News

Hunger in the news

A daily selection of news reports from the world's media dealing with hunger and responses to it.
Subscribe

Hunger in the news
6 February 2013

School exhibit shows need for food in world

A photo display, launched Tuesday at W.P. Bate Community School, highlights the importance of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which gives the poorest families incentive to send their children to school. (..) Canada’s five-year, $225-million contribution through the Canada International Development Agency (CIDA) makes it the second-largest donor to WFP after the United States, said Ramiro Lopes da Silva, assistant executive director of the program. (..) “The school meal allows that hungry family to make a decision of allowing the child to attend school,” Lopes da Silva said.
The Star Phoenix
Hunger in the news
6 February 2013

WFP helps poor Tajik families

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) in January completed a pilot project to give cash to more than 7,000 economically vulnerable residents of the Ayni District in Sughd Oblast. (..) "The WFP tries to help families in the winter when income from seasonal work and cash remittances from abroad diminish greatly," said Alzira Ferreira, the WFP Tajikistan country director.
Central Asia Online
Hunger in the news
6 February 2013

Syrian Refugee Makes a Home Away from Home

There are many children like Zeina who fled the fighting in Syria and poured into neighbouring countries. WFP covers the food needs of refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey with food distributions and innovative food vouchers. In October, WFP provided food assistance to almost 160,000 refugees in all four countries.
PBS NewsHour
Hunger in the news
6 February 2013

Syrian refugee total of 250,000 could double by May

The U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon expects the daily rate of registrations – around 2,000 to 3,000 – of Syrian refugees to continue at a steady pace, meaning the current total of 250,000 could double by May. (..) At a media roundtable at the UNHCR office Tuesday, Ninette Kelly, the resident representative of the refugee agency, said that around 3,000 refugees come forward for registration each day across Lebanon and that in January the process was finalized for 38,000 in total.
The Daily Star
Hunger in the news
5 February 2013

UN: Syria war causing great civilian strife

The U.N. World Food Program said that 2.5 million people inside Syria lack enough food. A spokeswoman for that agency, Elisabeth Byrs, said they plan to feed 1.75 million this month, then up to 2 million in March and reach 2.5 million in April.
AP News
Hunger in the news
5 February 2013

Schools reopen in Mali’s Timbuktu

In addition to help with school repairs, other priorities for Timbuktu’s residents are to repair dozens of damaged health centres and bring in fuel to run the electricity and water supply, said Timbuktu mayor Hallé Maïga. Food insecurity in the north is mounting due to disrupted supply routes and shortages of staple products, according to aid agencies. Earlier assessments by the UN World Food Programme indicated that 585,000 northern Malians were food-insecure out of an estimated population of 1.3 million.
IRIN
Hunger in the news
5 February 2013

Darfur tribal violence flares over gold mines

UN aid agencies are once again launching an emergency operation to help tens of thousands of displaced people in Sudan's Darfur region, after an outbreak of fighting over gold mines. (..) Last weekend, 100 tonnes of food and emergency aid was sent from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to people fleeing fighting in a remote desert area in the province's northwest.(..) "Thousands are sleeping in the open in the cold winter desert nights, and so we are bringing in shelter materials - tents and plastic sheeting and blankets," explained Cesar Arroyo, head of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in Darfur.
Al Jazeera
Hunger in the news
5 February 2013

Syria: Exodus Swells Border Refugee Camps

The numbers of refugees from Syria is growing by the day. (..) So they make the journey north, south, east and west to neighbouring counties that are letting them in; but are themselves increasingly concerned about the exodus. Some 700,000 are registered as refugees in these countries.
Sky News
Hunger in the news
5 February 2013

Syrian crisis: EU pledges €100 million for humanitarian aid

The European Commission will pledge €100 million of humanitarian funding at the International Pledging Conference for Syria convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and hosted by Kuwait on 30 January. This funding, to be disbursed in 2013, will add to the €100 million already contracted for the crisis in 2011/2012, bringing the Commission's humanitarian funding for the crisis to €200 million.

European Commission
Climate Change
4 February 2013

Resolving the food crisis: The need for decisive action

What progress has been made in the last year in addressing the underlying causes of the global food crisis? Far too little. Now, following the third food price spike in five years, we need clear and decisive action to address the real drivers of high and volatile food prices.(..) The UN's Committee on World Food Security remains a source of hope.
Al Jazeera

Video

Fighting Hunger Worldwide