Thousands of Senegalese are expected to take part in Sunday's global Walk the World initiative because "hunger kills more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB combined," the World Food Programme's national director Omar Bula said Friday.The event, which has been running for three years, is expected to raise US $5 million for WFP's global school feeding programme.
"Hungry children concern the entire world and every Senegalese knows that a well-fed child today is a powerful force for Senegal tomorrow," Bula added.
Around 15,000 people are expected to march in the capital Dakar, and some 3,000 in the provincial towns of Ziguinchor and Kaolack, with the accent placed on school feeding projects that account for three-quarters of WFP spending.
In Senegal, the UN agency feeds more than 260,000 schoolchildren aged between seven and 12. Bula said that only US $0.20 were needed per day to feed a child at school. "This is nothing."
"There is enough food in the world to feed every inhabitant on the planet and it is unacceptable that currently a child dies of hunger every five seconds," he added.
Reproduced with the kind permission of IRIN
Copyright IRIN 2006
Photo: Copyright Pierre Holtz/IRIN
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies
