Global price crisis update from Mary Atkinson, BRC Food Security Advisor

Agency activities
Of the US$20 billion pledged to help tackle the "world food crisis" triggered by rising food price in Rome in June, only US$1 billion has been paid out from the fund (compared to US$700 billion bail out in US in one day). Concern that global financial crisis may be used as an excuse for inaction. UN estimate that US$25- 40 billion is needed to lessen impact of price rises in developing countries.

FAO World Food Security Committee meeting in Rome in October

Global food crisis - highlighted by many agencies on World Food Day (Oct 16):

• Oxfam GB launched a £15 million appeal to help tackle the "world food crisis" and released a report, "Double-Edged Prices, Lessons from the food price crisis: 10 actions developing countries should take". They report a lack of a co-ordinated international response to the crisis
• ODI event - Soaring Prices, rising hunger: what next in the global food crisis - notes and recording available online.
• WFP expect to feed 1/3 more people in 2009 (90 million people in 2008) including urban area, as global financial crisis adds to pressure in food prices
• Wahenga debate about how price crisis impacted on perspective on use of cash as alternative to food in emergency & social protection. Underlying issue that cash not being sufficiently indexed to rising prices, particularly in Ethiopia, where large beneficiaries switch to food aid in national safety net programme.

Price/situation updates

• Price crisis has pushed 75 million more people into hunger and poverty (FAO) with 967 million malnourished people in the world (World Bank)
• FAO warn that the new global financial crisis could deepen the situation of the poor even more
• With industrialised countries in crisis, less vital remittances sent to developing countries , e.g. Bangladesh usually receives $4billion US annually
• African banks thought not directly impacted by credit crunch as virtually no exposure to sub-prime market, aside from South Africa where Rand severely hit. However, with global economic crisis, demand for African commodities and hence export earnings will fall. Recent growth rates of 5% per annum over last 10 years in Africa likely to fall to 3% (IMF)
• WFP report on Summary of Price Impact Assessment findings to date available includes Uganda, Nepal, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Liberia.
• World cereal forecast for 2008 better than expected (i.e. 4.9% increase to record 1,232 million tonnes, possibly giving 8% increase in world stocks). International prices of most cereals continued to fall in last 2 months due to such improved supply and falling price of oil, food prices still 51% higher than 2 years ago and FAO state 36 countries still in need external assistance, particularly Somalia.

Update on food security situation in most chronically food insecure regions (from FAO report):

• East Africa: Unfavourable outlook for cereal harvest in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, parts of Kenya and Uganda.
• West Africa: Overall early crops prospects favourable with improved FS situation from October
• Southern Africa: Recent main season cereal harvest OK but far below last year
• Asia: Regional cereal harvest to increase slightly from last year with bumper crops in China and India offsetting reductions in Pakistan and Iran, but serious food insecurity still affects 12 countries in region

HPG: Beneficiary perceptions of corruption in humanitarian assistance: a Sri Lanka case study

Corruption in emergency relief is a huge challenge for humanitarian agencies. It can potentially undermine the effectiveness of their interventions and ultimately lead to the loss of lives. Corruption risks are often determined by the environment in which aid agencies operate, and are likely to increase in conflict-affected countries where governments are usually weak, the rule of law is not effectively enforced, the media and civil society are constrained and aid flows can become a lucrative resource.

Such an environment is present in Sri Lanka. The state is highly centralised and clientalistic, and political power is derived from patronage rather than performance. This is mirrored in the nature of civil society and the media is deeply partisan. Sri Lanka is ranked 3.2 out of a possible score of 10 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. Furthermore, non-state actors in the north and east of the country have formed predatory networks of taxation and extortion and are often the de facto authority in the areas they control. In this environment, humanitarian assistance is often manipulated for personal or political gain at the expense of affected populations. The sudden and substantial aid received in the aftermath of the tsunami in December 2004 further compounded these corruption risks.

This case study explores perceptions of corruption amongst beneficiary populations, with the aim of informing strategies that seek to reduce corruption in humanitarian assistance.

Download the report from the HPG website (pdf link).

International Crisis Group: Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province: Land, Development, Conflict

Sri Lanka’s government must address the security needs and land-related grievances of all ethnic communities in its Eastern Province or risk losing a unique opportunity for development and peace. Muslims, Tamils and Sinhalese all feel weak and under threat, and recent ethnic violence could easily worsen. The government must devolve real power to the newly elected provincial council, end impunity for ongoing human rights violations and work to develop a consensus on issues of land, security and power sharing with independent representatives of all communities, including those from opposition parties.

