Agriculture, Food, and Food Security - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 145

Table 5-3

Categories of Well-Being in Pakistan' s Northwestern T Tribal Areas, 2003

WELL-OFF BETTER-OFF POOR VERY POOR

Good physique Some land Drink black tea Hungry

Land 50 sheep Often hungry Physically weak

Crops Good health Many dependents Landless

100-150 sheep Enough food Bad health No livestock

Surplus food Grain & bread Very little land No food

(meat, butter, & milk) Eat 2 meals a day 1 or 2 livestock Low-quality food

Insufficient food Eats dry bread

Depends on
donations
Begs

160,000 blind people and 20,000 are being added
every year. In China, there are 9 million people that
are blind and an additional 450,000 become blind
every year. Approximately two-thirds of the blind are
female. Most of this blindness is a product of vitamin
A deficiency and is preventable with a proper diet.
Vitamin A is found in liver, eggs, and green, yellow ,
and orange vegetables. Blindness can also be caused
by infectious diseases. Women with certain types of
infections give birth to babies that are already blind
or who become blind by the age of six.
A large proportion of blindness is a result of
cataracts. While this can be a childhood disorder,
cataracts often form in the eyes of older people.
Cataracts can be surgically removed, but there is an
array of factors working against this. For instance,
poor vision is often perceived as normal so nothing
is done about it. There are very few qualified eye
surgeons—one for every 100,000 Indians—and
most people can't afford their services anyway . Some
25 percent of counties in China have no eye care
facilities at all. In the country at large, there is only
one cataract surgeon for every 150,000 individuals.
In many areas, poorly trained doctors tell parents
to wait until the child is older. By then, it is often too
late. There is also a general fear of surgery and anes-
thetics. Operations require antibiotics and other med-
ications for up to two months. Many people can't
afford this follow-up treatment. Moreover, they do
not understand or pay attention to directions.
Other forms of blindness, such as glaucoma, or
cytomegalovirus associated with AIDS, require

medication for life. Medicines for these diseases are
limited and costly . For example, in Indonesia,
which has the highest rates of blindness in South-
east Asia, a type of herpes virus leads to blindness
in people with compromised immune systems. A
four-month treatment costs US$10,000.
Fortunately , there are a significant number of
NGOs working to prevent blindness and other eye
diseases. ORBIS, for example, is a nonprofit group
that treats patients in Bangladesh, China, India,
Pakistan, and Vietnam. It removes cataracts, un-
blocks tear ducts, repairs broken eye sockets, and
helps children get glasses, among its many services.

HUNGER AND AIDS
The Asia Pacific region is home to some 6 million peo-
ple living with HIV and AIDS. India has 2.4 million
HIV victims. HIV infection is spreading rapidly in
Indonesia, especially Papua, and in Vietnam and
Pakistan.The AIDS epidemic and food and nutrition
insecurity form a vicious cycle. Malnutrition heightens
susceptibility to HIV infection, while HIV in turn un-
dermines food security . People living with the disease
have higher than normal nutritional requirements,
needing up to 50 percent more protein and at least 15
percent more caloric intake. In addition, they require a
variety of vitamins and minerals. Those suffering from
HIV typically have a loss of appetite and exhibit
anorexia, both of which reduce their dietary intake
when their nutritional requirements are greatest. Re-
sultant malnutrition expedites the onset of AIDS and