Field J O
Graduate School of Nutrition, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155.
Nutr Rev. 1991 May;49(5):144-52. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-4887.1991.tb03008.x.
Famine is a nasty turn of events that intrudes on the world's consciousness from time to time. Pictures of starving people and acutely malnourished children, rampant disease, a rising death toll, and massive suffering in some far-off land move many among us to contribute to famine relief, shocked by the paradox of famine in a world "awash in grain". Those who think about it appreciate that famine is related to poverty, that it is often triggered by climatic instability, and that it is both an instrument and tragic by-product of political conflict. But few know very much about famine beyond such fleeting insights. Even fewer are aware that the collective response to famine is woefully deficient. Just as we in the nutrition community had to fight long and hard to get malnutrition onto the development agenda as an explicit concern of public policy, so we and others like us are going to have to labor hard again to do the same for famine. This paper is an attempt to crystallize the issues involved.
饥荒是一种恶劣的突发事件，不时侵扰着世人的意识。饥饿人群和严重营养不良儿童的照片、肆虐的疾病、不断攀升的死亡人数，以及某个遥远国度的巨大苦难，令我们许多人深感震惊，促使我们为饥荒救济事业捐款。在这个“谷物充裕”的世界里，饥荒的矛盾现象令人痛心。那些思考过饥荒问题的人认识到，饥荒与贫困相关，常常由气候不稳定引发，既是政治冲突的手段，也是其悲惨的副产品。但除了这些短暂的认识，很少有人对饥荒有深入了解。甚至更少有人意识到，我们对饥荒的集体应对严重不足。正如我们营养学界曾为将营养不良作为公共政策明确关注的问题纳入发展议程而长期艰苦努力一样，我们以及像我们这样的人将不得不再次努力，为饥荒问题做同样的事情。本文旨在梳理其中涉及的问题。
