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Food Crisis in South Sudan Escalates

South Sudan’s Food Crises
South Sudan urgently needs $230 million in international aid in less than 60 days, the United Nations Humanitarian Aid Coordinator in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, forewarned. Without the international food aid, South Sudan may face a fate similar to Ethiopia’s famine in the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands died.

“We’re in a race against time,” said the U.N. coordinator Lanzer to journalists in Geneva. According to The New York Times, Lanzer had only one message to world leaders: “Invest now or pay later.”

With 3.7 million people on the brink of starvation in South Sudan, the U.N. now ranks its food crisis equivalent to Syria’s current predicament. Lanzer appealed for the most critical needs, such as food, water, seeds and farming tools, so that the South Sudanese will be able to plant the seeds before the start of the rainy season in late May.

“I am angry because we don’t have food to eat,” Nyadang told The New York Times. The mother of five does not object to the war itself, as her own brother was killed in Juba, capital of South Sudan, where government troops have been linked to civilian arrests and massacres.

Leaders of U.N. humanitarian aid agencies estimate that close to 255,000 South Sudanese have escaped to nearby countries, approximately 76,000 people sought refuge at U.N. bases across the nation and over 800,000 were driven away from their homes by the hostility that exploded in mid-December of 2013, when South Sudan President Salva Kiir claimed his former vice president, Riek Machar, attempted to overthrow the government.

“The (U.N) is seeking $1.27 billion for South Sudan for 2014, but received only $385 million in the first quarter of 2014, less even than in the equivalent period of 2013,” reported The New York Times.

“Already over one million people have been displaced and are in dire need of humanitarian assistance,” wrote David Crawford, Oxfam’s Acting Country Director for South Sudan, on the Oxfam website.

South Sudan is rich with oil, but also one of the world’s poorest nations. She became independent from Sudan in 2011. In spite of the peace deal after 20 years of civil war, the remaining grievances were not adequately dealt with. Abdul Mohammed, an African Union official told CS Monitor that the roots of conflict lay in South Sudan’s inability to unify the various ethnic groups in its nation building efforts.

In addition, those from the south have a deep-seated resentment over the lack of development in their poverty stricken region and blamed the northern Sudan government for taking their oil money.

While this is the first time South Sudan will face a major food crisis, Lanzer noted that the internal conflict has wreaked substantial harm on its already unstable and agriculture-based economy, drastically affected trade and slashed the production of oil down by 50 percent.

“The hostilities need to cease to give people the confidence to tend their land,” he added.

António Guterres, head of the U.N. refugee agency, visited west Ethiopia, where 90,000 South Sudanese fled to escape the violence. He told The New York Times, “The physical and psychological condition of these people is shocking. This is a tragedy I had hoped I would not see again.”

– Flora Khoo

Sources: New York Times 1, New York Times 2, Oxfam, CS Monitor, MLive
Photo: United Nations

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Malnutrition in Somalia

Even if a person is getting enough food to eat sometimes those foods are not the right foods, which leads to malnutrition.

Malnutrition can make daily life difficult for people living in developing countries. A child’s learning abilities become lower and physical work becomes extremely tiring and impossible to perform. According to UNICEF there are 200,000 malnourished children in Somalia. UNICEF supports stabilization centers in Somalia which help malnourished men, women and children gain access to resources that are not normally available to the community. The stabilization centers admit severely malnourished children under the age of five.

Malnutrition causes generalized oedema, which is the abnormal swelling and buildup of fluid in the body’s tissue, mainly in younger children. Accordingly, acute malnutrition cause Somalian children to suffer from diarrhea, anemia, malaria, dehydration, high fever and vomiting. In fact, 50,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition in Somalia are at risk of death.

Once the child is healthy he or she can be discharged from the stabilization centers. Immediately after the child returns home the care at the outpatient therapeutic centers begins. These are located close to the child’s home and continue to provide services to the child and the family. Only children well enough are discharged from the stabilization centers.

The therapeutic centers’ services include a basic nutrition package which promotes treatment and the prevention of disease and illness. The packages contain micro-nutrient support, infant and young feeding information, along with maternal nutrition information. Moreover, the centers encourage the proper use of handling and cooking food as well as, managing child illness and immunizations. The children are also given a peanut-based paste to help maintain proper nourishment along with vitamin A and deworming tablets.

