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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 September 2012

Climate Change Is Already Damaging Global Economy, Report Finds

Climate change is already contributing to the deaths of nearly 400,000 people a year and costing the world more than $1.2 trillion, wiping 1.6% annually from global GDP, according to a new study. The impacts are being felt most keenly in developing countries, according to the research, where damage to agricultural production from extreme weather linked to climate change is contributing to deaths from malnutrition, poverty and their associated diseases.

The Guardian
Hunger in the news
26 September 2012

Humanitarian Crisis Looming In Yemen: UN

"Yemen is sliding ever further into a humanitarian crisis," WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in Geneva, adding that "more than 10 million people, or about half the population, is hungry and needs food". The country, one of the poorest on the planet, now also has the highest level in the world of malnutrition among children, with two million stunted and one million acutely malnourished, Byrs said.

AFP
Hunger in the news
25 September 2012

UN: 1.5 million Syrians in need of food aid

The spike in the number of Syrians needing food, or money to buy food, has come as fighting has forced families to leave homes and jobs, with little hope of supporting themselves elsewhere. (..) In New York, the U.N.'s World Food Program warned that it is running short of funds to cover operations in Syria because of sharply growing needs. World Food Program chief Ertharin Cousin said the agency had raised $78 million, but needs $60 million more to cover its annual Syria budget.
Huffington Post/ AP
Hunger in the news
25 September 2012

UN agency says aid, security needed to feed growing numbers of internally displaced Syrians

The number of Syrians needing food aid has shot upward five times in recent months as civil war rages across the country, the director of the United Nation’s food program on said Monday. From 250,000 people in April, those facing hunger has grown to 1.5 million, according to the most recent assessment of the U.N.’s World Food Program, agency director Ertharin Cousin said. (..) “If we don’t provide them with the food assistance that is required, they will go hungry,” Cousin said.
The Washington Post / AP
Hunger in the news
24 September 2012

Yemeni women worse off after revolution, as humanitarian crisis grows

Faced with an intensifying humanitarian crisis, which has left a quarter of women between the ages of 15 and 49 acutely malnourished, they say they’re struggling to feed their families and are unable to participate in the country’s transition. (..) The United Nations’ World Food Program says 10 million Yemenis, nearly half the population, do not have enough food to eat. The crisis is blamed on a number of factors, including soaring food and fuel prices in the past year.
The Washington Post / AP
Hunger in the news
24 September 2012

DRC: Thousands of displaced out of reach

UN World Food Programme (WFP) officer Laura Parker said that a convoy of trucks that WFP sent to Walikale territory in North Kivu province in early September took 11 days to cover 250km. (..) “We got the alert in February that there were 86,000 newly displaced in the territory needing assistance,” said Parker. “We had already started to mobilize our trucks at that time, but due to security and weather conditions we were not able to get trucks out there till July, and the recent rains are a severe hindrance.” The agency is now considering other transportation options for Walikale.
IRIN
Hunger in the news
24 September 2012

Yemeni women worse off after revolution, as humanitarian crisis grows

SANAA, Yemen — Women in Yemen are worse off now than a year ago, when they played a significant part in the country’s revolution that promised political and economic change, an international aid agency has concluded.

The Washington Post / AP
Hunger in the news
21 September 2012

Drop in aid shows declining will for global partnership on development

Experts from a taskforce that tracks progress – or lack thereof – on the millennium development goals (MDGs) said they found it difficult to identify areas of significant new progress on MDG8 – to develop a global partnership – which focuses on what rich countries can and should do. They said for the first time there were signs of backsliding.
The Guardian
Hunger in the news
21 September 2012

Yum Brands Puts Focus on Hunger Relief

Yum Brands, which also owns Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is introducing its sixth annual World Hunger Relief fund-raiser, to benefit the United Nations World Food Program and other groups. Christina Aguilera will be a spokeswoman, and the effort, which encompasses all three brands, will be promoted in their nearly 38,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries.
The New York Times
Hunger in the news
20 September 2012

Sudan refugees flee intensified bombing runs, swelling ranks of S. Sudan refugee camp

Newly arrived refugees at a camp along the volatile South Sudan-Sudan border say renewed fighting between rebels and Sudan’s military is likely to send thousands more people to an expanding camp here filled with refugees of war and hunger. (..) Since February, the population of Yida has skyrocketed from 17,000 to around 65,000 refugees.
The Washington Post / AP