2010 Global Hunger Index released

The annual Global Hunger Index was released today with a focus on child malnutrition. The authors of this year's index says that child malnutrition effects half of the people who who are hungry. The report calls on the world's governments to improve health care and education to combat poor nutrition in children.

Overall, the levels of hunger are better than when the Index began in 1990, but the last couple of years have seen a slight increase. The Index blames the increase in the double crises of food price increases and the global recession. Only three countries have hunger levels that are called "extremely alarming," they are the Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Chad. Most of the high levels of hunger are found in Africa and Southern Asia

Below is an interactive world map that shows the hunger levels for each country.



From the Global Hunger Index website, this press release gives a full explanation of the data.

Malnutrition among children under two years of age is one of the leading
challenges to reducing global hunger and can cause lifelong harm to health, productivity, and earning potential, according to the 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI).

Released in advance of World Food Day (October 16) for the fifth year, the report is
published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide.

The Index scores countries based on three equally weighted indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the child mortality rate. The biggest contributor to the global score is child undernutrition, which accounts for almost half of the score.

“To improve their scores, many countries must accelerate progress in reducing child
malnutrition. Considerable research shows that the window of opportunity for improving nutrition spans from conception to age two. After age two, the negative effects of undernutrition are largely irreversible,” explained Marie Ruel, director of IFPRI’s Poverty, Health and Nutrition division and co-author of the report.

The Index is calculated for 122 developing and transition countries for which data on the three components of hunger are available. Twenty-nine countries have levels of hunger that are “extremely alarming” or “alarming.” Most of these countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

While the highest regional GHI scores are for South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia has made much more progress since 1990. In South Asia, the low nutritional, educational, and social status of women is among the major factors that contribute to a high prevalence of malnutrition in children under five.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, low government effectiveness, conflict, political instability, and high rates of HIV and AIDS are among the major factors that lead to high child mortality and a high proportion of people who cannot meet their calorie requirements. In some countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, for example Burundi, Madagascar, and Malawi, about half of the children are stunted (low height for age) due to poor nutrition.

The burden of child undernutrition could be cut by 25-36 percent by providing universal preventive health services and nutrition interventions for children under two and their mothers during pregnancy and lactation.

“The health of women, specifically mothers, is crucial to reducing child malnutrition. Mothers who were poorly nourished as girls tend to give birth to underweight babies, perpetuating the cycle of undernutrition,” noted Welthungerhilfe chairperson Bärbel Dieckmann.

“Nutrition interventions should be targeted towards girls and women throughout the life cycle and especially as adolescents before they become pregnant.”
The report recommends that to reduce global hunger, countries must:

• target interventions where they will do the most good – among pregnant and
breastfeeding women and children in their first two years of life;

• address the underlying causes of undernutrition, including poverty, gender inequality, and conflict;

• engage, empower, and support those working at the local level to improve nutrition;

• and make nutrition, especially for young children, a political priority.
“Ensuring appropriate and adequate nutrition during the first 1,000 days is absolutely critical,” said Concern Worldwide CEO Tom Arnold. “This Global Hunger Index report sets out clear recommendations to inform and encourage the international community to take decisive action on this issue.”

World Bank asks for more money from rich nations

The head of the World Bank is asking for more money from rich nations. Robert Zoellick wants the rich nations to renew their contributions to a World Bank fund that gives low to no interest loans to the poorest nations. Zoellick says that not contributing to this fund will devastate the fight against poverty and will hurt achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.


From the Guardian, writer Larry Elliot provides some quotes from Zoellick and a response from Brittan.

The bank is seeking donations to replenish its International Development Association (IDA) fund. This provides soft loans and grants to the 79 poorest countries. Zoellick wants to at least match the $41bn (£26bn) raised for the last three-year programme. "Lack of support for the IDA would devastate the effort to achieve the millennium development goals," Zoellick said. "What was very clear to me at recent UN meetings was that it is critical not to see these goals as independent, but to connect the dots that show their inter-relationship.

"And the IDA is maybe the only concessional funding system that offers grants or no-interest loans to allow countries with a sense of ownership to connect their development efforts with donor efforts from other countries."

Officials from donor countries will meet in Washington tomorrow to gauge support for the 16th round of IDA funding, with the aim of making pledges by the year end.

Britain was the biggest single donor to IDA 15, providing more than £2bn, but International development secretary Andrew Mitchell said it was too early to say how he would respond to the appeal.

Mitchell said Britain's contribution would depend on his department's multilateral aid review, a study launched by the government into how well money provided by Britain is spent by international organisations such as the bank and UN.

US poverty spreads to the suburbs

The recent increase of poverty in the United States has seen it's greatest effects in the country's suburban areas. With the big loss of jobs and foreclosures seen during the global economic recession, the people who needed help were those who used to be comfortable.

From MSNBC, Associated Press writer Hope Yen explores the spread of poverty in the US.

A pair of analyses by the nonprofit Brookings Institution paint a bleak economic picture for the 100 largest metropolitan areas over the past decade and in the coming years, when the U.S. poverty rate is projected to edge toward 15 percent.

They also come weeks before the Nov. 2 congressional elections in which voters anxious over the slumping economy will decide whether to keep Democrats in power. Made up of both cities and surrounding suburbs, the large metro areas represent two-thirds of the U.S. population and are home to key battlegrounds that helped lift Democrat Barack Obama to victory in 2008.

The analyses of census data released Thursday show that since 2000, the number of poor people in the suburbs jumped by 37.4 percent to 13.7 million. That's faster than the national growth rate of 26.5 percent and more than double the city rate of 16.7 percent.

