Fish and Food Security in Africa

摘要

Today, in sub-Saharan Africa, one out of every two people (49%) lives on less than 1 dollar a day (World Bank 2004a).While in other regions chronic hunger is receding, in sub-Saharan Africa malnutrition is still rising in both absolute and relative terms. More than one third (34%) of the sub-Saharan African population is undernourished (FAO 2003) -an increase of 9 million since the 1996 World Food Summit-with dramatic and sometimes irreversible consequences on the physical, social and economic development of the communities concerned. Between 15 000 and 20 000 African women die each year (41-55 every day) due to severe iron-deficiency anemia.Vitamin A deficiency in children is common across the whole continent, contributing to the deaths of more than half a million African children annually (UNICEF 2004).