Download the report from the ICG website.

UNISDR: Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction: Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Climate change and disaster risk reduction are closely linked. More extreme weather events in future are likely to increase the number and scale of disasters, while at the same time, the existing methods and tools of disaster risk reduction provide powerful capacities for adaptation to climate change.

This Briefing Note, prepared by the secretariat of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat (UNISDR), outlines the nature and significance of climate change for disaster risk, as well as the main perspectives and approaches of disaster risk reduction and how they can support adaptation strategies.

Download from Reliefweb.

World Food Day: British Red Cross film on the Afghanistan food crisis

IFRC: 'War, poverty, HIV' and hope

Juan Manuel Suez del Toro, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Humanitarian organizations seeking funds for relief operations in Africa face an acute dilemma. If we stress the suffering of Africans who lack food or health care, who struggle against floods, drought and possibly famine, who flee war and communal violence, we risk reinforcing the image of Africa as a "basket case", beyond help. If we take the purely positive approach, the donors - whose resources are scarce and with the global financial crisis becoming more so - are unlikely to respond.

Hunger again stalks parts of Ethiopia while the food-security situation in Zimbabwe is widely regarded as the worst ever. Both countries are the focus of major - but so far poorly covered - appeals for funding by the Red Cross Red Crescent¹. In 2008 conflict simmered in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Darfur and flared anew in Burundi, Chad and Mali; there was serious communal violence in Ghana and South Africa - all reported in the western media, which also picked up on other "negative" stories like piracy in Somali and Nigerian waters, the persecution of albinos, and xenophopic violence.

But has this depressing portrayal of Africa as a "chamber of horrors" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, smothering the good news that also exists in increasing quantities? Is it now, in itself, an obstacle to progress, making the world turn away from Africa in despair? It's far too early to say HIV in Africa is beaten, but could it have peaked?

Read more on Alertnet.

HPN Network paper: Measuring the effectiveness of Supplementary Feeding Programmes in emergencies

Carlos Navarro-Colorado, Frances Mason and Jeremy Shoham

Emergency Supplementary Feeding Programmes have been widely implemented for a number of decades as part of the standard toolkit of emergency response. Programmes are normally implemented in conjunction with general food distributions in order to address moderate malnutrition in emergencies.

While individual implementing agencies routinely monitor and evaluate programme performance, findings are rarely published in peer-reviewed literature. There have been no large-scale studies of the effectiveness of these programmes in emergencies, despite frequent claims of poor performance.

This Network Paper reports on a study to determine the efficacy and effectiveness of emergency SFPs, conducted in 2005–2006 by Save the Children UK and the Emergency Nutrition Network.

Read more on the HPN website.

On the HPN blog: Linking protection and livelihoods in conflict: is it worth the effort?

Sorcha O'Callaghan and Susanne Jaspars

While aid actors often differentiate between people’s protection and people’s livelihoods, this distinction tends not to be as obvious to those affected. The threats that people face are frequently interrelated. In fact, the direct targeting of civilian populations (and their assets) is often a deliberate tactic in war. And even if not intended, violence has major implications for people’s livelihoods because it can disrupt basic services, limit access to employment, markets and farms, and even undermine social networks. Likewise, protection and livelihoods are also connected in the way people respond to destabilising situations. We only have to think of women searching for firewood as a source of income in Darfur – where the risk of rape is preferable to the death of their men – to grasp how closely people calibrate costs to their safety and dignity against their economic status.

Read more on Online Exchange.

BBI: Moving Beyond Rhetoric: Consultation and Participation with Populations Displaced by Conflict or Natural Disasters

UPDATE: Download an additional report, Listening to the Voices of the Displaced: Lessons Learned; author Roberta Cohen reviewed over 800 interviews with IDPs from different regions, stages of displacement and circumstances to analyze the concerns voiced by IDPs. The report is available from Reliefweb.

This desk study seeks to encourage reflection and debate on the benefits, limitations and risks of consultative and participatory approaches in working with communities displaced by both conflict and natural disasters.

It reviews previous experiences of consultation with internally displaced persons and others and explains why consultation is critical for both displaced communities and the agencies which work with them. Advantages of consultation and participation include both instrumental benefits, for example, better needs assessments, improved efficiency, implementation, and sustainability of projects; and value-based benefits, including empowerment and capacity building of affected communities.

Download the study from Reliefweb.

