UNITED
NATIONS (AP) — Some 18,000 children die every day because of hunger
and malnutrition and 850 million people go to bed every night with
empty stomachs, a "terrible indictment of the world in 2007,"
the head of the UN food agency said.
James
Morris called for students and young people, faith-based groups, the
business community and governments to join forces in a global
movement to alleviate and eliminate hunger — especially among
children.
"The
little girl in Malawi who's fed, and goes to school: 50% less likely
to be HIV-positive, 50% less likely to give birth to a low birth
weight baby," he said in an interview Friday. "Everything
about her life changes for the better and it's the most important,
significant, humanitarian, political, or economic investment the
world can make in its future."
Morris,
an American businessman and former president the Indianapolis-based
Lilly Endowment, one of the largest charitable organizations in the
U.S., is stepping down as executive director of the Rome-based World
Food Program in April after five years of leading the world's largest
humanitarian organization.
He
said that while the percentage of people who are hungry and
malnourished has decreased from a fifth of the world's population to
a sixth of the population, the actual number of hungry people is
growing by about 5 million people a year because of the rising
population.
"Today
850 million people are hungry and malnourished. Over half of them are
children. 18,000 children die every single day because of hunger and
malnutrition," Morris said. "This is a shameful fact — a
terrible indictment of the world in 2007, and it's an issue that
needs to be solved."
Morris
said the largest number of malnourished children are in India —
more than 100 million — followed by nearly 40 million in China.
"I'm
very optimistic that India and China are very focused on this issue,"
he said. "They're making great progress — (but) need to do
more. (It) needs to be a top priority."
Elsewhere,
there are probably 100 million hungry children in the rest of Asia,
another 100 million in Africa where countries have fewer resources to
help, and 30 million in Latin America, he said.
As
Morris prepares to leave his post, he said the two issues of greatest
concern are the increasing number of impoverished people and the
"very significant, growing number of natural disasters around
the world."
According
to the World Bank, natural disasters have increased fourfold over the
last 30 years, he said. That means several billion people need
instant help over the course of a decade because of disasters such as
the tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake, or drought in southern Africa.
The
response to these disasters and conflicts such as in Sudan's Darfur
region and Lebanon has meant that most development aid has been used
to save lives — not to help communities prevent disasters and
promote development through agricultural programs, education for
children and water conservation, Morris said.
The
agency's biggest operation today is in Darfur, where violence and
security are major problems and 2.5 million people have fled their
homes and now live in camps.
"Our
convoys are attacked almost daily. We had a truck driver killed there
at the end of last year. Our convoys coming through Chad from Libya
are always at risk. When the African Union troops were there, that
was very helpful. The U.N. troops will be even more helpful,"
Morris said.
He
was referring to a plan for an AU-U.N. force to be deployed in
Darfur, which is awaiting approval from Sudanese President Omar
al-Bashir.
American
diplomat Josette Sheeran will replace Morris, who plans to head home
to Indianapolis.
"I
will work as hard as I can every day of the rest of my life to see
that more resources are available to feed hungry children,"
Morris said.
Copyright
2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
