Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
MSF issues 'Top Ten' most underreported humanitarian stories of 2007
People struggling to survive violence, forced displacement, and disease in the Central African Republic (CAR), Somalia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere often went underreported in the news this year and much of the past decade, according to the 10th annual list of the "Top Ten" Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories, released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The countries and contexts highlighted by MSF on this year's list accounted for just 18 minutes of coverage on the three major U.S. television networks' nightly newscasts from January through November 2007.
The 2007 list also highlights the plight of people living through other forgotten crises, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Colombia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, and Chechnya, where the displacement by war of millions continues. It also focuses on the ongoing toll of medical catastrophes like tuberculosis (TB) and childhood malnutrition.
You can read the list and MSF's press release on their website.World Bank: HIV/AIDS, Nutrition, and Food Security: What We Can Do, a synthesis of international guidance
This 2007 report from the World Bank is a synthesis of existing technical guidance on HIV and AIDS, nutrition, and food security at global and regional levels. The synthesis aims to provide decision makers and service providers, especially those who design and manage programs, with guidance on how nutrition may be integrated into HIV prevention and AIDS treatment. Guidance is particularly aimed at national AIDS programs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The synthesis draws on available international guidelines and related documents from AED/FANTA, FAO, IFPRI, PATH, UNAIDS, UNHCR, UNICEF, USAID, WFP and WHO.
The document is divided into 5 main sections:
1) Improving HIV and AIDS outcomes through nutrition support
2) Treatment, care and support
3) Food assistance as HIV and AIDS treatment support
4) Food, food security, HIV and AIDS
5) HIV, AIDS, Nutirition and food in an emergency context
The report is available to download from the World Bank website.
The synthesis draws on available international guidelines and related documents from AED/FANTA, FAO, IFPRI, PATH, UNAIDS, UNHCR, UNICEF, USAID, WFP and WHO.
The document is divided into 5 main sections:
1) Improving HIV and AIDS outcomes through nutrition support
2) Treatment, care and support
3) Food assistance as HIV and AIDS treatment support
4) Food, food security, HIV and AIDS
5) HIV, AIDS, Nutirition and food in an emergency context
The report is available to download from the World Bank website.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Blog post from Nick Young in Indonesia
13 December
Flying into Calang in the south west of Indonesia's Aceh province, it was easy at last to see the full impact of 3 years of building work. As our 6 seater plane flew low over the area of Teunom, where British Red Cross has been working, we could see clearly the red roofs of the 1930 houses that we have built.
This was one of the areas worst hit by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami, destroying many of the houses. The land here is a completely flat plain, and the sea simply rolled in unobstructed, leaving many with no hope of escape.
Today, there are new houses everywhere, many of them built by our own team, and to a standard which no other agency has matched. They do indeed stand out for their pastel colours, sturdy design and professional appearance.
With our cameraman, who was here to record the ceremony of handing over the final house to the final beneficiary, we visited first a small estate of about 200 houses which we have built for those who owned no land, or whose land was and remains inundated, or whose parents both died - the most vulnerable, in other words. It looks just lovely, the soft green houses with their red roofs set off beautifully by the flowers already planted outside by their new owners.
We talked to Idris, who lost his wife and two children. He had just moved in, the two bedroom home that he shares with his remaining son completely bare of furniture. He lost his fishing boat too, but doesn't want to go back to sea so he is farming a little piece of land to make ends meet.
We met another man whose previous job was climbing trees to collect coconuts: he was up a tree when the tsunami struck, and clung on until the water started to subside. With his wife, he now sells cigarettes from a tray because he simply can't bring himself to climb another tree.
And then young Nazir, who tomorrow will receive the keys to the 100,000th house built in Aceh province - one of ours. Aged 15, he lost both his parents and his brother and sister, and now lives with his remaining sister.
Our next stop was a small riverside community hidden in the forest. Most of our houses are in these difficult-to-access areas. Before the tsunami, the land was 2 metres above the level of the water; now it is just a foot or two, and the area floods regularly. Here, we have built houses on solid reinforced concrete pillars well above river level.
We laughed and joked with the local people who flocked to meet us, and visited with a mother and her daughter who who each lost a husband and have just moved into two adjoining British Red Cross houses. On the way back to camp, our driver Amir told us how his parents both died in that very spot, and of his 2 week walk through the devastation of the tsunami to reach them from the college where he had been studying.
14 December
After a night of torrential monsoon rain, we returned to our "housing estate" for the ceremonial handover of keys to the 100,000th by the Head of the Indonesian Government's Aceh Reconstruction Agency (BRR), Pak Kuntoro.