After the recession began in 2007, the suburbs continued to post larger increases in the number of poor — adding 1.8 million, compared to 1.4 million in the cities. Suburbs are now home to roughly one-third of the nation's poor.

At the same time, social service providers are spread thin in many suburban areas, according to a detailed Brookings survey of groups in representative metropolitan areas of Chicago, Los Angeles and the District of Columbia. That has forced providers to turn away many poor people due to increasingly scarce government and private-sector aid that is typically given to cities first.

"Millions of Americans at all income levels moved to the suburbs looking for better schools, better jobs, affordable housing, and a sense of security, but in recent years, as incomes have fallen, people had a harder and harder time making ends meet," said Scott Allard, a University of Chicago professor who co-wrote one of the reports.

A peek into the World Bank fraud department

When people protest the work of the World Bank the first concern they raise is fraud and wasting money. The World Bank itself has a department that is totally devoted to investigating fraud. When a recipient of World Bank money is found to be fraudulent they are barred from receiving any additional funds for a length of time.

From the Guardian, writer Larry Elliot talked to the World Bank president in charge of loan integrity.

Leonard McCarthy is the bank's vice-president for integrity and the man responsible for the ICHN. Yesterday he published an annual report showing that his department's caseload involved 260 projects in 84 countries. As a result of the investigation, the World Bank debarred 45 firms, individuals, and NGOs, preventing them from participating in future bank projects for varying periods of time. The UK publishing house, Macmillan, was one of them - debarred for six years after admitting it had paid bribes to win a contract in southern Sudan.

I put three questions to McCarthy when I saw him this week. First, is the bank committing real resources to tackling corruption? Second, is it doing any more than scratching the surface of the problem? And third, how clean is the bank itself given the amount of money it disburses?

The answer to the first question is that between 2006 and 2010 the budget for the integrity unit rose from $13.3m to $18.7m, with staff numbers increasing from 46 to 98. The bank can say, therefore, that it is putting its money where its mouth is.

Unsurprisingly, McCarthy believes the bank is getting to grips with the problem of corruption, announcing in the past year a cross-debarment deal with four other regional development banks. Bob Zoellick, the World Bank president, said the agreement sent out a message: "steal from one of us, and you will be punished by all".
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Refreshingly, the bank admits that with 15,000 staff operating out of more than 180 countries it is bound to have a few bad apples. It opened 54 cases in the last year relating to alleged staff fraud and corruption, a slight rise on the previous year, which it put down to an improved reporting environment rather than an increased incidence of malfeasance.

The gap in Global Fund pledges

A couple of days ago the United States announced an increased pledge to the Global Fund on AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. Several other governments have also increased their pledges, while Italy and Sweden have so far pledged no new contributions. In all $12 billion dollars have been pledged to the Global Fund, but the fund and many activists were hoping for 20 billion.

From this transcript from the Australian Broadcasting Company, reporter Sarah Hawke gives an Australian perspective on the pledge gap for the Global Fund.

SARAH HAWKE: The Director of the HIV-AIDS Project at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney, Bill Botell says the fund has also had longer term impacts.

BILL BOTELL: Levels of HIV infection have started to stabilise and in many countries have started to fall quite dramatically as people have got access to treatments. We've seen very encouraging progress on malaria and tuberculosis as well.

SARAH HAWKE: Bill Botell has been in New York this week for the UN discussions on the next three years of funding.

Forty countries committed $11.7 billion. The UN was hoping for $13 billion. Poverty and disease advocacy groups wanted $20 billion. Mr Botell says it appeared the Global Financial Crisis dented many commitments.

BILL BOTELL: From some of the donors yes there's been a real problem in their capacity to pay. Italy and Sweden for example have not contributed at all. I'm very glad to say though that some of the other donors, including Australia, have really stepped up to the mark and tried to fill that gap. But it was one of a very small number of countries that actually did step up to the mark.

SARAH HAWKE: What do you think it does actually mean on the ground? Are there going to be certain programs that will be looked at, or various strategies?

BILL BOTELL: That shortfall, of a couple of billion dollars means that funds to take more people on to HIV treatments, for malaria bed nets and for tuberculosis treatments won't be able to be paid for and that will translate into hundreds of thousands if not millions of people dying untimely deaths.

Video: a child's struggle against the Pakistan floods

From this Save the Children video that we found at the Guardian, this story profiles a child who is struggling to help her family survive the Pakistan floods.

Using the SKS IPO money to begin more social bushiness

The initial public offering of stock for SKS Microfinance was one of the most controversial events we followed this year.

The India microcredit bank was accused by many as only being into microcredit to make themselves rich. Some including microcredit's founder Muhammad Yunus, believe that those who begin microcredit services should do so without seeking to gain much profit for it. The microcredit "purists" say that only those who receive the loans should reap the benefits.

However, the man who helped to start SKS Microfinance is going to use the money he gained from the stock IPO to begin more social businesses. Further, SKS investor Vinod Khosa says that for-profit microcredit banks work better than the non-profit banks.

From the New York Times, writer Vicas Bajaj profiles Khosa and his plans to help more of those on the bottom of the pyramid.

An Indian transplant to Silicon Valley, Mr. Khosla plans to start a venture capital fund to invest in companies that focus on the poor in India, Africa and elsewhere by providing services like health, energy and education.

By backing businesses that provide education loans or distribute solar panels in villages, he says, he wants to show that commercial entities can better help people in poverty than most nonprofit charitable organizations.