ODI: Humanitarian Exchange Magazine - focus on Somalia

Reading about Somalia can be a depressing experience: because of the awfulness of the situation; the dim prospects for things getting any better; and the long-running nature of the crisis there. Throughout the last two decades, humanitarian actors have sought to ameliorate the worst consequences of the conflict in the country, hampered by constant insecurity and the lack of funding that goes with low-profile crises like Somalia’s. While the events of 9/11 raised brief hopes of a renewed focus on failed states, attention to the potential threat of terrorism has not translated into positive action to resolve Somalia’s political crisis.

As the articles collected here demonstrate, the current situation is truly dreadful. The remarkable resilience of Somalis in the face of decades of crisis and the generosity of the huge Somali diaspora may finally be stretched to breaking point. Any society, let alone one without a functional central government and reeling from decades of war, would struggle to cope with the combined consequences of massive displacement, intensified conflict, rapidly rising prices for food, fuel and water, hyper-inflation and drought. The articles here make clear that Somalis are no longer coping, and urgently need large-scale humanitarian assistance.

Read more on the HPN website, or keep an eye on the magasine rack for a hard copy.

IFPRI: on the food crisis

The International Food Policy Research Institute continue to release policy papers and discussion pieces on the impact of the global price crisis on food.

All of their writing on this and other topics is available from their website.

XVII International AIDS Conference 2008 Mexico City

Update - conference information now available online!

Archived, online coverage of the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008) is now available from kaisernetwork.org, the official webcaster of AIDS 2008.

In partnership with the International AIDS Society, kaisernetwork.org has prepared the following online coverage:

• Webcasts, transcripts and slide presentations of the opening and closing sessions, all plenary sessions, and over 75 other sessions and press conferences;
• English- and Spanish-language audio podcasts of more than 80 sessions;
• Narrated video highlights of conference developments;
• News summaries of conference developments and newly-released studies in the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report; and
• Interviews with newsmakers and journalists summarizing conference developments.

Updates from British Red Cross Advisors!

• Some Good News from Zimbabwe!

Feedback from the International Aids Conference 2008 Mexico City
4 August 2008
Today at the IAC08 researchers from the Imperial College London and Harvard University confirmed the recently documented decline of HIV Prevalence in Zimbabwe.Using robust epidemiology data it was shown that HIV Prevalence in adults aged 15- 49 peaked around 1997/8 at 29.3% then levelled off and declined most significantly in the period 2001 to a current level of 15.6%. This represents a 50% reduction in 6 years and the aversion of an estimated 660,000 new infections.

Zimbabwe is the first country in the region to experience such a significant decline. Not only is this good news for Zimbabwe but also significant for the surrounding countries in the region that are experiencing similar generalised epidemics but as yet have not experienced such trends.

The question is how has this been achieved in Zimbabwe? Is it a demonstration of the natural course of the disease or as a result of major prevention successes in behaviour change in the country?

The mathematical modelling does indeed suggest that this trend of sharp incline, plateau and decline is thought to be the expected norm for the course of the disease and goes some way to explaining the decline; but cannot explain the extent of the decline and therefore must also look to possible behaviour change to explain further the trends.

With use of population based and cohort studies this was the question understudy. Key findings show that whilst mortality certainly has contributed to some decline, migration even in the levels recently seen in Zimbabwe has not significantly contributed.

What is more important is to consider which factors have contributed to a decline in HIV incidence. The studies clearly show that whilst condom use is relevantly high this has remained relatively consistent over the time period 1999-2005 and would have little impact on the decline. Significantly however, is the reported decline in the number of sexual partners of men in this period of 6 years, which also seems to mirror the maturation of the disease when high levels of mortality are experienced in the communities and families. As people see the reality of the disease this appears to impact their behaviour.

This of course can only result in change of behaviour such as reduced number of sexual patterns if there is understanding of HIV transmission routes, which suggests that the general HIV and Aids information available in Zimbabwe has been to some level been understood and used. This was mapped against the National HIV prevention programme interventions in Zimbabwe, which in fact show to be the general HIV response approach seen across the region.

Of course the special context of Zimbabwe in the last decade has been the rapid economic decline and the affect on both rural and urban communities. Certainly this has seemed to play some part in the reduction of sexual partners simply as men report they are unable to afford to socialise as they did, take additional girlfriends or pay for sex. Ironically of course in times of hardship more women are turning to transactional sex for source of additional incomes, but report that ‘business is slow’. HIV is of course a dynamic disease and some men reported certainly they would have more ‘girlfriends’ again once they have overcome the current economic problems!

