Less Food for More People in Need – International Medical Corps Warns about Effect of High Food Prices

Photo: IMC

International Medical Corps measures a small child’s arm circumference in Ethiopia. While green indicates a health weight, a red-level circumference means that the child is severely malnourished.

Los Angeles, CA – With rice and wheat prices reaching record highs, there will likely be less food and more people going hungry in the developing world. International Medical Corps (IMC) is very concerned of the impact the rising food costs will have on the health and well-being of the communities it serves. The increase in prices not only makes food less available overall, but reduces the variety because people can only afford staples, such as wheat, corn, and rice, which lack the essential vitamins and minerals needed to maintain good health. As a result, millions are left at-risk for not only severe malnutrition, but also micronutrient deficiencies.

The most pressing concern is a feared escalation in demand. “Rising market prices will make more people food insecure and most likely increase the number of people in need,” says KD Ladd, International Medical Corps nutritionist. “We are faced with a simple dilemma: the same money buys less food.” In poor countries, people often spend up to 75 percent of their income feeding their families. Therefore, any price increase can easily lead to an acute shortage.

The impact of rising fuel prices and high demand for commodities can already be felt by humanitarian agencies. Many could be forced to recalculate budgets for nutrition programs, particularly in landlocked countries where transport costs will increase sharply. “Agencies may have to change the type of food they ship in order to reduce the volume,” says Ladd. “This will help save on fuel, but as a consequence, the quality and variety of the food package would be compromised. The substitute would likely contain fewer vitamins and minerals for beneficiaries.”

Difficult to detect, micronutrient deficiency is often called, ‘hidden hunger,’ and can weaken the immune system and create potentially fatal health problems. Women and children are most vulnerable to health complications relating to nutritional deficits, as infant and maternal mortalities can result from a lack of essential vitamins and minerals. As food becomes more difficult to afford, these deficiencies are likely to increase in severity and prevalence.

The World Food Program (WFP) announced in April that it was seeking funding to close a $500 million gap caused by the global spike in food and fuel prices, which have increased by 55 percent since last June and by more than 80 percent over the last three years. The UN agency is the largest supplier of food aid in the world. The WFP’s executive director described this crisis as the new face of hunger, and spoke of the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are.

Photo: IMC

International Medical Corps weighs a small baby in Ethiopia to determine the level of malnutrition. The rising price of food is likely to make more people – particularly children – suffer from malnutrition and vitamin-and-mineral deficiencies worldwide.

International Medical Corps hopes that the recent appeal by World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, for more government funds to address the effects of food shortages will be acted upon quickly before nutrition programs need to be cut, leaving women and children particularly vulnerable. Food prices are expected to remain elevated this year and next, and are predicted to stay high until 2015.

While increased funding will help to fill food shortages, governments must also examine their policies and humanitarian agencies must review their strategies so that aid efforts not only provide immediate relief, but work to build local capacities as well. To make a sustainable impact, resources must also be directed to increase food supply through the development of agriculture, particularly in those regions where arable land has been left uncultivated.

“The problem will not go away and needs to be addressed soon. Otherwise, we could see a major setback in advances we have made,” says Ladd. The World Bank says that the high food prices could result in ‘seven lost years’ in fighting poverty.

International Medical Corps runs nutrition programs from over 200 sites in 10 countries and serves more than 35,000 beneficiaries each month. Its programs involve a multi-tiered approach which uses therapeutic and supplemental feeding to treat individuals – most often children – with moderate to severe malnutrition. IMC also works to address micronutrient deficiencies that result from dietary imbalances that are predicted to affect more than two billion people. International Medical Corps creates food variety through agricultural livelihood programs that increase micronutrient intake by making more fruits and vegetables available.