Lack of Infrastructure

         Preface
“Insecurity persists and low food production capacity is affecting food availability.” A recent study says that there are 10 million people in Sahel that have no food. After Sahel had 3 great years of great harvests in 2009 there was hardly any rain at all. In 2004 there was little rain and locust infestations, which in 15 years left more than 2 million people needing food aid. “Nigeria banned the export of cereals as well as imports that Nigerians depended on for cash incomes.’ Burkina Faso, another neighbor, banned exports in 2004, blocking another potential source of grain for Niger.” In 2005 when the boarders of Niger and Nigeria closed which made the situation got worse because the food couldn’t get through and they also needed food aid. Nigeria a.k.a. the “giant” and Niger both didn’t have good harvests so they didn’t have enough food and water in 04/05. Even though the prices of exports went down after the harvest in 2009, a lot of West African countries were higher than they 2 years before now. “Humanitarian agencies have appealed for US$370 million to fund various initiatives in West Africa, of which only 3.1 percent has been covered.’ In Liberia, the problem is due to its slow recovery from a 14-year civil war that destroyed agriculture and infrastructure, affecting food production and access to drinking water.” In Mauritania, the problems that they have there is no rain at all and then it will rain super hard kind of what it was like in ATL and then they would have no food. That situation is fading away and hopefully wont happen again. “A nutrition survey in 2008 found 13 percent of children older than six months and up to five years old was severely stunted.”

 One of the main problems with allowing a chance for fresh water to everyone in the world is around the government and infrastructures of countries. The infrastructure is the sewer system and other means of water distribution. As of now, many do not have access to fresh water and as of 2040, it is estimated that almost half of the world's population will not have any means of providing their families with fresh, safe water. Obviously, this is a huge problem. First, water is one of the most important things needed to survive and  if one goes more than 4 days max without it, their body will start drinking it's own fluids including waste, blood, and other stuff you probably don't want to be drinking.  This can get kind of messy and even if treated before death, a patient cannot drink by their own will for the next few weeks. This would be a very uncomfortable situation but can be prevented by simple access to water. Unfortunately, one out of three in the world don't have this kind of luxury and I cannot stress taut enough. Here in the United States, we don't have to worry about where our next drink is coming from. If we get thirsty, we can just walk over to our high gloss chrome faucets with our nice crystal glasses while there are people who don't even have access to flowing water much less chrome faucets. We take for granted that we have to walk 15 feet to get a drink of water while some must walk that many miles for water that may be brown with dirt and other unhealthy agents.

        Although many die every stay of water deprivation, there are things people in better off settings can do to help. First, there are many organizations already dedicated to digging wells in poor villages . Other larger organizations collect money for building sewage systems and aqueducts for larger more populated areas. There are also things we can do too. Instead of wasting water, we can take shorter showers and conserve water in other ways as to save it for the military to take to other parts of the world like Afghanistan and other middle eastern countries. Also, we can do things a simple as donate money to foundations that help fix the problem. In conclusion, although many countries
Have neither the infrastructure nor resources to provide for their people, there are things that many are doing to help.  

"Lack of Infrastructure, Closing Borders Affect 10 Million in Sahel." Spero News. Web. 09 Feb. 2011. <http://www.speroforum.com/a/29628/Lack-of-infrastructure-closing-borders-affect-10-million-in-Sahel>.