The clear conclusion of the research suggests the decline can be attributed to a combination of factors; - certainly a reflection of the natural course of the disease plus some change in sexual norms including significant reduction of sexual partners, and additionally influenced by the economic downturn and possibly significantly influenced by the community response as the disease reaches a critical point in the community.

But why Zimbabwe and not the surrounding neighbouring Southern African countries? Is it good news for the region? Well possibly - it is possible that Zimbabwe is simply the earliest in the epidemic and that other countries may follow similar decline in years to come. The research is not there to make these country comparisons as yet. (No examination made of any studies made of the effect of role out of ARV on the prevalence decline).

• HIV, Nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods (including microfinance)

Feedback from the International Aids Conference 08 Mexico City
8 August 2008
1) Supporting quality and delivery of integrated home based care
A satellite session held on HIV food security and livelihoods presented by RENEWAL/FAO/WFP discussed what progress has been made in furthering our understanding on the interactions between HIV, food security and livelihoods and how to respond to this at scale.

The session highlighted how we may be underestimating the impact of the increase in food prices on people’s behaviour and on nutrition and the need to respond to the 3 concurrent epidemics:
· HIV
· TB
· Malnutrition

Studies from Swaziland and Malawi July 2008 demonstrated an increase in risky sexual behaviour as food prices increase.

Also transport costs to collect vital antiretroviral treatment (ART) were placing greater demands on families who at times had to choose between continuing their ART and buying food.

Labour challenges in food security and livelihoods programmes were discussed and the need to ensure more collective actions at community level.

Nutrition counselling within care and support programmes for people living with HIV was highlighted as an area that requires further implementation.

In a further session on the HIV, Nutrition and Food Security, researchers of the University of KZN , AMPATH/USAID , and UNAIDS re-emphasised the importance of nutrition as part of management of HIV. Outlined the increased nutritional requirements of the PLWHIV; and understanding of HIV in weakening household food security.

Conclusions were reached that there is a need for balance of nutrition interventions as therapeutic care for PLWHIV with a strategy for maintaining long term food security of household in long term HIV programming as part of care and support package which is relevant and responsive to PLWHIV, households and communities; and which also contributes to psychosocial well-being as well as nutrition needs. There is Need to develop further partnerships of FS in public health and HIV response with a balance of interventions including micro finance, cash transfers, skills building, community projects leading to increase in income/savings or access to loans and strengthened FS.

If we grasp the issue FS can be part of the combination prevention strategy in increasing access to food, income, health services, treatment, care and well being; and reduce vulnerability that may contribution to increase risk behaviours (such as transactional sex) or weakened immunity.

Responses should be therefore:
· Target those who are food insecure and those nutritionally at risk, which includes people living with HIV
· Integrated to include care and support, water and sanitation, livelihoods
· Gender sensitive- evidence from Ethiopia food for work programmes highlights significant increase in school enrolment for boys but not girls – need to consider in design of programmes
· Long term and built on community response
· Include range of activities including access to nutritional food, nutritional knowledge, agricultural and livelihood skills

Challenges may be:
· Including appropriate exit strategies
· Cash transfers appropriate in stable economies

2) Micro-finance

Presentations at a Poster Session discussed that a large body of research, experience and understanding of micro-finance exits in the development field and in most countries. It is generally accepted that micro-finance programmes can mitigate against the affects of destitution though it is less evident that micro-finance schemes can mitigate GBV or have preventive effects against HIV.

Important not to expect too much – micro credit is about credit!

Key points are:
§ General accept that Microfinance can uplift households and reduce financial pressure. May be particular important to PLWH households to support increase access to services
§ Microfinance not necessarily prove to reduce transmission of HIV but contribute to welfare of households and individuals well being and health, and links to community gains and involvement
§ Work in partnership with those that know Microfinance – knoweldge and experience exits in almost all countries.
§ Consider involvement of volunteers and community based health workers in the microfinance scheme as part of community engagement and also their well being and support.

• Comprehensive Combinations: Key findings from the Mexico IAC 2008

Feedback from the International Aids Conference 2008 Mexico City
4 August 2008
To more effectively prevent and respond to HIV “Combination HIV prevention at scale with combination care, support and treatment for life within universal primary health care, education and support for all is the minimal action required”.

Currently each year an estimated 1 million people are started on antiretroviral treatment (ART) but 2.7 million people are newly infected, we are not keeping pace with the HIV pandemic.

There is a window of opportunity and vulnerability to HIV – increasing evidence highlights need for rapid point of care, diagnosis and treatment of HIV and Tuberculosis, (TB) including multiple drug resistance (MDR) TB, plus ongoing care and support.

