Is It Realistic to Believe That Hunger Can Be Eliminated from Developing Countries by the Year 2000?
It is realistic to state that hunger can be eliminated by the year 2000 but not that it will be eliminated. There is ample evidence that it can be done. Some developing countries in extremely unfavourable situations have made notable progress in applying the needed measures and in eliminating hunger and malnutrition as public health problems. China, with a cultivatable land area no greater than that of India, has managed successfully to feed a population nearly half again as large and extend health services to them. Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore are doing well; and a number of other countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, and Peru, are making good, if somewhat uneven, progress. Egypt, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, despite recent setbacks in several of these countries, are fully capable of achieving the Alma Ata goals for primary health care, including the elimination of hunger and malnutrition by the year 2000. Recognition sho
