The Continuing Crisis In West Africa

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization is predicting a massive food crisis in the Ebola ravaged countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone unless sweeping measures are enacted to guarantee food access. The reasons behind this crisis are completely understandable. Border closing, bans on hunting, quarantine measures and other measures taken to control the spread of the disease - as well as isolation steps taken by individuals and communities - have causes massive disruptions in the food production and distribution networks. UNFAO is looking at up to 1 million people with lack of secure food access by March 2015; and this is in countries where food security can be problematic in the best of times.

"The outbreak has revealed the vulnerability of current food production systems and value chains in the worst Ebola-affected countries", said FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Bukar Tijani. "FAO and partners need to act urgently to overcome the agriculture and market disruptions and their immediate impact on livelihoods which could result in a food security crisis. With timely support, we can prevent the outbreak from having a severe and long-lasting impact on rural communities," he added.

"The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has been a wake-up call for the world", said WFP Emergency Response Coordinator Denise Brown in Dakar. "The virus is having a terrible impact on the three worst-hit countries and will continue to affect many people's access to food for the foreseeable future. While working with partners to make things better, we must be prepared for them to get worse," she said.

Here are some of the numbers:

• Guinea - 230,000 people currently severely food insecure because of Ebola, rising to 470,000 by March 2015.
• Liberia - 170,000 people currently severely food insecure because of Ebola, rising to 300,000 by March 2015.
• Sierra Leone - 120,000 people currently severely food insecure because of Ebola, rising to 280,000 by March 2015.

All three countries are also seeing disruption in crop output.

All of this shows how a massive, disruptive event like Ebola has a cascade effect, particularly when they impact trans-national trade and internal production and supply chains. In the case of a larger, global event, we need to ask how would a cessation of global trade, as well as internal disruptions, effect countries like the United States? In the case of West Africa, at least there is a rich, functional world that can send in aid. What if that were not the case? In the event of a global pandemic (or similar crisis) who is going to "come to the rescue" of the United States, China, Japan, or Europe?

These are questions that we should be asking ourselves as we observe the ongoing crisis in West Africa from the illusory comfort of our homes.

Source: ReliefWeb