Knowra Famine Famine A famine is an extreme, prolonged shortage of food across a population, causing widespread hunger, malnutrition, and often death. It can result from food scarcity, loss of access, or both.
Food security : A condition in which people reliably have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food. Famine is the most severe collapse of food security.
Great Irish Famine : A mass famine in Ireland from 1845 to 1852, driven by potato crop failures amid colonial rule and poverty. It demonstrates how crop disease became a prolonged social catastrophe.
Food insecurity : A condition in which people lack reliable access to adequate, safe, nutritious food. Famine is a severe population-wide crisis within the broader spectrum of food insecurity.
Famine early warning systems : Monitoring systems that track food security indicators to anticipate and communicate famine risks. Warnings can prompt action before deaths and severe malnutrition rise.
Acute malnutrition : A rapid deterioration in nutritional status, often measured by wasting or nutritional oedema. It is a direct and measurable consequence of severe food deprivation.
Entitlement approach : Amartya Sen’s framework explaining hunger through people’s inability to command food, even when food exists. It explains how famine can arise without an overall shortage of food.
Bengal famine of 1943 : A famine in Bengal during 1943 that killed millions amid wartime disruption, inflation, and policy failures. It illustrates famine caused by collapsing access rather than a simple absence of food.
Starvation : A severe physiological state caused by prolonged deprivation of calories and nutrients. Starvation describes bodily deprivation; famine describes a population-level crisis.
Humanitarian aid : Assistance provided to people affected by crises, including food, water, shelter, and medical care. Emergency relief addresses immediate needs during famine.
Epidemic : An occurrence of disease cases in a population substantially above what is normally expected. Crowding, weakened health, and disrupted sanitation can make outbreaks deadlier during famine.
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