ART has been a major success but only as a disease suppressant- like insulin for diabetes and anti inflammatory for rheumatoid arthritis- a cure still required.

Further details below highlight what combination HIV prevention and care, support and treatment include such as prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT), male circumcision, palliative care, care for OVC, TB, HIV in emergencies and in conflict and post conflict, responding to HIV and violence and service delivery. These are all areas for BRC to further consider in future support to HIV programming, which require discussion and action. Immediate points to follow are included within.

Further details are provided on separate papers on HIV and food security and livelihoods, male circumcision and the success of the HIV response in Zimbabwe.

Combination HIV prevention improves life
Proven prevention methods which need to be used include primary prevention through behaviour change communication, life skills linked to education and support, positive prevention, prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT), male circumcision, condom use, harm reduction. Not ABC approach !
· Need a combination of biomedical, behavioural and structural interventions using non-judgemental harm reduction approaches
· Countries need to develop evidence driven context-specific national HIV prevention strategies which are better coordinated
· Need to embrace the political, economic and social determinants of risk and not focus on individual behaviours
· Need further research on effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in prevention- pre exposure prophylaxis (PreExpP), microbicides, treatment of common infections and vaccines (Ref SCIENCE 28.07.08)
· Need to know where infections will happen
· Need to diversify HIV testing approaches- include opt out, remove barriers, stigma and increase access across communities
· Need to become more effective against stigma as stigma and discrimination increase risky behaviour, decreases uptake of HIV testing and willingness to disclose.
(For further info see special issue www.thelancet.com HIV prevention August 2008)
Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT)
· Some increase in prevention of mother to child transmission to 23 % globally (only 1:10 infants receiving ART within PMTCT) and access to ART for children but coverage and quality remains unacceptably low – Nigeria and Ethiopia below 10% (UNAIDS 2007).
· In 2007 estimated 2.1 million children younger than 15 years were living with HIV. More than 90% of these children had been infected through mother to child transmission.
· Although an increasing number of countries have PMTCT programmes only 18% of pregnant women in low and middle income countries received a HIV test in 2007 and coverage remains low, 11% in West and Central Africa and inadequate in many countries with only 33% of women accessing the most effective regimen of a combination of two or three antiretroviral drugs.
· Globally 80% women have at least 1 antenatal contact but only 50% have skilled care at delivery – need to offer support for PMTCT at first contact and during delivery at minimum.
· Barriers to uptake include negative attitudes from HCWs, poor access to services and poor services, stigma and discrimination and fear of HIV testing and disclosure. Limited male involvement – study S Mamman Uni KZN, SA.

Care, treatment and support
· ART - Challenges to retention 1 in 3 people who start ART are not in care – receiving ART – after 3 years – Nathan Ford MSF SA advised only 60% of clients are continuing to be part of ART programme after 24 months. Reasons include client’s fear of disclosure, costs, negative attitudes by care provider and access to programme – need to consider model of delivery of programme and support such as RCRC community based volunteers.
· Still reaching only 30 % of those in need of treatment – Q do we have the capacity to reach and treat for life everyone who requires ART
· Management of ART related side effects is part of the model of comprehensive care
· According to WHO research gaps March 2008 decision when to start ART still based on personal opinion, general view from conference need improved diagnostic facilities and treatment for HIV globally, start treatment earlier with improved treatment regimes for most people in developing countries.
· What is the optimal non ART care and support package and need for guidelines regarding this (i.e. CHBC minimum standards).
· Palliative care regarded as a key component of care – discussed principles and relevance of palliative care in HIV response. Clear pain and symptoms experienced by people living with HIV and also suffering from TB and other related conditions. Palliative care includes supporting adherence to treatment and also psycho social and spiritual support- improves overall patient care
· Task shifting – resource poor countries don’t or will not simply have the human resources of healthcare workers to implementation to scale. Need to consider alternative health systems management
· More than 50 countries in the world still do not have access to opioids.
· Opioids are not available in rural areas and in home care in most countries.
· Support for palliative care should be in national health plans- guidelines for CHWs available (includes RCRC module).
· Recommended adapting WHO definition to define palliative care services nationally
· Joint declaration and statement of commitment on palliative care and pain treatment in human rights- see www.hospicecare.com/resources/pain_pallcare_hr/
· Also further info from pain and policy studies group Uni Wisconsin in USA
Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC)
· SAfAIDS has produced children’s ART and TB treatment literacy pack targeted at 6-12 years olds in recognition that children are being marginalised from their own treatment literacy. The pack includes booklets for children and activities plus manual for carers and parents/ caregivers- AL requested pack suggested adaptation and use within support groups for OVC
· CRS produced paediatric counselling course –AL follow up
· Recommended policies programmes and funding must be redirected to provide support for children to and though their families. IN generalise epidemics HIV clusters in families, strengthening the capacity of families through systematic public sector initiatives has been identified globally as one of the most important strategies of building an effective response for preventing and mitigating the impact of the epidemic on children.
· Need to reconsider policies to develop comprehensive and integrated family-centred services. Need to address not just children but also family’s health basic material needs, psychosocial support and development.
· More attention is required for social protection for poor families, Households afforested by HIV and AIDS experience a worsening of their socio economic status, suggested loss of at least 25% average household income.
· Critical additional resources including income transfers should go direct to those most affected by HIV and AIDS- includes advocacy and support for universal social security support grants plus programmatic interventions targeted to vulnerable households. The interventions should be regarded as an entry point to large scale integrated national responses characterised by access to essential services, such as health and education, social welfare an social justice, enabled by basic income security.
Tuberculosis TB
· 2 million cases of TB have been missed due to the missed opportunity to offer testing to people who undertake HIV testing
· The number of TB cases has tripled in the high HIV prevalence countries in the last two decades
· TB is the leading cause of death among people living with HIV in Africa and a major cause of death elsewhere.
· WHO recommendation - the three I’s for TB/HIV –Isoniazid preventive therapy, intensified case finding for TB and infection control must be urgently implemented to reduce the burden of TB among people living with HIV.
Caring for Carers
· Highlighted globally we are not caring for health care workers, who are not accessing HIV and TB testing and diagnosis
· Health care workers (and RCRC volunteers) involved in care should know the symptoms of TB and be given counselling and health screening annually for TB and HIV. All should be encouraged to know their status.