In a moving ceremony, he paid the warmest possible tribute to the British Red Cross team, and praised the high quality of the houses, which he said were the best he had seen. He has been under huge pressure to get houses built, and the local Bupati (mayor) had some harsh words to say to him on that score! There is still much to do, and we have done well to complete our work so quickly.
Next stop was our own project completion party, and a chance for me to say thank you in public to our building team leader Gabriel Constantine (to whom I presented a Badge of Honour, richly deserved), the local contractors Wika and the consulting engineers and supervisors Kogas. They have all worked wonderfully well together, in a true Red Cross spirit.
It was also nice to be able to thank our fundraising director Mark Astarita who was with me on the trip, as well as our livelihoods team who have worked so hard helping local people to get back on their feet financially.
My last words were for the brave survivors of the tsunami. "We can't fill the gap in your lives left by the death of your loved ones," I said, "but we will always carry in our hearts the memory of the people of Teunom, and we hope you will hold us in your hearts too, and the friendships we have made with the houses we have built."
And then it was time to go home - "jakwoe" as it said in Acenese on our T-shirts. That night, as the rain tipped down again, everyone gathered together to dance and sing along to the local folk superstar Rafli, who had risen from his hospital bed (dengue fever) to sing at this special concert. For a while, the worries of the last 3 years, and the sadness, slipped away with the music.
Flying into Calang in the south west of Indonesia's Aceh province, it was easy at last to see the full impact of 3 years of building work. As our 6 seater plane flew low over the area of Teunom, where British Red Cross has been working, we could see clearly the red roofs of the 1930 houses that we have built.
This was one of the areas worst hit by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami, destroying many of the houses. The land here is a completely flat plain, and the sea simply rolled in unobstructed, leaving many with no hope of escape.
Today, there are new houses everywhere, many of them built by our own team, and to a standard which no other agency has matched. They do indeed stand out for their pastel colours, sturdy design and professional appearance.
With our cameraman, who was here to record the ceremony of handing over the final house to the final beneficiary, we visited first a small estate of about 200 houses which we have built for those who owned no land, or whose land was and remains inundated, or whose parents both died - the most vulnerable, in other words. It looks just lovely, the soft green houses with their red roofs set off beautifully by the flowers already planted outside by their new owners.
We talked to Idris, who lost his wife and two children. He had just moved in, the two bedroom home that he shares with his remaining son completely bare of furniture. He lost his fishing boat too, but doesn't want to go back to sea so he is farming a little piece of land to make ends meet.
We met another man whose previous job was climbing trees to collect coconuts: he was up a tree when the tsunami struck, and clung on until the water started to subside. With his wife, he now sells cigarettes from a tray because he simply can't bring himself to climb another tree.
And then young Nazir, who tomorrow will receive the keys to the 100,000th house built in Aceh province - one of ours. Aged 15, he lost both his parents and his brother and sister, and now lives with his remaining sister.
Our next stop was a small riverside community hidden in the forest. Most of our houses are in these difficult-to-access areas. Before the tsunami, the land was 2 metres above the level of the water; now it is just a foot or two, and the area floods regularly. Here, we have built houses on solid reinforced concrete pillars well above river level.
We laughed and joked with the local people who flocked to meet us, and visited with a mother and her daughter who who each lost a husband and have just moved into two adjoining British Red Cross houses. On the way back to camp, our driver Amir told us how his parents both died in that very spot, and of his 2 week walk through the devastation of the tsunami to reach them from the college where he had been studying.
14 December
After a night of torrential monsoon rain, we returned to our "housing estate" for the ceremonial handover of keys to the 100,000th by the Head of the Indonesian Government's Aceh Reconstruction Agency (BRR), Pak Kuntoro.
In a moving ceremony, he paid the warmest possible tribute to the British Red Cross team, and praised the high quality of the houses, which he said were the best he had seen. He has been under huge pressure to get houses built, and the local Bupati (mayor) had some harsh words to say to him on that score! There is still much to do, and we have done well to complete our work so quickly.
Next stop was our own project completion party, and a chance for me to say thank you in public to our building team leader Gabriel Constantine (to whom I presented a Badge of Honour, richly deserved), the local contractors Wika and the consulting engineers and supervisors Kogas. They have all worked wonderfully well together, in a true Red Cross spirit.
It was also nice to be able to thank our fundraising director Mark Astarita who was with me on the trip, as well as our livelihoods team who have worked so hard helping local people to get back on their feet financially.
My last words were for the brave survivors of the tsunami. "We can't fill the gap in your lives left by the death of your loved ones," I said, "but we will always carry in our hearts the memory of the people of Teunom, and we hope you will hold us in your hearts too, and the friendships we have made with the houses we have built."
