"No developing region is on track to meet the international goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half, a UN agency has warned.
Nearly six million children die from hunger or malnutrition every year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation says. Many deaths result from treatable diseases such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and measles, the agency says. They would survive if they had proper nourishment, the agency says in a new report on world hunger." [BBC]
"No developing region is on track to meet the international goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half, a UN agency has warned.
Nearly six million children die from hunger or malnutrition every year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation says. Many deaths result from treatable diseases such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and measles, the agency says. They would survive if they had proper nourishment, the agency says in a new report on world hunger." [BBC]
A hallway is filled with rubble at School No. 1
in Beslan. This photo was taken by Vano Vazagov, 17.
"BESLAN, Russia, 26 August 2005 - Photos taken by children from Beslan go on display in the town's Cultural Centre today - the result of a photography and journalism workshop for the children organised by UNICEF (22-28 July). The exhibition, entitled Children Are the Most Precious Thing in the World, will run until 9 September.
Thirteen children aged 13 to 18 - five of whom were hostages during the siege of School No. 1 last September - took part in the workshop. They learned about photography and writing from UNICEF photographer Giacomo Pirozzi and journalist John Varoli before going out into Beslan to produce their own photos and stories." [Read more]
VIEW PHOTOS and HEAR AUDIO
Hadjara with her 5-month-old son
Lawali at a therapeutic feeding
centre in Aguie, Niger.
"AGUIE, Niger, 10 August 2005 - "My son's name is Lawali," says 30-year old Hadjara. "He's five months old. He's still very weak, but I think he's getting better. His eyes follow me around now."
Lawali is snuggled in his mother's lap in a colourful cloth wrap to keep his tiny body warm. Hadjara sits on a thin mat on the floor of a therapeutic feeding centre in Aguie village, in the Maradi region of Niger - hit hard by the current food crisis.
Hadjara is spoon-feeding her son with nutritious therapeutic milk, supplied by UNICEF. Lawali swallows each spoonful of milk with a small gulp, and as with all babies, some of it trickles down his chin. Therapeutic milk is rich in nutrients and is easy to digest for children like Lawali." [Read more]
NIAMEY/GENEVA - 12 July 2005 - Acute malnutrition rates have risen to 13.4 per cent in southern Niger Maradi and Zinder Regions, with 2.5 per cent of this group identified as severely malnourished children under age five, says UNICEF quoting recent nutrition surveys by the UN and several NGOs.
The food shortage impacts some 3.3 million people - including 800,000 children under age five - in some 3,815 villages. Officials estimate cereal deficits at 223,448 tons and livestock feed deficits at 4,642,219 tons.
At UNICEF-supported therapeutic feeding centres, admissions are rising exponentially. They are at least twice as high as those registered last year for the same period." [Read more]