Famine relief

Famine relief is an organized effort to reduce starvation in a region in which there is famine. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common. In spite of the much greater technological and economic resources of the modern world, famine still strikes many parts of the world, mostly in the developing nations.

Today, conflict is the biggest famine driver according to the World Food Programme, while climate change and the fallout of COVID-19 are contributing to sharply increasing hunger numbers. Measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 have hit economies worldwide, pushing millions into unemployment and poverty, and leaving governments and donors with fewer resources to address the food and nutritional needs of those most vulnerable.^[1] Modern relief agencies categorize various gradations of famine according to a famine scale.

Many areas that suffered famines in the past have protected themselves through technological and social development. The first area in Europe to eliminate famine was the Netherlands, which saw its last peacetime famines in the early 17th century as it became a major economic power and established a complex political organization. A prominent economist on the subject, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, has noted that no functioning democracy has ever suffered a famine, although he admits that malnutrition can occur in a democracy^[2] and he does not consider mid-19th century Ireland to be a functioning democracy.^[3]

The bulk of the world's food aid is given to people in areas where poverty is endemic; or to people who have suffered due to a natural disaster other than famine (such as the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami), or have lost their crops due to conflicts (such as in the Darfur region of Sudan). Only a small amount of food aid goes to people who are suffering as a direct consequence of famine.^{[citation needed]}