Wednesday August 21, 2019 BIZIND
B
4-5
By Wang Yi
The 8.5 percent Prevalence of Un-
dernourishment (PoU) shown in a
recent UN food security report has
failed to accurately represent China’s
actual situation and the progress the
country has made in poverty elimi-
nation over the past decade.
The problem of hunger has now
been effectively eliminated across
China, except for in rare and extreme
conditions.
China’s PoU is estimated to beless than 0.5 percent and the country
is expected to make greater progress
in poverty alleviation this year, said
experts.
China’s PoU from 2016 to 2018
was 8.5 percent, according to the
State of Food Security and Nutri-
tion in the World 2019, an annual
report issued on July 15 by the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO). India’s PoU
was 14.5 percent from 2016 to 2018,
the report said.Yet Feng Juan, an official with the
FAO’s Statistics Division, said in an
interview posted on news.un.org on
July 19 that the 8.5 percent figure
does not correspond to the real situa-
tion in China.
China solved the problem of food
and clothing shortages a long time
ago. The current issue is whether or
not the foods available are nutritious,
Feng said.
China’s estimation was not ac-
curate because the data obtainedwas from 1999. Th
reflect the transfor
hunger issue over
decades. The 8.5-p
reflect the real con
is obsolete, Feng sa
China’s PoU is
affect less than 0. 5
total population by
according to expert
China doesn’t h
statistics, but its eq
tor is the rural pooUN report does not accurately reflect
China’s food security conditions
W
hen Gong Meiling first visited
Zambia in the early 1990s
as part of the China Medical
Team, little did he know that the visit was
the start of his long stay in the southern
African nation.
He was a member of the 7th and 9th
batches of the China Medical Teams,
where he even served as vice-captain. He
came to Zambia twice to provide medical
assistance in 1992 and 1994.
However, his visit opened his eyes to
the deplorable state of medical conditions
at Thompson Hospital in Luanshya town
in the Copperbelt Province.
He was exposed to the worst medical
conditions he had experienced, whichwere worsened by an outb
in the town, leaving his tea
option but to do what they
the sick.
Although the experienc
death of one of the Chines
succumbed to excessive fa
disease recurrence, the do
against the cholera outbre
recalls.
Despite the great difficu
worked hard to help save s
Gong, he took it upon him
in Zambia in order to help
situation.
“I [worked] for the Med
more than four years. I feeChinese d
lives in Z
Senior medical practitioner’s qu
service broadly acclaimed in the
southern African nation
Main: A view of the Kananka National
Park in Zambia File photo: VCG
Top: A view of a China-Africa
investment forum in Changsha,
capital of Central China’s Hunan
Province in June. Photo: VCG
Bottom: Chinese and Zambian
workers at a copper smelter in Ndola,
Zambia. File photo: VCG