BANGKOK: For Asians going hungry or struggling to get food, the news is about to get worse: the region will see a rise in the number of people deprived of daily meals in coming months, due to changes in the global political and economic landscape since the US attacks of Sept 11. The numbers of hungry people could be in the millions, says R B Singh, regional representative for Asia and the Pacific at the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) here. “Their access to food will be reduced and poverty will keep the poor away from food,” he says.

Asia is home to two-thirds of the world’s 500 million hungry people, with the bulk of them living in South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Singh’s gloomy forecast for the region is one of dismal predictions being made by experts here due to the economic downturn following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.

“Asia-Pacific countries will be hit hard,” says Kim Hak-Su, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). “The economic downturn in the United States will impact many Asian countries, particularly those with manufacturing and export sectors that depend on the US market.”

Kim expects a rise in unemployment as companies close down due to the demand for their products dropping in the US market. ”This will impact families, even affecting children’s education,” he said here.

The health consequences are as worrying. “Economic conditions have a bearing on people’s health. If economies deteriorate, it will lead to health problems,” affirms Dr. Bjorn Melgaard, head of the Thailand office of the WHO.

He says the region’s health systems will come under pressure, because a rise in the number of poor will make them more vulnerable to diseases, adding that “children and women are particularly vulnerable”. At the same time, he adds, the hospitals may have difficulty coping due to the lack of drugs and the decrease in the number of medical and nursing staff.

The economic troubles ahead come on the heels of an already lacklustre picture in parts of Asia. Economies from Taiwan down to Malaysia and the Philippines have cut growth rates due to a global slowdown in electronic goods that was already in place before the September bombings, and many have seen export growth rates fall this year.

Countries like Indonesia continue to be hobbled by the effects of the 1997 Asian crisis, so the prospect of harder times ahead in the wake of the economic effects of the Sept 11 bombings bring little comfort.

The dire economic scenario many experts see since last month’s terror attacks has already come true in an important foreign exchange earner for Thailand — tourism.

Government plans to boost tourism, which last year brought $6.5 billion to a country that is one of Asia’s strongest tourist performers, have been shattered after the attacks in the United States.

Since Sept 11, many tourists have cancelled their trips. Already, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has acknowledged that tourist arrivals during the peak period from October to November could drop by as much as 30 per cent this year when compared with the same period last year.

Other countries across Asia are equally affected, particularly those who, like Thailand, depend on tourism for foreign exchange. In Nepal, for instance, authorities have told the media of 50 per cent of hotel bookings being cancelled.

“Tourism related trade flows are being hit exceptionally hard,” the World Bank said this week in a preliminary assessment of the economic fallout from the terrorist attacks. “The fallout from the Sept 11 attacks will affect different groups of developing countries in different ways, reflecting their particular vulnerabilities,” the Bank noted. “For the poorest countries that stall or fall into recession as a result of decline in exports, tourism, commodity prices, or foreign investment, the number of people living below $1 a day will rise.” —Dawn/InterPress Service.