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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
18 July 2013

UN Appeals for Record $13 Billion for Millions in Need

The United Nations says it needs a record $13 billion to help an unprecedented 73 million people in 24 countries until the end of the year. A mid-year review of the U.N.’s multi-billion-dollar Humanitarian Appeal 2013 shows needs are increasing and more money is required. In December, the United Nations launched an appeal on behalf of 57 million people in desperate need of help in 24 countries. In just a few short months, the number of people needing help spiked to 73 million. The United Nations attributes this increase to the crisis in Syria as well as the deteriorating situation in countries such as the Central African Republic and Mali.
VOA News
Hunger in the news
15 July 2013

Syria Weighs Its Tactics as Pillars of Its Economy Continue to Crumble

Last week’s currency crash deepened a steady decline that has helped send prices soaring even for basic foodstuffs and reduced most Syrians’ buying power to a fraction of prewar levels, making it hard even for once-well-off families to afford meat and fish.
The New York Times
Hunger in the news
12 July 2013

Africa food crisis: UK pledges £35m to Malawi and Zimbabwe

The UK is to provide £35m to Malawi and Zimbabwe to alleviate the "looming food crisis" in southern Africa. (..) The money will support the World Food Programme and other international organisations in providing nearly half a million people with food and cash transfers, school meals for 800,000 schoolchildren and treatment for 18,000 malnourished children and pregnant women, the Department for International Development (DfID) said.
BBC News
Hunger in the news
12 July 2013

Aleppo residents struggle as currency tumbles

Prices of basic goods - such as food and fuel - have been rapidly increasing in Syria, as the local currency continues to depreciate amid the civil war. The Syrian pound has lost 80 per cent of its value since the conflict began more than two years ago. Local businesses and traders have been forced to find new ways to get by.
Al Jazeera
Hunger in the news
10 July 2013

Two years on, South Sudan still faces major challenges

South Sudan marks two years of independence today, but the millions who continue to face displacement, hunger, disease and extreme poverty will be hard pressed to find any reason to celebrate. (..) In the contested Abyei region, the mass return of IDPs following increased security has led to food security concerns, while the large number of returnees from Sudan has also put pressure on available food stocks. (..) In March, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) estimated that some 4.1 million people would be food insecure in 2013.
IRIN News
Hunger in the news
10 July 2013

Central African Republic in crisis, urgently needs aid –MSF

Three months after rebels seized power, Central African Republic (CAR) is in the grip of a humanitarian emergency and most of its people have no access to basic medical services because of insecurity and lack of funding, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Tuesday. (..) Even before the crisis, people’s access to food and healthcare was limited. Hunger levels in parts of the south and northwest of the country were above international emergency levels, according to surveys carried out by MSF in 2011. Since the fighting began in December 2012, food prices have soared, according to the World Food Programme.
Thomson Reuters Foundation
Hunger in the news
10 July 2013

Food And Money For Displaced Syrians Running Short Says UN Agency

The World Food Program is quickly running out of food and money for Syria, where millions of displaced people forced to rely on the UN agency for daily meals risk being cut-out of food distribution programs as early as late July, warns the WFP’s top official in the country. (..) “We’ve received approximately 300 million dollars.” the World Food Program’s emergency coordinator for Syria Muhannad Hadi told a press briefing at UN headquarters Tuesday. “We’re still short 700 million.” Hadi says the ongoing lack of funding might force the WFP to further cut back the scope of distribution operations that are already struggling to meet growing needs on the ground.
TRNS
Hunger in the news
2 July 2013

What I've learnt: Ann Cairns

Today I'm working at MasterCard, which is a long way from a shrinking business. Innovation is important to us and we're currently working with the United Nations World Food Programme. They deal with 90 countries across the world, trying to get food to the people who need it the most. In only five per cent of the cases do they actually get money into people's hands so they can buy food. The rest of the time they're moving food around. We're developing what we call digital food, an electronic voucher system where the vouchers can be used in special World Food Programme approved shops to buy food.
British Airways: Business Life
Hunger in the news
2 July 2013

Calls for nutritional behaviour change in Timor-Leste

More work is needed to improve nutritional behaviour in Timor Leste, where 58 percent of children under five are stunted (too short for their age) due to chronic malnourishment, experts say. (..) “It is not always simply a case of whether people have access to enough food, but often more a question as to whether the quality of food consumed is sufficient to prevent malnutrition. Many people’s diet consists of little more than the basic staples,” said Alberto Mendes, country director for the World Food Programme (WFP).
IRIN News
Hunger in the news
1 July 2013

UN Urging Nations to Accelerate Anti-Poverty Work

The world's nations will have to pick up the pace to meet some of their key anti-poverty targets set for 2015, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday at the outset of a monthlong session of the organization's main economic arm. (..) Some major areas will require vastly more effort, Ban told the U.N. Economic and Social Council, with many nations still struggling to make good on pledges such as cutting child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters. Other areas with lagging progress, he said, include protections for forests and fish stocks, universal access to antiretroviral therapy among people living with HIV, primary education, sanitation and foreign aid.
The New York Times / AP

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