HIV in conflict and post conflict
· Research paper UNHCR March 2007 highlighted concerns regarding protection and increasing HIV among internally displaced persons (IDPs) in DRC with particular risks to women. Access to HIV prevention services including behaviour change communication, information education and communication, condoms and HIV testing were limited resulting in low levels of knowledge and high risk behaviours. Recommendations from the study included:
o Supporting community based structures and gender sensitive approach
o Prevention activities should address points above
o Increased support to improve basic health facilities and services, including HIV testing and support
o Implementation of the IASC guidelines
· Kenya – following the civil conflict a study undertaken from Jan – June 2008 found 7.500% increase in sexual violence in Nairobi. Highlighted need for increased support and counselling in gender based violence, rape, trauma and HIV. Lessons from the conflict highlighted need for HIV emergency preparedness plan to be developed by all stakeholders and include people living with HIV and community organisations, consider community support and ongoing access to essential antiretroviral treatment.
HIV violence and women
· WHO multi country study 2005 domestic violence and women’s health- Ethiopia 16% of young women forced to have first sex/60% women interviewed suffering from intimate partner violence
· IMAGE – CBO supporting microfinance for women – recently invited to SA regional HIV meeting SARAWO/Sister ACT and Girl Child network Zimbabwe all promoted as effective supporting organisations in this area.
· Although limited biological evidence re violence and HIV Charlotte Watts – LSHTM - study microfinance and women in SA found in SA women with violent partners 50% more likely to have HIV and UNAIDS in Tanzania x 10 more likely
Harm reduction
· Despite UNGASS recommendation in 2005 for access to prevention to include harm reduction programmes only 78 countries known to have programmes.
· Continued moral and religious beliefs negating services offered and increasing stigma and discrimination
HIV and criminalisation
o Recent Acts in Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe increase risks to women living with HIV. Similar laws are being passed in other African countries – handout available.
Service delivery
· Need for improved leadership and management
· Serious implementation bottlenecks – even if we had effective vaccines and microbicides how would we be able to deliver?
Countries and even districts are working in isolation – unable to effectively respond through this “ cottage industry” approach.

World Food Day: Global Hunger Index 2008

For World Food Day, IFPRI in conjunction with Welthungerhife and Concern Worldwide have published the Global Hunger Index. It shows that;

...thirty-three countries around the world have alarming or extremely alarming levels of hunger, according to the 2008 Global Hunger Index. The Democratic Republic of Congo scored the worst on the Index, followed by Eritrea, Burundi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ethiopia.

The Index ranks countries according to the prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient.

