Drought and tropical storms hinder food supply in Haiti, UN says

A growing number of people in Haiti do not have enough to eat, according to the United Nations relief wing, mostly as a result of drought and the impact of recent tropical storms. “The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today that some 1.5 million people continue to have severe food insecurity in Haiti, mostly as a result of drought and the impact of Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy,” UN spokesperson Eduardo del Buey told journalists today in New York. (..) Malnutrition rates in some areas of Haiti have risen since October of last year and food shortages are affecting 7 of the 10 departments in the country, according to information from OCHA. Nearly 82,000 children under 5 years of age are malnourished.

Fortified Rice – A Genuine Game-Changer?

It’s Asia’s staple food, and is eaten regularly by about two billion people – nearly one in every three people on the planet. Despite its almost universal appeal, rice does not deliver the full package of micronutrients needed by young children in particular in the early years of life. (..) The World Food Programme (WFP) has several decades of experience delivering food assistance into conflict zones and to victims of major natural disasters, but addressing hidden hunger is a different challenge altogether. (..) Robust public-private partnerships will be crucial for sustainable and effective rice fortification programmes – 12 million people have already benefited from WFP’s partnership with DSM, and the plan is to grow the partnership further. Fortified rice is likely to be at the heart of this expansion.

Interview with Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

In September 2010, Valerie Amos took up her post at the helm of the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. (..) Ms. Amos recently sat down with the UN News Centre following a visit to Turkey, where she visited with some of the more than 1 million refugees who have fled the ongoing conflict in Syria and are residing in neighbouring countries. (..) Some countries have to go through parliaments. Other countries are making decisions about exactly where they want that money to go. But in the meantime, the World Food Programme – trying to deliver food stocks; UNHCR – trying to help refugees; UNICEF – trying to help children; UNRWA – the urgent work that they are doing with the Palestinian refugees; they’re all running out of money, said Amos.

Humanitarian crisis in Sahel not over yet - WFP head Ertharin Cousin

Even though the hunger situation in West Africa’s Sahel region has eased due to a good rainy season last year, there are still challenges, including access to people who fled their homes due to fighting in Mali, Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), tells AlertNet in an interview. Cousin says the international community needs to focus on slow-burning emergencies like the Sahel as well and continue to invest in sustainable solutions to deal with food shortages to avoid future crises.