World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

IN SOME ways Alhaji Bunu Fodio is lucky: at least his house is still standing. Most of Kagara, his dusty village in Nigeria’s far north, was smashed to smithereens during this year’s rainy season when an unexpected deluge burst a nearby dam. (..) The rest of the world spends vast sums sustaining life in the Sahel. The UN’s World Food Programme, which is funded largely by governments of rich countries, has asked its backers for $300m-plus to spend on emergency aid this year.

Mali’s crisis early warning system is lauded in the sub-region for its accuracy and efficiency but some say good, timely information warning of the impact of poor rains on grazing land and water availability this year, did not necessarily translate into a swift response by the government or international community. n neighbouring Niger, President Mahamadou Danda appealed to the international community for emergency aid to stem the food insecurity crisis in March 2010, but the government of Mali did not.

Despite countless emergency aid efforts and models, Niger's drought and flood victims still go hungry. Now, several aid agencies will go back to basics, providing families with cash handouts. (..) The scheme is to run in conjunction with a blanket feeding food distribution that is being carried out by the government of Niger, the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF and other international humanitarian organisation.

The United Nations is giving $6 million in cash from its Children's Fund to mothers in Niger so they can buy food amidst widespread hunger in that West African country brought on by last year's lack of needed rain for crops. (..) The second round of cash distribution is set to begin this week, and the cash will be given in conjunction with food rations handed out by the World Food Program.

Niger’s head of State Salou Djibo today called for the United Nations and other international organizations to observe the forthcoming series of elections to restore the impoverished West African country to constitutional rule after February’s coup d’état. (..) Gen. Djibo thanked the international community for its aid during a severe food crisis earlier this year, in which the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and partners cooperated with the Government in easing the situation for almost half of the population of 15 million.

AlertNet interviewed three experts on various aspects of the crisis (..) AlertNet interviewed three experts on various aspects of the crisis. (..) Claude Jibidar: The worst seems to have been averted in Niger, thanks to efforts by the government and its partners... Food prices are now declining in the region and livestock prices are improving. The October harvest will also have a beneficial effect on household food security. However, the needs for recovery remain high, especially for the most vulnerable who have lost their livelihoods during the 2010 food crisis.

Aid strategies for treating children suffering moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) have remained virtually unchanged for 30 years. As part of UN-led efforts to revamp policy, several initiatives in West Africa are examining how best to treat the condition, a major cause of death and disease worldwide. (..) One product being evaluated in Mali is CSB++, a more nutrient-rich version of the corn-soya blend long used by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for moderately malnourished children. Nutrition experts say the original CSB does not contain the nutrients to stem MAM.

In Niger more than two million children are entering the peak of what authorities say is a particularly devastating hunger season causing a severe risk of malnutrition-related fatalities. (..) The United Nations World Food Program estimates life expectancy in the country at just over 44 years. And that does not include the one-out-of-every five children in Niger who do not survive past the age of four.

Torrential rains and flash floods that swept through cities and villages in Central Africa in late August have intensified a food crisis in the region, leaving upwards of 10 million people suffering from severe food shortages, the United Nations and relief organizations warned last week. (..) In early August, a shortfall of international aid forced the United Nations World Food Program to suspend food aid to families with children over the age of 2 in Niger.

It now has a name: "the hunger season". The United Nations rapporteur on food has described what is going on as "silent mass murder". And, almost unbelievably, the World Food Programme, through no fault of their own, have just had to make their "agonising" life-and-death decision to restrict food aid to children under two and to cut food aid for children over the age of two.