $2/day are often used to
measure extreme poverty
describe the world bank numbers in regard to poverty
- the % of wolrd poverty has been decreasing but not evenly
- most of the extreme poor live in sub-sahara africa
- the number of poor regions in africa has increased by 9 million ( 413 million ppl in total lett than 1.90)
- by 2023 9/ 10 extreme poor will be in sub africa
why is chronic hunger so bad
famine is an isolated terrible episode of
food shortage, chronic hunger first makes
children vulnerable and stunted, adults weak
and sick; then kills them
what are the four types of malnutricion
- overnutrition,
- secondary malnutrition,
- micronutrient malnutrition and
- protein-calorie malnutrition
what is overnutricion
percent of adults worldwide were overweight,
and 13 percent were obese.
what is secondary mal nutricion
When a person has a condition or illness that prevents proper digestion or absorption of food, ex. anorexia alteration of metabolism prevention of nutrient absorption diversion of nutrients due to parasites
what is Dietary deficiency or Micronutrient
Malnutrition
- vitamin A deficiency (eyes)- xerophthalmia
- Iodine deficiency- goiter , reduced mental abilities
- Iron Deficiency - anemia
- Zinc deficinecy - impaired immune function-making the person more susceptible to disease
describe the calorie and protein nutrition
- calories- give you immediate energy and body fuctions
- protein - maintenance and growth
- calories come from sugars and carbohydrates
- protein comes from milk, soya, egg meats. it is needed to produce 20 essencial amino acids
what is protein-calories malnutrition (PCM)
In extreme forms, PCM manifests itself as the
potentially fatal nutritional disorders known as
kwashiorkor and marasmus.
-Nutritional Role of Calories and Proteins Calories are a
measure of the energy contained in food The body obtains energy from carbohydrates (e.g., sugar and starch) and fats (e.g., oil and butter)
what do calories do to our body
provide energy for various needs
- involuntary functions
- physical activity
- mental activity
- fighting disease
- growth
what do proteins do
body makes the millions of different proteins that it
needs from some twenty amino acids, which are the building blocks of the body’s proteins
-• They are necessary for building the cells that make up muscles, membranes, cartilage, and hair.
• They carry oxygen throughout the body.
•They carry nutrients into and out of cells and help assimilate food.
•They contribute to the development of antibodies that fight disease.
•They work as enzymes that speed up the digestive process.
what happens if you consume more amino acids than needed
your body cannot use them for making proteins; instead, it burns the amino acids for energy. If you consume less of an amino acid than you need, a portion of other amino acids goes to waste for want of the “matching” part needed to manufacture protein molecules.
what two things would work well as amino acids (protein complementary)
- wheat and beans together.
- not wheat or beans alone - create shortage of some amino acids
ex. bean burrito
which is a biggest problem, protein deficiency or calorie deficiency ?
Recent data on food availability also indicate that
calorie deficiency is likely to present a bigger problem
than protein deficiency.
* Africa, food available per capita would provide 2,618
calories and 69 grams of protein per person per day in
2011.
what does kwashiorkor mean
-occurs in children between 1-4
-When a child is nursing, it receives certain amino acids vital to growth from its mother’s milk.
- When the child is weaned, if the diet that replaces the milk is high in starches and carbohydrates, and
deficient in protein- the child may develop kwashiorkor.
-Second child takes over the milk of the mother (rejected one)
What are the symptoms of kwashiorkor
a swollen abdomen known as a pot belly, as well as alternating bands of pale and dark hair (flag sign) and weight loss. Common skin symptoms include dermatitis and depigmented skin.
-fluid retention - swollen limbs ( blood protein is so low that it leaks out into the body )
what is the main deficiency in kwashiorkor
Proteins
what happens to the body during kwashiorkor
when there are not enough proteins to mett all of the bodies needs, then it abandones the less vital parts. It starts digesting its own protein tissues in order to supply the amino acids it needs to maintain the internal proteins. Hair and skin pigmentation is not vital so they are not manufactured.
- skin fails to heel ( not as important as vital organs)
- amino acids are used for the heart and and brain instead of antibodies
- they then get disentry and loose all of their proteins and
what is marasmus
is a condition of both protein and calorie
deficiency. The term derives from a Greek word meaning “wasting away,” and the physical effects are just that-low body weight, or emaciation.
children younger than 5 years
because this period is characterized by increased energy needs and increased susceptibility to viral and bacterial infections. Weaning, which occurs during this period, is often complicated by factors such as geography, economy, hygiene, public health, and culture and dietetics.
What makes a child marasmus
- unlike wariosker they are usually neglected by their mother and dont even get milk
- little old people
- need to be kept warm
- low body fat, low resistance to disease is low, impairs brain development
what are the symptoms of marasmus
- grossly underweight
- no body fat
- gross muscle wasting
- old mans face
- no oedema
- normal hair
main differences between kwashiorker and marasmus
- kwashiorker- lack of protein in their diet,
- marasmus - severe nutricial defecience , lack of nutritional elements in the food over long periods of time
what are the different measures of malnutrition
- Low Height‐for‐Age (Stunting)
- Low Weight‐for‐Height (Wasting)
- Low Weight‐for‐Age (Underweight)