Mothers in Somalia do not have access to basic human necessities, and unfortunately leave their new born babies unattended for hours while foraging for food. However, UNICEF aims to end this issue by the end of 2014. In fact, UNICEF’s goal is to give over 90,000 vulnerable people the basic foods and non-food needs. The mothers will attend health and nutrient workshops provided by the therapeutic center to help promote a healthier lifestyle throughout their communities. These workshops provide information to call attention to the benefits of breastfeeding to prevent malnutrition for infants.

Furthermore, giving information on subjects like proper hygiene standards and washing hands regularly will help reduce the spreading of disease and illness. Currently, UNICEF hope to administer 1,900,000 children under the age of five with the polio vaccine, as well as 300,000 children under the age of one with the measles vaccine. These vaccines will lead to more longevity for the people of Somalia. Once these methods are instilled in the lives of Somalian women and children the communities will continue to promote and prevent these issues from reoccurring.

– Rachel Cannon 

Sources: UNICEF, WFP
Photo: UNICEF

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Impending Famine in South Sudan

Famine_In_Sudan
The famine in South Sudan has reached a scale similar to that in Syria. Close to one third of the population of South Sudan is already at severe risk of starvation and, unless something is done soon, the struggle will only get worse. Some are calling it a race against time.

Since the violence erupted this past December, around 255,000 people have fled to neighboring countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, and more than 800,000 people have been displaced inside the country. Some people have even fled north to South Sudan’s recently separated Sudan counterpart. The United Nations coordinator for humanitarian aid in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, has appealed for the essentials such as food and water, as well as farming tools and seeds. If the South Sudanese are unable to plant their crops by the time rain comes in May, they will face the most disastrous famine in Africa since the 1980s.

According to Lanzer, aid donations have been catastrophically faltering. A United Nations appeal for $1.3 billion was not fully funded and only a quarter of the requested money went though, in an assertion that only $232 million was necessary for the bare minimum of humanitarian aid to the country. But the bare minimum is not enough, as tragic 7 million people in South Sudan are at risk of hunger. People are in such dire need of food and water that one family started boiling poisonous roots for an entire week in order to have something to eat. Many travel for days with no water whatsoever.

Violence in the country has only made matters worse. When weapons were reported to have been found in a UN convoy in March, the government and army in South Sudan understandably felt obligated to increase surveillance and security measures on UN vehicles delivering aid. The issue strained relations between the international agency and South Sudan, subsequently making aid delivery increasingly difficult.

The horrifying conditions in which people are currently living, however, can be changed. Famine implies that people are dying and, while many argue that South Sudan has not yet reached that point, the risk is very real. With enough funding reaching the people of South Sudan in a timely enough fashion, an even worse future can be avoided.

– Jaclyn Stutz

Sources: USA Today, Al Jazeera, The New York Times
Photo: UPI

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Koskei Predicts June Will Bring Hunger in Kenya

Kenya is a country in Eastern Africa, bordered by Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Though the country is one of Africa’s most successful in crop production, the reoccurring droughts and dry seasons often cause food crises for Kenya’s people. The economy and uneven wealth distribution leaves 50% of the population living in hunger in Kenya.

Felix Koskei, Kenya’s agriculture secretary, estimates that Kenya will face a food shortage beginning in June. Koskei’s concern comes from the lack of maize being produced this year; Kenyans are estimated to eat about 45 million bags of maize a year, but they are currently only producing 40 million bags. Some of the estimates fluctuate because different areas consume more food than others.

Koskei also recognized the food crisis could be due to maize being exported to South Sudan, where Kenyans are able to make twice as much off of a harvest than if the product was sold in Kenya.

During the months before June, Koskei urges “private stake holders to import food and farmers to plant short span crops” to tide over Kenyans. He stated that maize is currently being harvested from the “long rain harvests” to help curb hunger in Kenya. Over 653,000 bags have been purchased so far.

To help during future food crises, Koskei mentioned that the government has arranged “negotiations with two prequalified bidders to start a fertilizer manufacturing plant,” which he estimates will be erected by 2016.