“There needs to be more experiments in building sustainable businesses going after the market for the poor,” he said in a telephone interview from his office in Menlo Park, Calif. “It has to be done in a sustainable way. There is not enough money to be given away in the world to make the poor well off.”

Mr. Khosla’s advocacy of the bootstrap powers of capitalism is part of an increasingly popular school of thought: businesses, not governments or nonprofit groups, should lead the effort to eradicate global poverty.

Some nonprofit experts say commercial social enterprises have significant limitations and pose conflicts of interest. But proponents like Mr. Khosla draw inspiration from the astounding global growth of microfinance — the business of giving small loans to poor entrepreneurs, of which SKS Microfinance is a notable practitioner.

Advocates also find intellectual support for the idea from the work of business management professors like the late C. K. Prahalad, who have argued that large corporations can do well and do good by aiming at people at the so-called bottom of the pyramid.

Besides Mr. Khosla, entrepreneurs like Pierre Omidyar, a co-founder of eBay, and Stephen M. Case, a co-founder of America Online, have started funds with similar aims.

But Mr. Khosla, 55, who moved to the United States from India as a graduate student in 1976, has another motive, too. He wants to goad other rich Indians into giving away more of their wealth.

India’s torrid growth over the last decade has helped enrich many here — Forbes estimates that India now has 69 billionaires, up from seven in 2000 — but only a few have set up large charities, endowments or venture capital funds.

“It surprises me that in India there is not a tradition of large-scale giving and helping to solve social problems and set a social model,” Mr. Khosla said.

How education also crumbled after the Haiti earthquake

Along with everything else, many of the colleges and universities in Port-au-Prince were destroyed during the Haitian earthquake. This forced many to leave the country to continue their education, or some had to find work instead. Even seeking a transfer to another institution was difficult as many of the student records were destroyed.

From the IPS, writer A. D. McKenzie has this story on how education suffered after the January 12th earthquake.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Haiti faces multiple challenges in the higher education sector. The country has one government university and some 200 private higher-education institutions, which charged relatively high fees before the earthquake. Fewer than 50 of these colleges are recognised by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, leading to questions about their quality.

"Many universities and higher education institutions lost students, teachers, buildings, and equipment," says Bechir Lamine, a UNESCO representative in Port-au-Prince. "Hardly any statistics exist as to the scale of such a loss."

One of the leading non-public universities (Quisqueya) was left practically without any buildings, not even its latest acquisition "inaugurated barely one month before the earthquake," Lamine told IPS in an e-mail interview. Quisqueya has been holding some of its classes in tents.

A significant issue for Haitian universities after the earthquake is that they are threatened with losing their students, contributing to the brain-drain from which the Caribbean nation already suffered, according to education experts. An estimated 85 percent of college-educated Haitians live abroad, driven away by instability, poverty, violence and other ills.

"Many parents are sending their children to neighbouring Dominican Republic or other countries to ensure that they continue their studies," Lamine said. "Most non-public universities perceive this as a threat because it'll deprive them of their students, of their income, and as a consequence, of their teachers."

Another issue has to do with replacing lost buildings and equipment. Some colleges have received equipment from overseas institutions, such as the new computers that the information technology institute ESIH got from Virgina Tech and IBM in the United States.

But "donor money is not forthcoming and therefore many are faced with difficulties in ensuring classes for the current academic year," Lamine said. "Tents and light shelters are used but there are fears the hurricane season could jeopardise all ongoing efforts."

Haitian land owners begin to get fed up with the tent villages

After the Haitian earthquake, people flocked to the nearest open field to seek safety away from collapsing buildings. The open fields often were on private land and soon became tent villages that still exist today. With little to no jobs available in Haiti the people have little chance to get out of the tent village. Now, some of the land owners want the people in the tent villages out.

From the New York Times, writer Deborah Sontag tells the story of a particular church that is even getting fed up with the tent villagers.

The Church of God is planning to evict the encampment in the near future. While the church relented on a Sept. 30 deadline under pressure from humanitarian officials, it still wants its Haitian headquarters rid of a population that church officials have come to see as a freeloading nuisance.

“This used to be a beautiful place, but these people are tearing up the property,” said Jim Hudson, a Church of God missionary living at the site. “They’re urinating on it. They’re bathing out in public. They’re stealing electricity. And they don’t work. They sit around all day, waiting for handouts.”

Increasingly, property owners here are seeking to dislodge tent camps, saying they are tired of waiting for the government to resettle the people or for the people to resettle themselves.

Almost nine months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, eviction threats have increased markedly and have become an urgent humanitarian concern, international groups say. Some 144,175 individuals have been subject to threats of eviction since March, and 28,065 have been actually evicted, according to data collected by shelter experts here.

Humanitarian officials have asked the government to consider a moratorium on evictions and to address the issue publicly, urging compassion. They worry that the evictions could increase conflict, lead to the mushrooming of smaller sites without services and force people into locations that are unsafe.

“It’s a huge problem that could exacerbate lots of other problems,” said Lilianne Fan, the housing, land and property coordinator for the multiagency shelter cluster. “The bottom line is that the vulnerable become more vulnerable, and you get into a situation of continual displacement without a long-term solution.”

Many landowners, fearing that the tent cities will become entrenched slums, say that they need to reclaim their properties sooner rather than later for their intended uses.

Their eviction practices vary, from sudden and violent to mediated and planned. In some cases, landowners have sent thugs to slash or burn tents; in others they have offered cash payoffs to expedite expulsions.

But whatever the method, the evictions increase the instability of the displaced population for whom few alternatives exist, given the slow pace of the cleanup and reconstruction effort.

