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
30 July 2013

Zaatari at One Year: On Sidelines of War, Refugees Struggle for a Better Life

Initially carved out of the desert as a short-term refuge for up to 60,000 refugees, Zaatari has become Jordan’s fourth largest city and the world’s second largest refugee camp behind Dadaab in eastern Kenya. Calling Syrians their brothers and sisters, Jordan allowed refugees to go directly into major cities and already desperate communities. (..) As the war rages, Zaatari is just about full, and Harper says those advances have aided in planning and building another camp capable of housing 130,000 refugees. That’s a lot of pressure when much of the world assumes refugees are safe once they have crossed out of Syria. The high visibility of the camp — two of its most recent visitors were U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida — has kept Harper’s team, NGOs and aid groups “on our toes” with little room for mistakes.
Time Magazine
Hunger in the news
25 July 2013

Syria's exodus: a refugee crisis for the world

Western countries including the US and Britain may be asked to accept tens of thousands of Syrian refugees because the exodus from the civil war is overwhelming countries in the region, the UN's refugee chief has warned. (..) Some refugees have found life so wretched in camps that they have started to return home. But at present this is still a trickle.
The Guardian
Hunger in the news
25 July 2013

Syria refugee crisis: how to donate

There are nearly 2 million refugees as a result of the conflict in Syria, described as the largest humanitarian crisis since the 1994 Rwanda genocide. As the situation escalates, aid agencies and NGOs are struggling to raise enough money to keep up with demand. Here is a roundup of the main appeals. (..) The World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian agency working inside Syria, and is also providing food assistance to refugees in neighbouring countries. Donate online, or via paypal or iPay88.
The Guardian
Hunger in the news
24 July 2013

Conflict in Darfur threatens humanitarian assistance in Sudan: WFP

Violence in Sudan's Darfur region is threatening the ability of humanitarian organizations to assist the people in need and putting at risk long-term food security, a UN spokesperson said here on Tuesday. The World Food Program (WFP) says that the escalation in the decade-long conflict in Darfur has created the largest wave of population displacement that the region has seen in recent years and is straining its ability to feed vulnerable families, said Martin Nesirky, spokesperson for UN Secretary-general Ban Ki- moon, at a daily briefing. According to a news release by the agency, the renewed violence since the beginning of the year has prompted more than 250,000 people to flee their villages and abandon their livelihoods, and the inter-tribal clashes have strained WFP's ability to feed vulnerable families.
Xinhua News Agency
Hunger in the news
24 July 2013

Food fears for tens of thousands in Jonglei

Tens of thousands of people face severe food insecurity as they hide in the bush in South Sudan's Jonglei State following another wave of violence that has cut off aid to them. "We believe these people need food now and cannot wait for much longer after hiding in the bush for weeks," said Chris Nikoi, the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) South Sudan country director, in a statement on 23 July. "We need more food supplies in the country and more helicopters to take this food to those who most need it."
IRIN News
Hunger in the news
23 July 2013

Malawi must reassess its agricultural policies to break cycle of poverty – UN expert

A United Nations independent expert today stressed that Malawi must reassess its national food security strategy to ensure that policies designed to combat poverty and malnutrition truly reach the most vulnerable in the population. “Recent high-profiled food security policies have failed to rid Malawi of chronic food insecurity and malnutrition,” said Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. “The country urgently needs a national food security strategy, underpinned by a Right to Food Framework Law, to hold policies to account when they do not yield benefits for the most food insecure and to ensure a coherent approach across sectors,” he said at the end of an 11-day visit to the country.
UN News Centre
Hunger in the news
23 July 2013

In Syria, A Humanitarian Crisis Deepens

“The crisis is becoming regional. It no longer just concerns Syria. (..) Some of the displaced have already been displaced five or six times. (..) No matter what you give a refugee, that's not what he wants. The Syrian refugees want to return to Syria. (..) It is very important for WFP to make sure that humanitarian assistance is given based on neutrality. At WFP we make sure that the only criteria for receiving assistance is need,” said WFP’s Muhannad Hadi.
NPR
Hunger in the news
22 July 2013

Hunger warning for Guinea-Bissau as cashew price dips

A slump in cashew nut prices in Guinea-Bissau has left nearly half of the population eking out food, with families skipping meals or selling livestock to survive until the next harvest in September, aid groups say. (..) “The result is a significant decrease of [people’s] food security which obliges them to revert to coping mechanisms such as skipping meals, reducing food intake, selling animals and so on,” Ussama Osman, the World Food Programme (WFP) country director in Guinea-Bissau, told IRIN.
IRIN News
Hunger in the news
22 July 2013

In Uganda, UN and partners assist new refugees fleeing DR Congo fighting

The United Nations refugee agency is ramping up efforts to aid some 15,500 Congolese at an increasingly crowded transit facility in western Uganda which has become a hub for those who fled renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and hid in schools across the border. (..) Two communal kitchens serve three hot meals a day with food provided by the UN World Food Programme (WFP). A third kitchen is under construction.
UN News Centre
Hunger in the news
22 July 2013

Rwanda: WFP Boss Tours Nkamira Centre, Reassures Refugees

Democratic Republic of Congo refugees sheltered at Nkamira Transit Centre have been assured of support and protection as they await for their country to regain peace and be repatriated. The assurance was given on Saturday by Ertharin Cousin, the UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) during her visit at the transit centre located in Rubavu District. She said that WFP in collaboration with the Government of Rwanda and other partners will make sure the refugees in the transit centre do not run short of food and primary healthcare, during their stay there.
allAfrica

Video

Fighting Hunger Worldwide