More than 500,000 people in Nepal may soon be without food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP), due to $44 million in budget cuts.
WFP has been providing food aid to villages in Nepal’s western hills since the end of the decade-long civil war between Nepal’s royal government and Maoist rebels in 2006. The severe food crisis has stayed out of the public eye as areas receiving aid can only be reached by helicopter or by foot; a week-long journey.
Oxfam announced their global GROW Campaign today, with live-streamed events worldwide.
The launch of this event coincides with the new report “Growing a Better Future.” The report estimates that the price of food staples may double in the next 20 years due to climate change and pressure from a rising global population.
As part of their activities, Oxfam America released a 5-point plan to address the food crisis. The plan calls for President Obama, the US Congress and the private sector to take immediate steps:
Humanitarian aid agencies operating in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan were put on alert for displacement of up up to 365,000 people in the area.
Pakistani military officials are planning an offensive against Al Qaeda and Taliban refuge in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Military officials provided a heads up to aid organizations two weeks ago.
The information was leaked Monday by a senior official at a humanitarian aid organization, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.
Today at noon Eastern Standard Time, Bill Gates will speak at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Global Agricultural Development Initiative Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security. Mr. Gates' speech will center on the role of agriculture in international development and the importance of upping the public and political will to support agriculture, especially in the current economic climate.
Other speakers at the symposium include USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack.
Representatives of the Florida Marlins and Waste Management visited the now completed Inspiration Village in Malfety, Haiti last week. The two groups paired up with InterAction member Food for the Poor on the Homes for Haiti campaign.
The Homes for Haiti campaign resulted in Inspiration Village, a community of 41 two-room houses with personal sanitation units. The village has a water well, a solar powered water purification unit, and a community center with vocational training in agriculture and animal husbandry.
Friday discussions at the World Health Assembly focused on water, hygiene, and sanitation as InterAction member WaterAid calls for collaboration between water and health sectors for reducing disease burden.
Recent cholera outbreaks in Haiti, Ghana and Nigeria provide a reminder of the devastating and quick spread of disease in communities where sanitation and water management is scarce.
As oral vaccines are now being pushed as an effective solution, WaterAid has called for their use in conjunction with simple WASH solutions.
TDR, a program for research and training in tropical diseases, was announced as Global Health Council’s 2011 winner of the Gates Award for Global Health. The research is based at the World Health Organization (WHO) and co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank and WHO.
InterAction is calling on CSO and NGO development practitioners to participate in a survey about the Global Health Initiative (GHI). The GHI aims to increase the impact and sustainability of U.S. government global health efforts by helping partner countries strengthen their health systems. The GHI is driven by core principles that focus on gender equality; increasing impact through strategic coordination and integration; investing in country ownership; building sustainability; and promoting research and innovation.
The Agricultural Meteorology Division at the World Meteorology Organization is calling for countries to implement national drought policies to manage the effects of increasingly frequent and severe droughts worldwide.
Effective policy would allow governments move beyond response, recovery and reconstruction. Implementation of early warning systems, drought insurance, and other safety nets would lead to more drought-resilient societies.
CARE, an InterAction member organization, calls on the international community to respond to worsening food security crisis in the Horn of Africa.
Nearly 8 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are chronically vulnerable to food insecurity brought on by drought, poverty and climate change. Environmental factors and rapidly increasing food and fuel prices mean 7-10 million people in the region may face acute food insecurity until September or longer.