US to announce an increase in contribution to the Global Fund

The Obama Administration is expected to announce an increase in the amount the US contributes to the Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. The US is already the largest contributor to the fund, but will begin giving 4 billion dollars over the next three years.

The 4 billion dollars still falls short of the 6 billion that many advocates were hoping for. The increase from the US will still not be enough to offset the decreases made by other governments during the global economic recession.

The US will call for some reforms to the Global Fund with the new money. The US wants the Global Fund to cut waste and to report to the US on any improvements during the next three years.

From the Wall Street Journal, writer Betsy McKay gives us this further description of the announcement.

The U.S.—the largest contributor by far to the Global Fund, with more than $5.1 billion donated since 2002—is pressing the organization to develop an "action agenda" with timelines and measurements, "so that all parties concerned ... can be held accountable," a senior administration official said Monday.

The U.S. will measure progress annually and as it considers contributions beyond 2013, the official said.

The Global Fund accounts for a quarter of international financing to combat HIV/AIDS, and the bulk of funds to fight tuberculosis and malaria. It is seeking to attract at least $13 billion, and as much as $20 billion, from more than 40 countries, private foundations and corporations between 2011 and 2013. Pledges for the past three years totaled $9.7 billion.

Global Fund officials welcomed the anticipated U.S. pledge and the push for reform. "We look forward to working with the U.S. to further enhance reforms we're already undertaking and to listen to any other suggestions for improvements," a spokesman said.

The U.S. pledge represents a 38% increase over the $2.9 billion it contributed between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2010. Though it has been made for multiple years rather than on an annual basis, the pledge will be subject to Congressional appropriations each year.

The latest Ibrahim Index on good African governance

Mauritius has the best performing government in Africa according to the latest Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The index is a service of the Ibrahim Foundation which was set up by African businessman Mo Ibrahim to  monitor government performance. Mo Ibrahim made a fortune in mobile phone technology in Africa and now he devotes some of his time and money to the foundation. 

The Ibrahim Index of African Governence weighs how effective a government is by several factors. Some of the factors include saftey, human rights, economic opportunity and development. The Ibrahim Foundation does not use poverty and health statistics in the index as they say the statistics are not comprehensive.  

The top five performing governments according to the Ibrahim Index are Mauritius, Seychelles, Botswana, Cape Verde and South Africa. The lowest ranking governments on the index are Somalia, Chad, Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Eritrea. You can go the foundation website to see the complete overview of the rankings.

From the Guardian, Mo Ibrahim has this commentary on the index.

The index is a comprehensive assessment of governance quality in Africa, across 88 criteria grouped into four main categories: safety and rule of law; participation and human rights; sustainable economic opportunity; and human development. These four together constitute the cornerstone of a government's obligations to its citizens.

As one would expect, results vary significantly across countries. However, there are important global trends that are cause for hope as well as concern. For a majority of countries, progress in economic and human development is significant. Improvements in these categories have been recorded in over 40 out of 53 African states. On economic management, on the provision of health, on welfare, improved governance is making a substantial impact on quality of life for hundreds of millions of people. Not only has there been overall progress in each of these important areas but, importantly, no country across the whole continent has seen its performance decline significantly. 

These are more than just numbers. I have seen first hand how critical these improvements are to Africans' daily lives and to their hopes for their families. Educational opportunities have supported the rise of the African middle class, the professional cadre of young people who are now willing and able to contribute to Africa's future prosperity. Provision of health services means that millions are now receiving the HIV treatment they need, and that millions of preventable deaths have been avoided. Improvements in economic management mean that trade, and regional trade, can increase, stimulating economic growth and providing millions with the opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty.

However, this progress is not reflected in the other two pillars of the index. Declines appear in what could be termed the political side of governance, namely rights, safety, and rule of law. These issues too are about people's lives. We are all too familiar with the drastic consequences of corruption, dysfunctional legal systems, and insecure and unsafe environments.

Wharton University's Societal Wealth Program

A program from Wharton University of Pennsylvania tries to create businesses that can build wealth for the poor and ease societal ills. Wharton's Societal Wealth Program not only tries to build businesses in the under-developed world but in the United States as well.

A new paper released by the SWP outlines 12 different projects the program has tried to start and the degrees of success each has achieved. The professors behind the project say that there are more failures than successes.

From Knowledge@Wharton section of Forbes magazine we find out more about the program

The WSWP initiatives are designed to move beyond a charitable aid model for combating poverty by creating economic enterprises that lead to self-sufficiency rather than dependency and that will have a major and lasting impact. "There are plenty of charities doing things for free. What we are attempting to do is create poverty reducing businesses," says James D. Thompson, director of the WSWP, who co-authored the paper with Wharton management professor Ian C. MacMillan.
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Since its launch in 2001 WSWP has been involved in 10 projects and is in the early stages of evaluating two others. The four cases highlighted in the paper represent a range of outcomes from success to termination. Many of the other six projects were disengaged or significantly altered--a rate Thompson says is comparable to findings on typical entrepreneurial startups. "You're likely, if you follow this approach, to encounter more failures than successes," he notes.

MacMillan adds that the principles that apply to building societal wealth should not be limited to use only in poor nations or developing economies. "We have misery in the United States," he says. "There are many areas of high unemployment in appalling ghettos, where single mothers are trapped in environments where the best they can do is eke out a living. It's no joke that we can apply the same principles here."

