Poverty and Food Insecurity and Hunger Profile of Liberia Essay

2514 WordsJun 12, 200911 Pages
Poverty and Food Insecurity and Hunger Profile of Liberia November 14, 2005 I. Introduction After many years of civil war, the Liberian society has been left with all of its institutions in disarray; basic social services (education, health, electricity, water and sanitation, etc) are hardly available, there is massive displacement of the population and a good number of the population is still in refugee camps. The real sector of the economy is paralyzed. Moreover, the mis-management of its financial and natural resources by public officials burden the country. These and many other problems have led to the country’s poor economic growth performance, paralyzed manufacturing sector, high rates of inflation, massive displacement of the population, and high unemployment rate, which have culminated into extreme poverty and food insecurity and hunger amongst the population. Overall, the economy has not performed well, since the inception of the civil war. A combination of bad governance, limited social integration between the then ruling elite since independence and the rest of the society, coupled with inequality in the distribution of the wealth of the nation provoked the military coup in 1980, which was followed by the civil war in 1989. These events impacted the lives of the people negatively and contributed to the worsening poverty rate and food insecurity in the country. Poverty and food insecurity as we know are multi-dimensional phenomena, which have political, social, economic and cultural implications. A nation that is caught in the web of poverty and food insecurity is bound to be dependent on external assistance for sustenance. In the absence of substantial external assistance, its people, especially women and children, are very vulnerable to sicknesses and diseases; even conflicts are likely to erupt, especially if a few of

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