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.
10 Oct 2024 – As someone on the Pentagon’s mailing list, I was recently sent a question:
‘How do you think the Pentagon is faring and what suggestions do you have to improve our performance?
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My reply:
Dear Pentagon,
For those who love wars, watching the death of millions of innocent people of all ages killed by bullets, landmines, grenades, bombs, ballistic and cruise missiles, torpedoes and laser beams, the Pentagon is doing fantastically well!
For those who don’t mind the 120 million people the War industry forced, since the end of WWII, abandon their homes to avoid and early death, the Pentagon is their model organization.
(UN News)* — A second round of polio vaccinations for thousands of children began in central Gaza on Monday [] despite reported strikes on a school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat and a hospital courtyard in Deir Al-Balah where “multiple tents” were set ablaze as people slept.
“Throughout the night, I spoke to a colleague sheltering in the compound who told me, ‘We miraculously survived, the fire caught everywhere even the tent where we were sleeping burnt. The scene is terrifying,’” said Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
‘De-escalation now’ – WFP warns against spreading Middle East crisis
As conflict hopscotches from Gaza to Lebanon, WFP’s Lebanon Country Director describes the grim fallout and growing humanitarian needs
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WFP Lebanon Country Director Matthew Hollingworth (R) helps transport our food assistance for conflict-hit people in southern Lebanon. Photo: WFP/Mohammed Awadh
1(WFP)* — Matthew Hollingworth has seen this all before.
(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.
First-ever estimates on sexual violence in childhood reveal alarming prevalence, with devastating impact on children.
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UNICEF/UNI229285/Vincent Tremeau
NEW YORK (UNICEF)* – More than 370 million girls and women alive today – or 1 in 8 – experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, according to new UNICEF estimates released on 10 October 2024.
10 Oct 2024 – As someone on the Pentagon’s mailing list, I was recently sent a question:
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 