The four projects detailed in the paper range from a highly successful animal feed effort in Zambia to a proposal to improve nutrition through better peanut processing that was never put into practice. The feed project used linear programming to calculate optimal feed mixes resulting in high-quality, lower-cost feed for farmers who were able to expand chicken production. Starting with six men mixing feed on a cement floor, the effort is based on a network of small producers, rather than a conventional high-volume model.

In South Africa, WSWP backed a project to train uneducated single mothers to work in bakeries making high-end healthy cookies for sale to tourist hotels. The authors call this program "marginally successful" and note that it is now directing sales toward exports to developed countries. The authors write that the "jury is still out" on a project in Botswana designed to use electronic medical records to improve care for HIV/AIDS patients by allowing nurses to make more diagnostic and prescriptive decisions, which in turn frees up doctors for administering higher-level services.

The WSWP ultimately dropped a plan to improve nutrition with more effective peanut processing. The idea was appealing because peanuts could provide high nutritional value to the diets of people throughout sub-Saharan Africa and in Latin America. However, an early analysis revealed that high transportation costs and the likelihood of losses through theft at various points in the logistics system made it impossible for the project to sustain itself financially. "This is a great example of one of those ideas that was initially put to us that we thought had enormous potential," Thompson says. "But during our due diligence and modeling process, we just couldn't find a way of getting the business model to make financial sense."

Afghanistan imports wheat to help with food shortages

From IRIN, a story on importing wheat into Afghanistan to help with any food shortages during the winter.

Tens of thousands of tons of wheat flour will be imported from Kazakhstan by the private sector to alleviate food shortages before the winter, officials say.

Pakistan, the main, traditional exporter of food to Afghanistan, has banned wheat exports after catastrophic floods; Russia has done the same.

"We face a deficit of over 700,000MT of wheat this year," Majeed Qarar, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), told IRIN, adding that the government was encouraging traders to import wheat from Kazakhstan.

Domestic wheat production this year is estimated at 4.5 million tons thanks to good rains, but the country needs more than 5.2 million tons, MAIL said.

Kazakhstan has announced it will export more than eight million tons of grain in 2010.

However, concerns are rising about a change in Kazakhstan's position as demand for wheat grows in the region.

"We're concerned that Kazakhstan may halt wheat exports due to the Russian impact," said Ghulam Mohammad Ayelaqi, Afghanistan's deputy minister of commerce, adding that such a move would cause serious problems.

Food insecurity

Despite massive foreign aid since 2001 and good agricultural outputs over the past two years, Afghanistan is ranked highest on a food-insecurity index by a UK-based think-tank, Maplecroft.

Widespread poverty, conflict and recurrent natural disasters are among the main causes of chronic and prevalent food insecurity in Afghanistan, it said.

At least 36 percent of the population (about nine million) cannot meet basic needs and the food consumption of 61 percent of the population is characterized by "low" and "very low" food diversity, according to the National Risk Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA) 2008.

Chronic food insecurity causes major health problems and leads to maternal and infant morality and morbidity, experts say.

An estimated 45-60 percent of under-fives suffer from micronutrient deficiency diseases; almost half of non-pregnant women are iron-deficient and 25 percent suffer from anaemia; more than 70 percent of under-fives are iron-deficient, and up to 70 percent of seven to 11-year-old children and women of reproductive age experience iodine deficiency, according to the NRVA.

Market volatility

Food prices have increased gradually over the past several months, largely due to the floods in Pakistan, making food even more unaffordable for the poor.

In August, food prices were 6 percent higher in Afghanistan than a year previously, according to a market price bulletin released by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in September.

"Volatility in regional grain markets has complicated WFP's procurement as prices have gone up and availability is uncertain," said Challiss McDonough, a WFP spokeswoman in Kabul.

She said the organization had adequate food in warehouses in Afghanistan to meet current needs but warned about future shortages.

"The floods in Pakistan - where we lost stocks in transit to Afghanistan - have disrupted our food pipeline. Although the loss did not have an immediate impact on our programmes in Afghanistan, it will be felt in the coming months," said McDonough, adding that the organization would need to pre-position food in areas that would be inaccessible in winter.

WFP plans to feed about seven million people in Afghanistan in 2010.

To help stabilize prices, MAIL officials said they would encourage traders to buy wheat in provinces with surpluses and sell in areas facing deficits.

WFP also said it was "attempting" local procurement in some areas.

Video: Bill and Melinda Gates on giving away money

CBS News 60 Minutes had a feature on Bill and Melinda Gates last night, here is the segment in case you missed it.

Akobo, Sudan; formerly the hungriest town in the world

Southern Sudan is about to become the world's newest country. Voting on the referendum is expected to be passed in January 9th. In the meantime, international aid is trying to bring services and jobs to the people until the new government gets up and running. One project that USAid is conducting in the dangerous town of Akobo is seeing some success.

From this Associated Press article that we found at Google News, writer Maggie Fick traveled to Sudan to take a look at the project.

The Akobo projects present just a small sliver of good news in a region beset by poverty. More than 4 million people in Southern Sudan need food aid, and the U.N. estimates that more than 90 percent of the region's 8 million to 13 million people live on less than a $1 day. The literacy rate is 15 percent. Life expectancy is 42 years.
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Over the last several months, youth have been making the cement blocks to build a new county headquarters complete with wireless Internet and solar panels paid for by USAID, the U.S. government aid arm. Workers also constructed a courtroom used for weekly sessions convened by traditional chiefs.

The approach pioneered by the U.N. and USAID in Akobo addresses what are viewed as the two key triggers for conflict in the area: disempowered youth who lack educational opportunities but have ready access to weapons, and a fledgling government ill-equipped to deliver services and security across its sprawling terrain.

