BREAKING NEWS: "Famine conditions in Somalia have ended, UN says"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16866913



Last night, the UN declared that the famine conditions in Somalia have ended. Well, actually, not quite. It seems that the drought has improved due to some rainfall; however, 1.7 million Somalians are still "in crisis". Food security is incredibly unstable in Somalia due to the environment they live in. Droughts are inevitable, thus, individuals who depend on their farms for food go hungry when their crops don't grow due to the climate.

As you can see food security seems to be very highly linked with the environment you live in. In America, high quality foods, such as organic, are more expensive than most unhealthy foods, like fast food restaurants and pre-packaged foods. This means that in lower socio-economic areas; grocery stores tend to not open-up in these neighborhoods. So, the individuals in these areas are faced with little food choice due to the environment they live in.

Also, in Somalia the poorest areas were the ones that suffered the most during this drought.

This does not seem fair; the fact that one's environment determines the state of food security in one’s life. Shouldn't we all have the same availability of resources? Starvation should be experienced by no one, especially when there are plenty of individuals with an excess of resources. I've said this before and feel a need to say it once again; food justice and security is for all, and should not be determined by one's environment or socio-economic status.

~Meron A.