Kenya RC on Reuters Alertnet, via IRIN

NAIROBI, 15 October 2008 (IRIN) - Fatma Swalleh, 24, lost her mother, the only parent she had ever known, six years ago to HIV/AIDS. Watching her mother indulge in heavy drinking while denying her status made Fatma's life miserable, but the responsibility of caring for her three younger siblings and bedridden mother strengthened her resolve to volunteer to care for HIV patients.

Fatma is now a HBC volunteer for Kenya RC. Read more on Alertnet.

CRED Crunch: Newsletter Sep 2008

The first semester of 2008 was one of the worst ever recorded in EM-DAT. Indeed, once again, the world witnessed the extreme vulnerability of our society to natural hazards. Cyclone Nargis and the Sichuan earthquake, two historical events, resulted in the death of over 225,000 people.

Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar in May and claimed 138,366 lives, is the third deadliest cyclone ever recorded in EM-DAT, while the Sichuan earthquake is the third deadliest disaster in recent Chinese history with 87,476 people killed. From January to the end of June 2008, 101 natural disasters were reported. They killed 229,043 people, affected more than 130 million others and caused over 34 billion $US of damages. Floods and storms were the two most reported types of disasters, accounting respectively for 40% and 33% of the disaster occurrence. In terms of impacts, even if the figures are highly influenced by the two aforementioned major events, it is worth to note the large number of people that have been affected by floods (44 million), most of them in China.

Download the newsletter from the EMDAT website.

ODI: Opportunities and obstacles to the reintegration of IDPs and refugees returning to Southern Sudan

The long road home: Opportunities and obstacles to the reintegration of IDPs and refugees returning to Southern Sudan and the Three Areas

Profound changes are taking place in Southern Sudan as a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which brought to an end the 21 years civil war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army.

This agreement has made possible substantial improvements in freedom of movement, trade and oil revenue, dramatically reduced conflict and laid the foundations of a system of governance to administer the south’s own affairs. Demographics and social relations are radically changing from wartime patterns.

But peace has also given rise to uncertainties about the future. Though progress has been remarkable in some areas, the challenges of managing the transition of rebuilding Southern Sudan and the border areas remain considerable.

This latest Humanitarian Policy Group study argues the next few years will be crucial to the future stability and prosperity of the region. As considerable numbers of people return, the pressure of reintegration mounts. Strategies must therefore urgently be put in place to address massive and rapid urbanisation, encourage civilians to disarm and provide opportunities for the sustainable use of natural resources, including land in urban areas. Infrastructure and markets also need development and equitable access to essential services must be put in place.

The study, commissioned by the governments of Canada and Denmark, is the second phase of a research project looking at one of the world's largest return and reintegration processes.

Download the report, or a synthesis, from the HPG website.

MSF: Dialogue 7: Co-operation with Private Security and Military Companies

In this report, Marc DuBois (MSF), Dr. Dominick Donald (Aegis Research and Intelligence), Nick Downie (Save the Children), and Dr. Kevin O’Brien (Alesia PSI Consultants), consider the emerging role of PMSCs in humanitarian operations; the need for an effective regulatory and accountability framework; and PMSCs in Iraq and the security challenges facing humanitarian organizations.

Download the report from the MSF website.

Global Handwashing Day - Oct 15

It's Global Handwashing Day next week - there are resources on the Federation website and the British Red Cross website.

For case studies and more technical articles, see globalhandwashingday.org.

Guardian: Lives lost through lack of leadership in UN response to humanitarian crises, Britain warns

Britain will issue a warning today that a lack of leadership in the UN's handling of humanitarian emergencies is "costing lives", and will call for urgent reforms because natural and man-made disasters are increasingly frequent.

In a speech to the UN in Geneva, Gareth Thomas, the international development minister, will say that conflicts, climate change and the scarcity of water and other natural resources, together with rising food prices, have combined to create an accelerating string of crises of unprecedented scale.

"The number of reported disasters over the past 10 years was 60% higher than the previous decade," Thomas will say, according to a text of the speech made available to the Guardian. The humanitarian response, he will argue, has not kept pace.

Thomas will identify the principal problem as a lack of properly trained humanitarian coordinators to oversee disaster relief in crisis-hit countries.

Read more on the Guardian Unlimited website.

ODI: Need and Greed: Corruption Risks, Perceptions and Preventation in Humanitarian Assistance

As aid agencies are stretched to the limit in emergencies, they can become vulnerable to corruption. This policy brief explores corruption and its implications for humanitarian action.

Key messages

- Humanitarian assistance injects valuable resources into resource-poor and often insecure contexts with high levels of need. The complexity of humanitarian operations and their rapidly increasing budgets make addressing corruption –and the taboos surrounding it –absolutely essential for aid agencies.