USAID has spent more than $2 million in Akobo County in the past year, making it the focal point of its efforts to improve community security in the run-up to the January referendum.

Goi, the commissioner, said many community members pitched in last month to help build the fence around the unpaved airstrip. The project, also funded by USAID, was completed within a week.

The top U.S. diplomat in Southern Sudan, Barrie Walkley, said Akobo should be proud of the results.

All of these projects, the officials say, provide incentive for townspeople to improve their lives through paid labor and small business instead of cattle raiding and the armed resolution of disputes.

Forced evictions in Ghana to try to avoid flooding damage

In an effort to minimize damage from future flooding, Ghana is demolishing buildings that are built on water drainage-ways. The demolition of housing has forced hundreds of people to look for another place to live. Most of the people who are subject are suspucious of the Ghana city government true motivations. Some of those evicted say they are not given enough notice, and that it is a violation of human rights.

From Reuters Alert Net, writer Suleiman Mustapha gives us some background on the forced evictions.

In Accra, government officials say homes and businesses built in or along drainage routes are illegal and their owners will be given no compensation if they are demolished. Officials argue adequate warning is being given to home owners.

But residents dispute that assertion.

"This house had been standing here for the past decade and nobody had informed me my house was sitting on a waterway," said Charles Okoe, a 48-year-old businessman whose home in Sakama, a suburb of Accra, was demolished in June as part of the waterway clearing campaign.

Okoe said he was only informed in March that his house was sited on a waterway. He is now staying with friends and family until he has enough money for a new permanent home.

Since June, 30 houses in Sakama have been razed to clear waterways and many more are marked for demolition, Mayor Alfred Vanderpuije said.

Flooding caused by heavy seasonal rains killed at least 35 people in Ghana in June, prompting the crackdown on structures built in or alongside drainage routes.

The volume of flood water was less than a year earlier, when it hit record levels, but the National Disaster Management Organisation, the country's relief agency, said the aftermath of this year's flooding was the worst in recent history.

There have been similar scenes across much of West Africa, similarly hit by heavy rains.

Since June this year, floods and mudslides in the region have killed at least 77 people, destroyed the homes, businesses and farms of over 152,000 others and crushed bridges, roads, schools and other infrastructure in at least eight countries, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Malaria from the flood-waters begins to spread in Pakistan

Large areas of Pakistan remain flooded two months after the disaster began. These large pools of water have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and malaria is beginning to spread to people who live nearby. The World Health Organization says that there are already 250,000 suspected cases of malaria, while Plan International warns that over 2 million people could soon become infected.

From this Guardian story, writer Declan Walsh gives us the latest update from Pakistan.

Aid agency Plan International worries the figure will surpass 2m. "The most vulnerable are women and children," said its Pakistan director, Haider Yaqub.

The malaria threat is part of a wider health emergency, with more than 20 million people affected by the floods struggling to cope as the winter approaches.

Last night the UN reported 881,000 cases of diarrhoea, 840,000 cases of skin diseases and almost 1m cases of respiratory disorders. Dr Dana van Alphen of the WHO said: "There are no epidemics yet – it's not Goma in 1994. But we have to be very careful."

Increasing UK aid to £134m recently, the international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, warned of extremely serious public health dangers.

The floods have devastated Pakistan's flimsy public health system. More than 500 clinics have been damaged, while the government estimates that 30,000 "lady health workers" – a programme that is the backbone of the community health system – have been made homeless.

Pregnant woman are a particular concern. An estimated 50,000 flood-affected woman will give birth in the coming month, 7,500 of whom will require surgery for pregnancy-related complications.

Guest Voices: Afghanistan: Two Trips, Two Viewpoints … 33 Years Apart

Next up in our series of guest posts from Concern Worldwide, Aoife Gleeson tells the story of Kathy Cicerale. Kathy has an unique perspective on Afghanistan after returning to the country 33 years after her first visit.

In September 1977, Kathy Cicerale, who now works as the Donor Care Assistant for Concern Worldwide in New York, entered Kabul for the first time. The journey marked the latest leg of her backpacking adventure around South East Asia.

The bus trip from Pakistan had taken over 12 hours – but it was a spectacular journey that had taken her through the Kybher pass. The sheer drops, windy roads and snow-capped peaks were both terrifying and exciting all at once. It was a fantastic way to start a trip that was to leave a lasting impression on Kathy.

“As we approached Kabul, we drove by the president’s house, where a policeman took out his rifle and threatened to fire if we didn’t go back. Buses were not allowed in this location because the noise would disturb the president. That was the first time that I was exposed to guns in Afghanistan.”

Thirty three years later I too entered Kabul, by air.

During the years that separated our trips, Afghanistan has experienced a continuous state of civil war punctuated only by foreign occupations including the 1979 Soviet invasion and the October 2001 US-led invasion that overthrew the Taliban government.

Nowadays the Kypher pass is a route considered far too daunting for most travelers, and the numbers of people bearing rifles has risen significantly. Nonetheless, travelling to Afghanistan can still be a quite spectacular trip.

From my window seat on the plane I sat mesmerized by the seemingly endless rolling hills that unfolded below as the passenger to my right spoke: “These were all green when I was a child. The years of civil war have destroyed the trees that covered these hills and so now they are brown and lifeless.”

Indeed, this is not the small bustling city of 33 years ago, that Kathy remembers: “Somehow I immediately felt comfortable with the Afghan people even though it was my first exposure to a very strict and predominantly Islamic culture. You could feel the importance of the Islamic traditions that were deeply ingrained in its people.