With this manufacturing plant, farmers in Kenya will have the ability to provide food for their families and Kenya will be able to sustain its population.

The possible struggles Kenyans will be facing include malnutrition, starvation and possibly death. With malnutrition, Kenyans will be more susceptible to diseases such as waterborne illnesses and malaria.

– Rebecca Felcon

Sources: The World Factbook, Press TV, All Africa, Action Against Hunger
Photo: Totally Cool Pix

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MasterCard Utilizes #Selfie to #DoGood for World Hunger

MasterCard_selfie_selfless
Last month, we talked about the #SelfiePolice project started by young college students who found an innovative way to turn the traditionally selflish “selfie” into a force for social good. Turning selfishness into selflessness has now also been embraced as a strategy by MasterCard and the World Food Programme (WFP), through the “Selfless Selfie Campaign.”

The Selfless Selfie Campaign was unleashed this year at the Mobile World Congress, where attendees were encouraged to stop by the MasterCard booth, take a selfie and tweet about it. For each selfie taken, MasterCard pledged to donate a month of school meals for a hungry child through the WFP.

The campaign did not end there. It found itself this week taking on “one of the hottest and most well-known festivals in the world,” South by South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. MasterCard donated $5 for every selfie taken at the festival and tweeted with the hashtag #dogood. Again, for each selfie tagged, MasterCard pledged to donate $5 to provide a month of school meals for a hungry child through a WFP program.

MasterCard and the WFP formed a global partnership in 2012, with the goal of delivering “ground-breaking technology to meet the needs of the world’s hungry and vulnerable populations in order to help end world hunger.” According to Hunter Biden, the Board Chair of the WFP USA, “66 million students across the developing world go to school hungry every day.” MasterCard and the WFP believe that a new approach to help these children lies in the power of technology to unlock innovation in food assistance.

One way to utilize the power of technology is through social media platforms. “Leveraging technology to do good is important to us at MasterCard,” said Ann Cairns, MasterCard President International Markets.

Twitter, in particular, has some staggering statistics that make it a valuable tool for corporations, non-profits, and activists worldwide to spread their message to millions:

  1.  There are now at least 230 million active users on Twitter globally, with over 100 million daily active users
  2. More than 5,000 tweets are tweeted every second
  3.  3 million websites integrate with Twitter.

Twitter and other social media sites offer a unique platform that connect millions of people, affording them opportunities to influence change and spark social justice movements in ways that were unimaginable before.

– Rifk Ebeid

Photo: Mastercard
Sources: Amazon, Stay Classy, News Room

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Hunger in Ethiopia

Hunger in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a Sub-Saharan African country fringed by Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Eritrea. For the past few decades, the Ethiopian government has implemented institutional reforms in order to transition to a stable market economy. This transition would also reduce poverty, improve health, education and infrastructure in the endeavor to establish a stable economy.

Although Ethiopia has made remarkable economic strides and has secured its position as one of the most efficient economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is still one of the poorest nations in the world.

In order to raise awareness of the severity the epidemic hunger in Ethiopia, the World Food Programme has complied a comprehensive list of facts that every global citizen should know regarding the hunger crisis in Ethiopia.

As mentioned above, Ethiopia has taken steps to improve its economy, an endeavor that in turn has also improved nutrition within the nation. Yet, despite this marked progress, Ethiopia still remains embattled by malnutrition.

The true extent of this malnutrition is appalling. According to the report “Cost of Hunger in Africa”, child malnutrition costs Ethiopia 16.5 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year.

Furthermore, nearly 40% of Ethiopian children are underdeveloped, suffering from a condition known as “stunting”, which arises when individuals miss critical periods of development due to a lack of a proper diet.

Not only are these children physically stunted, they also experience a stunt in academic achievement. For the individuals who survive the complications of childhood malnutrition, stunting persists throughout adulthood as well.

As approximately 67% of adults in Ethiopia experienced stunting as children,  the majority of Ethiopians are not able to reach their maximum physical or educational potential in part due to hunger.

Additionally, nearly half of health issues arising from malnutrition manifest themselves before the child has lived to see his or her first birthday. Unfortunately, this early onset of malnutrition related health issues has also contributed to nearly 30% of child fatalities in Ethiopia. These child fatalities in Ethiopia have contributed to an approximate 8% reduction in the total Ethiopian workforce.

