ABSTRACT
Chronic and acute hunger Before launching into further debates about the causes of world hunger, two preliminary exercises are essential. The first is to appreciate the difference between chronic and acute hunger and the second is to understand the nature and extent of both. Most people are vague about the distinctions between acute and chronic hunger and indeed the boundary is very problematic; however, it is important to establish the difference. Debates about world hunger are concerned about both acute and chronic hunger but the world’s media grant the problem of acute hunger, that is, famine, more attention. Ask students to mark on a map the famine-prone regions of the world and most will identify Ethiopia, Sudan, Bangladesh and perhaps Somalia. Asked to identify where most of the world’s hungry live they fare less well. Why?