“Travelers did not deal with or even encounter Afghan women who were completely covered from head to toe with only a small opening for their eyes. Only on a few occasions did I see a few women on the inner city buses. Initially, the male presence was overwhelming. I was careful to dress appropriately and wore long pants or skirts and long sleeves. Afghanistan was a country where I felt it important to respect the culture, particularly as a woman.” For me, at least on this count, her experience rang true.

Upon landing I was met by the Country Director for Concern Afghanistan and taken to the Concern Worldwide office in Kabul, where I was welcomed like an old friend. Concern has been working in Afghanistan since 1998 and a lot of the staff have been with Concern for years. Many asked after old friends that have since moved on to work in other Concern country programs. While I felt very safe, I did notice a lot fewer people walking around the streets compared with cities in other developing countries.

Kathy explains:”The scene here was very different when I was there. All the western travelers would congregate around Chicken Street where there was lots of bazaars that sold all kinds of stuff. Chicken Street attracted a lot of foreigners because of the cheap hotels, interesting stores, tea shops and crafts and clothing markets for western travelers. Most of the shops were small and had lots of hand crafted items. You could stop for tea, stroll through the bazaars, take photos, and not be pressured to buy or be bothered by people. ”

From Kabul I headed north to Taloqan to the head office of Concern Afghanistan, while Kathy’s trip took her south to Khanadar.

“Khandahar was much more laid back, the bazaars and stores catered more to the locals than to travelers. We were constantly followed by groups of children who would trail us and say heeeeelo- the only English word they knew. They were fascinated by westerners. We also had the opportunity travel with a number of other tourists on a local bus that took us out to the more isolated countryside where people were living very basically in makeshift tents.

“Hospitality is an essential part of the Afghan culture. I truly enjoyed visiting all the tea shops and meals are always started with drinking tea. People had so little but were so willing to share what they had – it really was humbling,” Kathy remembers.

With an estimated 42 percent of the Afghan population living below the poverty line, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The poverty experienced by Kathy in 1977 is still all too visible in many places today. Concern has been responding to the needs of the local communities through a variety of programs that are predominately livelihood focused. I was able to visit one of the Concern nurseries in Faisabad which was set up in 2002 as an agricultural training center for the local community.

The entire operation was really impressive and it was great to see so many people walking around the gardens and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. Made Ferguson the head of programs for Concern Afghanistan, talked about some of the other programs as we walked around the gardens:

“In Takar North one of our programs is focusing on watershed management through the development and repair of irrigation canals. Our approach is very holistic – we aim to help people improve their crop yields, access markets while planting trees to improve soil quality and resistance to drought.”

Afghanistan has been nothing like I expected. The countless images projected by the media had forearmed me about a barren and difficult country in which to travel. Instead I found it to be beautiful. The local Afghani Concern staff were extremely respectful, friendly and passionate about helping the communities that we work with.

While the purpose of our trips was entirely different, I feel in many ways that I got to experience the Afghanistan that Kathy fell in love with 33 years ago:

“I often think about Afghanistan – what it was like then and what it must be like now. At that time Afghanistan appeared to be untouched by the West. I can still see the people and smiling faces I met along the way. I wonder how much they have endured and if they are still alive. I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit and I will always cherish those memories.”

Nigeria's 50th anniversary of independence

Nigeria celebrates it's 50th anniversary of independence from colonial rule today. The government is marking the occasion with some celebrations and parades, however most people don't have much to celebrate and some have used the occasion for terrorism.

Nigeria is a country that has a lot of oil wealth, yet many people remain poor. Only a few people make money off of the oil, and that money is mostly stored in off-shore bank accounts and never gets put back into the nation's economy. This has created a lot of anger and some people resort to violence to fight it.

So despite the celebrations of independence, Nigeria remains a poverty wrecked country, and the events of today only highlight the dilemma.

From this Associated Press article that we found at WBOC, writer Bashir Adigun describes the terrorism.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main militant group in the country's oil-rich southern delta, had threatened to attack the festivities and warned people to stay away.

"For 50 years, the people of the Niger Delta have had their land and resources stolen from them," the group said in a statement. While Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is oil rich most people live on less than $1 a day. The delta is very impoverished and polluted from spills.

A third and smaller explosion hit a venue at Eagle Square where President Goodluck Jonathan stood with other dignitaries, about a 10-minute walk from where the car bombs detonated. A security agent was apparently injured in that explosion.

Friday's attacks would be among the militants' boldest yet, striking in Nigeria's capital during an event with heavy security held hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the delta.

The car bombings seemed designed to lure first-responders and then kill them with a second blast. Five minutes after the first vehicle exploded, the second went off, killing at least seven people, a police officer told an Associated Press reporter at the scene. At least one of the dead was a policeman, the officer said. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The Guardian has this round up of some of the comments regarding Nigeria's 50th anniversary. Writer Claire Provost says that Nigeria has little to celebrate in regards to development.

But, looking around the web, the commentary on Nigeria's golden jubilee has a less triumphant air, much like Nigeria's mixed progress on the millennium development goals (MDGs). As Ike Okonta writes on our Comment is free site: "Nigerians don't quite know how best to mark the 50th anniversary of their country's independence".

The Nigerian Compass reports the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, as saying that the country's success in remaining "one nation" over the past 50 years – enduring decades of disunity, civil war, and over 30 years of military rule – is an achievement in itself.

