African malaise deep, says Unicef

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 42

African malaise deep, says Unicef

The pictures of Africa’s famine that shook the world last year, and which lived on with the same intensity, showed only the obvious symptoms of a deeper malaise, said the United Nations Children’s Fund in a report released in Nairobi. “The widening gap between Africa and the rest of the world has received too little attention,” said the report, entitled “Within Human Reach.” “Even in 1980, before'the onset of the present crisis, some 30 per cent of children in many African States were malnourished. There is evidence of a further decline in nutrition standards — the result of a whole number of pressures of which the drought is just one.”

Unicefs representative for Australia and New Zealand, Mr Paul Ignatieff, said in Sydney that the causes of

the problem were, a tragic interaction of both national and international factors. The result was rising malnutrition, increased suffering, and proportionately less development for those in greatest need. “Unicef is not blaming any particular institution or country for Africa’s current crisis,” said Mr Ignatieff. “We are commenting on the way the whole international economic system is operating at the moment. “The challenge is to work urgently towards a solution in the short term as well as the long term.” Unicefs report underlined an urgent need for more support and a more human approach in national and international policy. It focused on six areas for action:# Strengthening of long-term food production, especially household food production.

® Strengthening basic health, water, and education services.

• Recognising and strengthening the role of women.

• Protecting the environment for the future of Africa’s children.

• More reliance on community organisations and structures.

9 A broader approach to adjustment policies nationally and internationally to achieve adjustment with a human face. “It is our central vision that the future for Africa’s children is within human reach. Not just that mankind as a whole has the ability to solve these problems — for it certainly does — but that the answers lie within the grasp of individual human beings, in giving them the power and the freedom to seize today’s, opportunities,” said Unicef.