Preventing malnutrition is central to WFP’s strategy – but access and funding pose key roadblocks
Paulema Rodeline nurses 7-month-old Kermissa at a centre for displaced people in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: WFP/Tanya Birkbeck
(WFP)* —In Gaza, Ikhlas recounts pulling her daughter from the rubble of another bombardment, as she was pregnant with her fourth child. “We escaped death,” she says, speaking from the southern city of Rafah. “We live on whatever aid is distributed.”
(UN News)* — Nearly two million children suffering from severe wasting are at risk of death due to funding shortages for life-saving Ready-to-use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF) to treat the condition, which is the most dangerous form of malnutrition.
The warning comes from UN children’s agency UNICEF which said levels of severe wasting in children under five remain gravely high in several countries due to conflict, economic shocks and climate crises.
Deadly condition
Severe wasting – also known as severe acute malnutrition – is caused by a lack of nutritious and safe foods and repeated bouts of disease, such as diarrhoea, measles and malaria.
In a world characterized by an unprecedented level of economic development, technological means and financial resources, millions of persons are living in extreme poverty, a moral outrage, according to the UN. Poverty is not solely an economic issue, but rather a multidimensional phenomenon that encompasses a lack of both income and the basic capabilities to live in dignity.
Nearly 1,000 social protection measures introduced by governments across 171 countries, only 18 per cent focused on women’s economic security. Credit: iStock/Down to Earth
Rural earn 82% for every dollar that men earn. Climate change has a more pronounced impact on women, primarily indigenous and peasant women
Achieving gender equality and empowering women is not only the right thing to do but is a critical ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and climate change.
Women engaged in wage employment in agriculture earn 82 cents for every dollar that men earn, according to a recent FAO report. PHOTO:Sasint/Adobe Stock
As farmers, women have learned how to cope with and adapt to climate change, for example, by practicing sustainable agriculture in harmony with nature, switching to drought-resistant seeds, employing low-impact or organic soil management techniques, or leading community-based reforestation and restoration efforts.
The world’s farmers produce enough food to feed more than the global population yet, hunger persists. Around 733 million people are facing hunger in the world due to repeated weather shocks, conflicts, economic downturns, inequality, and the pandemic.
WWF’s flagship Living Planet Report details sharp declines in monitored wildlife populations with the steepest drops recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean (95%), Africa (76%) and Asia–Pacific (60%), followed by North America (39%) and Europe and Central Asia (35%).
Washington, DC (October 9, 2024) –There has been a catastrophic 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations* in just 50 years (1970-2020), according to World Wildlife Fund‘s (WWF) Living Planet Report 2024.
(UNEP)* —They pollute the air. They warm the planet. They prevent crops from growing. Overall, super pollutants are a pretty nasty group of chemical compounds – and unfortunately, they’re all around us.
Photo by UNEP
A new video from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) looks at some of the most problematic of these creepy critters, including black carbon, which contributes to 4 million deaths a year, and methane, which warms the planet 86 times faster than carbon dioxide.
Despite the pervasiveness of super pollutants, experts say humanity doesn’t have to put up with them. To learn more about what you can do to help, check out this interactive story after you’ve watched the video below.
The Philippines is preparing for the possibility of either a super typhoon or a significant earthquake, often referred to by Filipinos as the “big one.”
(UN News)* — As the world marked the International Day of the Girl Child on , a town hall held at UN Headquarters provided an opportunity for young women activists to engage directly with policymakers and offer recommendations on what they need to fully realise their rights.
“The importance of insisting on completely equal rights of women and young girls is an official commitment of the United Nations, but it is also a personal commitment for which we must wage a combat,” the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSCOC), Bob Rae, who hosted the meeting, stated.
Photo by UNEP
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 