The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates
that 826 million people today are chronically and seriously undernourished, 34 million of
whom live in the economically developed countries of the North. Most of the victims live in
Asia - 515 million, or 24 per cent of the total population of the continent. However, if we look at
the number of victims relative to the size of the population, sub-Saharan Africa is worst affected:
there, 186 million women, men and children, or 34 per cent of the region’s population, are
permanently and seriously undernourished. Most of the victims suffer from what FAO calls
“extreme hunger”, with an average daily intake of 300 calories less than the minimum quantity
for survival. The countries worst affected by extreme hunger are mostly in sub-Saharan Africa
(18 countries), the Caribbean (Haiti) and Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, and Mongolia). Permanent and serious undernourishment and
malnutrition cause early death and numerous diseases, which almost invariably entail serious
disability: underdevelopment of brain cells in babies, blindness caused by vitamin A
deficiency, etc. Chronic hunger and permanent, serious malnutrition can also be a hereditary
curse: every year, tens of millions of seriously undernourished mothers give birth to tens of
millions of seriously affected babies, referred to as “born crucified” by Régis Debray.