And then it was time to go home - "jakwoe" as it said in Acenese on our T-shirts. That night, as the rain tipped down again, everyone gathered together to dance and sing along to the local folk superstar Rafli, who had risen from his hospital bed (dengue fever) to sing at this special concert. For a while, the worries of the last 3 years, and the sadness, slipped away with the music.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
UN-OCHA: Climate Change heating up conflict
BALI, 10 December 2007 (IRIN) - Increasing pressure caused by climate change on essential resources like water could not only trigger domestic conflicts but also have a destabilising effect globally, warn UN officials.
"It is not far-fetched to begin to see growing tensions; not far fetched to think climate change will globally have a destabilising effect," said Achim Steiner, Executive Secretary of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), who drew a scenario in which countries heavily affected by climate change would blame those not seen as doing enough to cut emissions.
Steiner's comments followed the release of a report, Climate Change as a Security Risk, by the German government's scientific advisory body on 10 December at the UN climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia: it warned that environmental shocks could outpace the adaptive capacities of some societies in the coming decades.
...
Research in recent decades has shown that land degradation, water shortages and resource competition, when combined with other conflict-amplifying factors, have caused violence and conflict in the past, said the German study. Earlier this year, UNEP cited the war in Darfur as an example of the impact of climate change on stability.
"We are not trying to depoliticise the conflict," said Steiner, "[but] we need to learn, to understand, that if we had taken into account some of the factors [related to climate change], we could have avoided some of the conflicts that have exploded."
Regional hotspots highlighted by the report are in the longer post - click on the link below.
Regional hotspots
The German government's report draws scenarios of the social impact of climate change in regional hotspots. Some of them are:
North Africa: The populous Nile Delta will be at risk from sea-level rise and salinisation in agricultural areas. A drop in food production, water scarcity, high population growth and poor political problem-solving capacity could intensify political crisis and migratory pressure.
Sahel zone: Drought, water scarcity and food insecurity in a region already characterised by weak states and instability could aggravate social crises.
Southern Africa: Droughts and water scarcity could overstretch capacities in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Central Asia: Above-average warming and glacial retreat could exacerbate problems in the region, characterised by political and social tensions.
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh: Glacial retreat in the Himalayas would jeopardise water supply to millions of people, with sea-level rise and cyclones aggravating crises characterised by cross-border conflicts (India and Pakistan) and unstable governments.
"If we look at South Asia alone, the melting [glaciers would mean] tens of millions of people will have to leave their livelihoods. Where will they go? How will they impact on the host communities that receive them?" said Steiner. "We must look at the potential security threat posed by these changes - we cannot bury our heads in the sand."
"It is not far-fetched to begin to see growing tensions; not far fetched to think climate change will globally have a destabilising effect," said Achim Steiner, Executive Secretary of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), who drew a scenario in which countries heavily affected by climate change would blame those not seen as doing enough to cut emissions.
Steiner's comments followed the release of a report, Climate Change as a Security Risk, by the German government's scientific advisory body on 10 December at the UN climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia: it warned that environmental shocks could outpace the adaptive capacities of some societies in the coming decades.
...
Research in recent decades has shown that land degradation, water shortages and resource competition, when combined with other conflict-amplifying factors, have caused violence and conflict in the past, said the German study. Earlier this year, UNEP cited the war in Darfur as an example of the impact of climate change on stability.
"We are not trying to depoliticise the conflict," said Steiner, "[but] we need to learn, to understand, that if we had taken into account some of the factors [related to climate change], we could have avoided some of the conflicts that have exploded."
Regional hotspots highlighted by the report are in the longer post - click on the link below.
Regional hotspots
The German government's report draws scenarios of the social impact of climate change in regional hotspots. Some of them are:
North Africa: The populous Nile Delta will be at risk from sea-level rise and salinisation in agricultural areas. A drop in food production, water scarcity, high population growth and poor political problem-solving capacity could intensify political crisis and migratory pressure.
Sahel zone: Drought, water scarcity and food insecurity in a region already characterised by weak states and instability could aggravate social crises.
Southern Africa: Droughts and water scarcity could overstretch capacities in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Central Asia: Above-average warming and glacial retreat could exacerbate problems in the region, characterised by political and social tensions.
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh: Glacial retreat in the Himalayas would jeopardise water supply to millions of people, with sea-level rise and cyclones aggravating crises characterised by cross-border conflicts (India and Pakistan) and unstable governments.
"If we look at South Asia alone, the melting [glaciers would mean] tens of millions of people will have to leave their livelihoods. Where will they go? How will they impact on the host communities that receive them?" said Steiner. "We must look at the potential security threat posed by these changes - we cannot bury our heads in the sand."
