Items of interest

One of the challenges to alleviating hunger is transportation. There may be plenty of food in one area, but no way to get it to another place where it is desperately needed. That's where relief organizations such as the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) come in.

Moving food by sea, air, river, road, and rail, the WFP transports more food aid than any other organization. An average of 40 ships carrying WFP food are on the seas at any one time. And after the food gets to port, WFP is ready to clear mines, build roads or bridges, renovate airstrips, and take other measures to ensure its arrival.

In 1999, WFP delivered 3.4 million tons of food to people in 82 countries, serving approximately 89 million individuals worldwide. Since most of us don't buy our food in tons, it's hard to visualize these large numbers. But here's an example of how much food is needed for, say, 100,000 people: If you wanted to give each one the usual food ration, which is a bit over a pound a day, you'd need about 57 truckloads to sustain them for a month.

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Hunger at home and abroad