- Despite recent efforts by humanitarian agencies to increase participation, accountability and transparency, humanitarian assistance remains an opaque process to those impacted by crisis. Investing in appropriate and effective accountability systems is imperative to demystify the process and prevent, detect and respond to corruption.

- Practices and policies to tackle corruption risks go hand-in-hand with promoting programme quality, particularly monitoring. Donors should permit and encourage flexibility in allocating funds to these functions, while not unduly pressuring agencies to accelerate spending.

- Although there is no clear consensus on the trade-offs between speed and control, above all in the critical phases of an emergency, we argue that the humanitarian imperative of saving lives and alleviating suffering is compatible with using time and resources to minimise corruption risks.

The policy brief can be downloaded from the ODI website. At recent event on the topic the main findings were presented and Alex Jacobs, Director of MANGO, Atallah Fitzgibbon, Performance Improvement Manager at Islamic Relief, and Roslyn Hees of Transparency International discussed its implications for humanitarian action. The report is also available from ODI.

OCHA: Central Emergency Response Fund Two Year Evaluation

In its resolution 60/124 of December 2005, the General Assembly of the United Nations transformed the Central Emergency Revolving Fund, created in 1991, into the Central Emergency Response Fund, two-thirds of which would be for rapid response and one-third for underfunded emergencies.

A report on its operation after two years is now available for download from the OCHA website.

WHO: World Malaria Report 2008

There were an estimated 247 million malaria cases among 3.3 billion people at risk in 2006, causing nearly a million deaths, mostly of children under 5 years. 109 countries were endemic for malaria in 2008, 45 within the WHO African region.

Household surveys and data from national malaria control programmes (NMCPs) show that the coverage of all interventions in 2006 was far lower in most African countries than the 80% target set by the World Health Assembly.... While the link between interventions and their impact is not always clear, at least 7 of 45 African countries/areas with relatively small populations, good surveillance and high intervention coverage reduced malaria cases and deaths by 50% or more between 2000 and 2006 or 2007.

Read more and download the report from Reliefweb.

Caribbean: Community Risk Reduction

Regional Disaster Information Center Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID)

This report is an extensive annotated listing of printed and audiovisual material on community risk reduction. Community organization and the production of emergency plans are some of the topics covered. Also listed are useful tools for communities to design and use their own local risk maps.

Read more on Reliefweb.

Forced Migration Review No. 31 - Climate Change and Displacement

Forced Migration Review provides a forum for the regular exchange of practical experience, information and ideas between researchers, refugees and internally displaced people, and those who work with them.

Contents include...

- Human security policy challenges, by Andrew Morton, Philippe Boncour and Frank Laczko.
- Island evacuation, by Ilan Kelman.
- Social breakdown in Darfur, by Scott Edwards.
- Mobile indigenous peoples, by Troy Sternberg and Dawn Chatty.
- Rural-urban migration in Ethiopia, by James Morrissey.
- Adaptation and cooperation, by Britta Heine and Lorenz Petersen.
- Recovery and the rule of law: what have we learned?, by Kathleen Cravero.

Read more on the FMR website.

OCHA: Humanitarian Implications of Climate Change: Mapping Emerging Trends and Risk Hotspots for Humanitarian Actors

Human-induced climate change is already modifying patterns of extreme weather such as flooding, cyclones and drought. In many cases, it is making these hazards more intense, more frequent, less predictable and/or longer lasting. This magnifies the risk of disasters everywhere, but especially in those parts of the world where there are already high levels of human vulnerability.

As a result, OCHA's Policy Development and Studies Branch and CARE's Poverty, Environment and Climate Change Centre commissioned a research project to compare how current high-risk areas for humanitarian disasters might be affected by climate change over the next 20-30 years.

Using a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) mapping approach, the team looked at specific hazards associated with climate change – specifically: floods, cyclones and droughts – and placed them in relation to factors influencing human vulnerability. The results identify hotspots of high humanitarian risk under changing climatic conditions.

The complexity of climate change science and measurements of human vulnerability means the results should be interpreted as indicative only. Further research and refinement is necessary, particularly at the regional and local levels.

Download the full report from Reliefweb.

BBC: Colonial clue to the rise of HIV

The arrival of colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa at the dawn of the 20th Century may have sparked the spread of HIV.

US experts analysed one of the earliest samples of the virus ever found, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1959. The study, published in the journal Nature, suggests the virus may have crossed from apes to humans between 1884 and 1924.

They believe newly-built cities may have allowed the virus to thrive.

Read more on the BBC News website.