The cycle of poverty, hunger, and death in Ethiopia ensnares the nation in a stage of underdevelopment. Poverty and hunger in Ethiopia simultaneously attacks the population, holding the nation back from its full potential.

However, food programs and continued economic expansion can help the nation become not only one of the most stable economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also become a global competitor.

– Phoebe Pradhan

Photo: Action Against Hunger
Sources: Info Please, WFP, Rural Poverty Portal

The Impact of Flooding in Bolivia

flooding_bolivia
The deluge Bolivia is experiencing since November 2013 has claimed 38 lives from nonstop flooding. Medicine, food and other supplies have recently been delivered. Humanitarian packages are meant to alleviate hunger and provide warmth while combating the disease that floods bring. Malaria and infections that result in diarrhea and topical infections have been reported.

The Ministry of Defense’s aid convoy and evacuation of the local populace in hard-hit regions cannot hinder the continued problems of the flood-filled country. One of South America’s poorest nations, Bolivia has taken a huge hit in infrastructure, roads and most importantly of all, homes. The continuing inundation has disrupted and displaced over 150,000 lives.

Beni, a region taking the brunt of the storm, has over 4,000 displaced families. Livelihoods of farmers have also taken a huge hit. Agricultural products such as corn and wheat are ruined by the torrential season.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has declared a state of emergency for his storm-stricken nation.The charismatic leader has otherwise high hopes and plans for Bolivia. In early January, Morales announced that he plans on building a nuclear reactor, the first in his country.

Before the start of the 2014, Bolivia launched Tupak Katara, its first telecommunications satellite, which was named for a national hero who combated Spaniards during colonial times. The satellite, according to Morales, represented the country’s movement away from foreign assistance regarding communications. Despite such claims, China aided the country in its venture.

Moreover, the coca leaf, the source of cocaine, has been an important platform in Morales’ presidency, particularly its removal from the international list of banned drugs. The coca leaf is a primary product in the livelihood of 40,000 Bolivians—a large part of Morales’ constituency. Since recently assuming the chairman of the Group of 77 nations, Morales vows to reinstate the coca leaf.

Among such accomplishments and claims is the never-ending stream of flooding, with weather reports stating that heavier rainfall will most likely continue for weeks to come. With climate change an ever-present feature in many countries, Bolivia, too, is far from unaffected.

– Miles Abadilla

Sources: BBC, Crossmatch Christian Post, Fox News, Fox News, Reuters, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Photo: The Guardian

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Hunger in Zimbabwe

zimbabwe_food_hunger
Drought in Zimbabwe is reaching epic proportions as nearly one million people are at risk of food insecurity. According to the 2013 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC,) food insecurity levels will affect roughly 2.2 million Zimbabweans at the peak of hunger season between January and March in the upcoming year. Zimbabwe already suffers from high poverty rates as approximately 72 percent of citizens currently below the poverty line and nearly 14.7 percent of the population is HIV prevalent.

Zimbabwe relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture, which has since plummeted since last season’s drought.  As the need for food increases, maize, a primary source of food in Zimbabwe, continues to rise in price making it more difficult on a population who already lives on less than a $1 a day. Making matters worse, the World Food Programme (WFP) recently announced that their initial plan of providing support for 1.8 million people will be drastically reduced.

“We’d been hoping to have scaled up our seasonal relief operations to reach 1.8 million people in the coming months with distributions of food aid, in some areas, cash transfers. Despite generous contributions from donors such as (United States,) (United Kingdom,) Japan, Australia, ECHO and the central Emergency Relief Fund (UN CERF), it’s now looking like all this will not be possible because of a shortage of funds. In fact, we’ve had to cut rations for one million of our beneficiaries in recent months and there are likely to be deeper cuts as from next month,” said WFP in a statement to the media.

Of the $86 million funding dispersed by the previous listed countries, only half of it has been implemented into relief intervention. “Rising food prices are making matters worse — in some areas, they are as much as double what they were last year,” says WFP communications manager Tomson Phiri.