But as the anniversary falls little over a week after the UN MDG summit in New York, and as the country faces elections in January 2011, much of the commentary on Nigeria's anniversary focuses less on independence and more on its development progress.

A recent report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) reported that the proportion of Nigeria's population living on less than $1.25 a day rose from 49% to 77% between 1990 and 2008.

In the run-up to the MDG summit, ActionAid reported that 26% of Nigerian children are malnourished, and that Nigeria would need until at least 2025 to meet the MDG target to halve child hunger.

"For a country endowed with such rich and fertile soils and Africa's largest oil reserves, it should be doing much better," said the NGO.

Finally, an outstanding commentary on where Nigeria stands 50 years into independence. Sam Aweda, a President of the Jesus for the World Revival Mission says in his piece for NigeriaWorld that some things were actually better in 1960.

Our fellow Countrymen in Politics have turned the rest of us into slaves, beggars and sycophants in our own land; a situation that was unheard of even when we were colonized.

The Politicians have beaten their fellow Citizens, hands and pants down to submission. Worse, Citizens in their hardship and poverty still hail their politicians as the best that could happen to them if only to have some crumbs that fall out of their (Feudal Lords) tables.

They know that their Politicians are nothing but thieves and robbers and confess it in private but in public, speak, write, and paint them in glowing pictures when really they know in their hearts that they are lying.

It is now a common occurrence for citizens to place their paintings and those of their Politicians side by side, by the road sides with inscriptions such as "Mr. A or Governor B, "God sent" or "Legend of our time"" when really the hands of the Government is not felt by the majority; the roads are impassible, the health care facilities are in shambles, School walls are in dilapidation, Classrooms have no chairs and tables for pupils, Potable water is inexistence, it is noise of improvised electricity (generators) that fills the whole air, day and night.
...

Not many people in my age group will ever believe that the Nigeria we knew when we were growing up will ever degenerate into what we are witnessing today in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2,010 A.D.

I was there on October 1 1960. I took part in the School parade that ushered in, the much anticipated Independence from the Colonial rule. All school children across from Ipee to Erinle etc gathered at the Offa Grammar School athletic and Soccer playing ground proudly displaying our small green white green flag in excitement.

The outgoing Colonial rulers of the British Government had created the Central and Regional Systems of Government.

These various Governments (Central and Regional) were steadily building the necessary infrastructures in their areas of command. Roads were being constructed, linking cities and villages. Potable water was being supplied in scattered places. The same with electricity. These two utilities (water and electricity) were available though mainly in the big towns. The potable water might not be available in the individual homes, but there were public taps in most cases within 15 - 20 minutes walk, which could be collected in buckets. The development could be said to be progressing gradually. This is in spite of the fact that, there was no oil revenue. Revenue from agricultural produce was all that were depended upon.

The legacy of commitment, dedication, honesty, hard work and careful planning, which the Colonial Masters bequeathed to the native people who took over the reign of the various Governments lasted for some time. People did the job for which they received their salaries cheerfully without expecting any extra reward (gratification). Of course, there were those who demanded for it but it was not a common occurrence of the magnitude, which we are seeing today. Cheating, bribery and extortion were not frequent. In fact, bribery or gratification was done very carefully and with fear because if caught, both the giver and the receiver had had it.

During this period, which is being talked about, there were various foreign Church Missions, which were establishing themselves in the country. They were developing the country along side with the Government, especially in the area of education and health. Communities were also tasking themselves in building High Schools. These High Schools, whether managed by the Government or by the Church Missions or by the Communities were modest, but a beauty to behold. The ambition of any child was to look forward to the day when he would be enrolled in any of the schools and wear the school's blazer.

With time, the Government took over the management of all the schools, including those that were owned by the Church Missions but it failed to maintain them, instead left them in dilapidation and pathetic state till date. This is in spite of the big revenue that came from oil afterwards.

About 12 years ago, I was driving my daughter back to her University Campus one early morning after she visited home when I noticed some young damsels emerging from the shrubs inside the campus. I inquired from my daughter what was happening. She laughed as she was providing me with answer. The taps were most of the time dry and so there was no water in the closets. So, everyone had devised alternative means to ease him/herself in what, in the students' slang was called "Bush attack". I was moved with pity and I commented that, "If you students have the opportunity of viewing as in a video what University life used to be in this country up to the mid 1970's, you will riot in the magnitude that it would be difficult to quench".

Modern-day slavery found on fishing boats near West Africa

An investigation into illegal fishing off the coast of West Africa has instead turned up modern-day slavery. Fishing boats that provide fish for Europe have shocking working conditions according to the Environmental Justice Foundation. The EJF says that the fish are treated better than the workers who catch them.

From the Guardian, writer Felicity Lawrence has the scoop on the EJF discovery. Click to this page to find video footage of the fishing boats.

Forced labour and human rights abuses involving African crews have been uncovered on trawlers fishing illegally for the European market by investigators for an environmental campaign group.

The Environmental Justice Foundation found conditions on board including incarceration, violence, withholding of pay, confiscation of documents, confinement on board for months or even years, and lack of clean water.

The EJF found hi-tech vessels operating without appropriate licences in fishing exclusion zones off the coast of Sierra Leone and Guinea over the last four years. The ships involved all carried EU numbers, indicating that they were licensed to import to Europe having theoretically passed strict hygiene standards.

"We didn't set out to look at human rights but rather to tackle the illegal fishing that's decimating fish stocks, but having been on board we have seen conditions that unquestionably meet the UN official definition of forced labour or modern-day slavery," EJF investigator Duncan Copeland said. A report on the abuses is published by the foundation today.