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Hunger in the news

A daily selection of news reports from the world's media dealing with hunger and responses to it.
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Hunger in the news
26 April 2013

Sustainable Ecological Business Development in Haiti

We are partnering with the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Program (WFP), the International Lifeline Fund and now we are grateful to the support of the Clinton Foundation that is enabling us to scale up and diversify our operation. (..) The WFP estimates that each school in the program uses an average of 1,000 briquettes per month, so the long-term full scale demand for briquettes is significant. By introducing the briquettes through school feeding programs, we can reach a wide audience and prove the effectiveness of the briquettes through trusted community liaisons. We have so far delivered more than 200,000 briquettes to the WFP, and based on our calculations, that means we have saved an estimated 8,000 trees already.
Huffington Post
Hunger in the news
26 April 2013

Swift move by EU helped ease nutrition crisis, UN official says

UN officials say the European Commission’s decision to divert €30 million in EU humanitarian aid to the World Food Programme’s emergency nutrition effort – a week after allocating €275 million for the the Sahel – helped prevent a far deeper crisis, but also showed the value of flexible response and funding. The Commission’s humanitarian arm, ECHO, “channelled” money to the WFP to provide emergency food and nutritional supplements for pregnant women and children under two to help prevent stunting and other serious health effects of severe malnutrition, said Valerie Guarnieri, WFP’s regional director for east and central Africa.
EurActiv
Hunger in the news
22 April 2013

Damascus: The changing face of Syria's capital

Seven million Syrians now need humanitarian assistance, according to an estimate from the United Nations. (..) This week, the head of the UN World Food Programme in Syria, which feeds 2.5 million people every month, told me about a trip he has just done from Damascus to Aleppo. He said they went through 50 checkpoints on the road between Syria's two biggest cities.
BBC News
Hunger in the news
22 April 2013

U.S. Ship Unloads 25,000 Tons of Wheat for Syrian Refugees in Beirut

The United States has delivered to the World Food Program enough wheat to feed more than a million Syrians for four months, the U.N. agency said in a statement on Sunday. (..) "We are very grateful for this timely contribution from the United States, which will allow us to supplement our food rations with wheat flour, especially in the areas where families are struggling to get their hands on bread, a staple part of their diet," said the WFP coordinator for Syria, Muhannad Hadi.
Naharnet
Hunger in the news
19 April 2013

How Africa can solve its food crisis by growing more crops sustainably

This week in Dublin, world leaders, policymakers and civil society representatives met to discuss the urgent and interrelated issues of hunger, nutrition and climate justice that are faced by the poorest people and nations. In parallel, the global community is already discussing the goals and metrics that should shape sustainable development once the millennium development goals expire in 2015. It is time to place sustainable intensification at the heart of African agriculture, and ensure that development goals deliver on the agenda opened in Dublin.
The Guardian
Hunger in the news
18 April 2013

Small farmers take the stage to sway climate justice debate

A series of electronic votes during the two-day conference flagged up the importance of using local knowledge in finding solutions to climate-linked food insecurity, as well connecting local voices to decision making processes and enabling local people to hold governments to account. With some 350 participants from around 60 countries, the main aim of the gathering - co-hosted by the Irish government - was to get representatives of small farmers, fisherfolk and herders together with the heads of international agencies, government officials and other top-level policy makers to share experiences and ideas on tackling hunger, nutrition and climate problems.
Alertnet
Hunger in the news
18 April 2013

IMF: Africa's economic growth surging south of the Sahara

The much-heralded African economic boom is set to go from strength to strength, analysts have predicted, although worries remain over governments' failure to tackle poverty and inequality. Growth south of the Sahara will surge to 6.1% next year, well ahead of the global average of 4%, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said this week. (..) Instability in the Central African Republic, Mali and Togo, the financial crisis in Europe and volatility in food prices are other potential stumbling blocks.
The Guardian
Hunger in the news
18 April 2013

Egypt's food security in peril as fuel crisis intensifies

Tens of thousands of farmers in Egypt are preparing for the annual wheat harvest, and the government - which faces a growing population, a sputtering economy and decreasing amounts of farmland - is hoping for a big crop. As the world’s biggest wheat importer, it is struggling to find the foreign currency reserves to pay for imports. (..) The government - struggling under the financial impact of two years of unrest - has drawn up plans to reduce food imports by buying more locally produced wheat.
IRIN News
Hunger in the news
18 April 2013

Mali: UN food agency ‘urgently working’ to aid communities despite insecurity

The continuing conflict in Mali combined with the country’s impending “lean season” is threatening to aggravate hunger in the Sahelian nation, the United Nations food aid agency warned today, adding that it was “urgently working” with partner organizations to help affected families, particularly in the country’s North. “I was able to go to Timbuktu last week and I saw how critical the humanitarian situation really is,” Sally Haydock, Country Director in Mali.(..) Following her visit to Mali in early March, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin similarly underscored the UN’s resolve to feed the country’s northern areas with shipments of food by road and riverboat.
UN News Centre
Hunger in the news
16 April 2013

A U.N. Appeal to Save Syria

After more than two years of conflict and more than 70,000 deaths, including thousands of children. ... After more than five million people have been forced to leave their homes, including over a million refugees living in severely stressed neighboring countries ... After so many families torn apart and communities razed, schools and hospitals wrecked and water systems ruined ... After all this, there still seems to be an insufficient sense of urgency among the governments and parties that could put a stop to the cruelty and carnage in Syria.
New York Times

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