These rising prices in the market are heavily affecting food security and although WFP is short on funding, they are hoping to raise another $60 million over the next 6 months in an effort to implement relief and recovery operations.

– Jeffrey Scott Haley
Feature Writer

Sources: World Food Programme, World Food Programme, Zimeye
Photo: The Telegraph

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World Hunger Crisis: An Alarming Situation

Hunger_Crisis
Though there are many causes of death in regions of poverty within developing countries such as AIDS, cancer, unclean water or other diseases — the number one cause of death continues to be hunger.

To understand hunger, however, one needs to first understand the definition of hunger. According to the Oxford dictionary, hunger is a feeling, discomfort or weakness caused by the lack, or severe lack of food. Global hunger refers to the latter — a severe lack of food.

A closer definition of world hunger comes from World Hunger, which describes hunger as being the scarcity of food in a country.

Hunger also leads to the lack of nutritional supplements necessary for human health. One out of three people in the world suffer from vitamin deficiencies such as vitamin A, iron and iodine.

A lack of vitamin A can cause blindness and reduce the effectiveness of the human immune system. The lack of iron is the cause of anemic, malaria and worm infections. The lack of iodine negatively affects mental health of children while the lack of this supplement during pregnancy can result in miscarriage, premature death in babies.

As it stands, though the world is producing enough food to feed the growing human population, those living in poverty do not have enough income to supply food for their households.

According to a slew of statistics, as you are reading this article, 820 million people are suffering from hunger, over 7000 people die of hunger everyday in India alone and one child dies every five seconds. Moreover, with the climate changing in recent years, many natural disasters have occurred, further pushing a large number of people into poverty.

Humanity is fighting a tough battle against global poverty, especially when concerning world hunger.  Though with the help of the world’s population, the future continues to look bright.  One person alone might not be able to make a difference, but if people are united under the same flag and want to make a difference, the world will change significantly.

This battle is, in fact, a drawn out war — and humanity is winning. With everyone’s support, this war can be won in twenty years, thus allowing the world tree to bear the fruit of freedom and strong economic growth for all nations.

– Phong Pham

Sources: Hunger Notes, Bhookh Relief Foundation
Photo: CRS.org

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Relief Organization: Stop Hunger Now

Stop Hunger Now
Stop Hunger Now (SHN) is a hunger relief organization with the mission to end world hunger by providing food and other life-saving aid to children and families in countries all over the world. The organization believes addressing the problem of hunger is the single point where they can leverage relief for all humanitarian issues.  

In 2005, SHN created its meal packaging program, which dedicates to make and distribute meal packets for countries in need. People working and volunteering in the program combine rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix including 21 essential vitamins and minerals into small meal packets. According to SHN website, each meal costs only 25 cents. The food stores easily, has a shelf life of two years and transports quickly.

This program has branches in the United States, South Africa, Malaysia, Philippines and Italy. Many religious institutions, civic organizations, corporations and schools have organized SHN meal packaging events. One SHN packaging event can result in the packaging of more than 1,000,000 meals.

So far, SHN has provided over 70 percent of its meals to support transformational development programs across 65 countries, such as school feeding programs, vocational training programs, early childhood development programs, orphanages, and medical clinics. It has packaged about 127 million meals.

SHN aims to allocate 80 percent of its meals to transformational development programs by 2015.

This organization partners with many non-profit organizations around the world to provide food and other aid to those in need. Those partners are chosen based on a comprehensive evaluation, including their effectiveness, sustainability, ability to import, store and distribute meals and impact.

In December 2013, SHN built a partnership with Share Your Calories (SYC,) a movement to improve people’s health and to end world hunger. It dedicates to impact both weight-loss issues and hunger issues by empowering users to take control of their own health and to make an impact in the fight against world hunger.

SYC is developing a mobile app, which is expected to be available in May. The app will allow users to track calories consumed and burned off.  Users can store unused calories into a Calorie Bank and then donate them to SHN by “sharing” them via the app. Every 250 shared calories will be converted to $0.25.

SHN believes that the world has sufficient resources to feed everyone and it is possible to end hunger in people’s lifetime.

– Liying Qian

Sources: Stop Hunger Now, Stop Hunger Now-2, Stop Hunger Now-3, Share Your Calories