Famine

Famine is an economic and social phenomenon resulting from regional failures of food production or distribution systems and leading to sharply increased mortality. It is evidenced by body weight loss, emaciation, and the weakened condition of the population. Famine can be caused by natural disasters, such as drought or flood; in the modern world, war is its most frequent origin. Death occurs when about one third of the healthy body weight has been lost. The young, small, and highly active die first, and young children who do manage to survive famine often are brain-damaged. Acute starvation also causes depletion of the lymphoid system, so the body cannot produce antibodies and therefore cannot fend off disease. Epidemic diseases found in famine zones include cholera, typhus, typhoid fever, and dysentery. The lack of clean water and medicine exacerbates the situation. In recent times, dictatorships that appear able to afford sophisticated weapons systems and armaments have used famine as a further weapon against their own people. Through examination of a number of historical famines, this entry shows that incidences of starvation are allowed to become famines because of a lack of political will to prevent them.

Physiological and Social Descriptors

Invariably, famine implies starvation, whereas it is not the case that starvation implies famine. Starvation exists where people do not have enough to eat; it does not necessarily mean that there is not enough food available. As people begin to starve, their food requirements decrease because their metabolic rates slow down, and it becomes more [Page 446]difficult for them to undertake ordinary tasks. In any country that operates a harvest economy, three consecutive bad harvests create famine conditions. It is always a temptation for starving people to eat the following year's seed supply, which fends off immediate starvation but leads to greater problems the following year. Often, the men take food first, and women and children go hungry. Females are able to withstand starvation to much lower body mass indices than are males because females have a greater amount of fat-storing tissue and they use up fat rather than muscle tissue, enabling them to survive.

Although famines appear to be catastrophic events, there are usually signs of impending disaster long before the event itself. Famines are rarely caused by a single factor, either human or natural in origin. Moreover, it is difficult to distinguish between famine and starvation. If food is available in a region, then the incidence of what is known as famine is, in reality, starvation.

The physiological manifestation of starvation may be divided into two main types: marasmus and kwashiorkor. Marasmus is a severe form of malnutrition caused by inadequate intake of protein and calories and usually occurs in the first year of life. The effects on the body are physical wasting and a loss of subcutaneous fat and muscle, resulting in growth retardation. Children who suffer from marasmus display decreased activity, lethargy, apathy, slowed growth, and weight loss. Kwashiorkor is one of the more severe forms of protein malnutrition. Symptoms include weight loss, stunted growth, generalized edema, abdominal swelling, diarrhea, and decreased muscle mass. Both of these forms of starvation are seen during incidences of famine.

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