Conclusions

In summary, "famine that kills" in recent times is almost always associated with conflict, either directly or indirectly. Although the costs of conflict are usually measured in direct military expenditures and violence-related human mortality, to these numbers must be added the direct output losses and multiplier effects of reduced demand for goods and services and for domestic and foreign investments foregone because of lack of peace and political-economic stability. More than from direct military encounter, civilian deaths occur from the synergisms between stress, malnutrition, and illness that are heightened by forced migration and social disintegration.