Independent: Conflict Zones
Today's Independent contains a special Conflict Zones pullout, timed to coincide with the Dispatches from Disasters Zones event that we're hosting at the Foreign Press Association today.
The eight-page pullout, produced in association with the ICRC, includes coverage of Red Cross work in Afghanistan, Somalia, Colombia and Israel and the Occupied Territories, as well as a piece on our refugee services in the UK. There is a special editorial headlined 'The need for an organisation as sure-footed as the Red Cross is now greater than ever'.
The eight-page pullout, produced in association with the ICRC, includes coverage of Red Cross work in Afghanistan, Somalia, Colombia and Israel and the Occupied Territories, as well as a piece on our refugee services in the UK. There is a special editorial headlined 'The need for an organisation as sure-footed as the Red Cross is now greater than ever'.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
RC Climate change videos from the Caribbean
Julia Brothwell has pointed out the DIPECHO page on the Caribbean Red Cross website, which has the rest of the videos from the series - we featured the Antigua and Bermuda video a few months ago.
Thanks Julia!
Thanks Julia!
Sahel Working Group: Beyond Any Drought: Root Causes of Chronic Vulnerability in the Sahel
This report examines how vulnerability is understood and addressed by development agencies and government departments in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. The 2005 food crisis highlighted the extent of vulnerability in the Sahel region, increased international attention paid to the people of the Sahel and led to large sums of money being released to help those people survive the immediate crisis. Most studies written in the aftermath of the crisis have looked at the particular circumstances of the events of 2005. This report was commissioned by the Sahel Working Group, which was concerned that too much attention has been paid to a quite specific scenario and too little to the unacceptable and growing levels of vulnerability that pre-dated the crisis and persist two years later.
The present study took place during April and May 2007 and is based on a series of interviews with development practitioners and donor representatives in London, Washington DC, Bamako, Niamey and Ouagadougou, and on a desk review of academic and grey literature including commissioned reports on development approaches from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
The report is available for download from Reliefweb.
The present study took place during April and May 2007 and is based on a series of interviews with development practitioners and donor representatives in London, Washington DC, Bamako, Niamey and Ouagadougou, and on a desk review of academic and grey literature including commissioned reports on development approaches from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
The report is available for download from Reliefweb.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Wahenga.net: Social transfers - briefs and case studies
The Regional Evidence Building Agenda, operated by the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (funded by DFID and AusAID) have just published a series of briefing papers describing case studies on various different types of cash programme in southern Africa.
The papers are available to download from the link above, and include case studies on Emergency Transfers in Malawi, Food Assistance in Mozambique, and Food Security in Zambia.
The papers are available to download from the link above, and include case studies on Emergency Transfers in Malawi, Food Assistance in Mozambique, and Food Security in Zambia.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Iraq: Calls for a “Humanitarian Surge”
Both speakers presented a very interesting analysis of the crisis and the humanitarian needs. This included the massive displacement of people both within and outside Iraq, the fact that this crisis affects everyone in Iraq, that women, children and minority groups are especially vulnerable and that with the huge numbers of people fleeing the country Iraq has now become the largest refugee crisis in the world (even larger than Darfur).
To illustrate this, UNHCR gave some approximate figures on displacement, (bearing in mind that these are very approximate as no one knows for sure the numbers affected): 4.5m Iraqis displaced in total, 2m in Iraq, 1.2m in Syria, 500-750k in Jordan, 80k in Egypt, 50k in Lebanon and 200k in the Gulf States. 1 in 7 Iraqis are now displaced. This is the biggest refugee crisis in the Middle East since 1948 and it is the biggest urban crisis that UNHCR has ever faced.
However, an interesting debate came from IMC who argued that due to the recent improvement in the security situation in Iraq, now was the time for a “humanitarian surge”. NGOs need to move in now, step up activities and get a presence on the ground whilst there is this window of opportunity. They argued that it was time to stop doing endless assessments as the situation changes so rapidly; assessments go out of date and are useless in a matter of weeks. Instead agencies need to get in there and do something to make a real difference to the lives of Iraqis. If Iraqi people see a direct difference to their lives this will increase chances of stability in the country.
IMC concluded that this humanitarian surge needs to happen now before the situation deteriorates again. IMC is able to operate because they gain acceptance from local communities and tribal elders and therefore advises that this strategy would also work for other NGOs. Concern was expressed by representatives from other agencies attending the talk regarding the overall insecurity and volatility of the country, plus the apparent lack of multilateral/bilateral funding available for agencies aiming to work in Iraq.
We will therefore have to watch and see over the coming months as to whether agencies heed this call for a “humanitarian surge”, whether the security situation improves enough to allow this and whether enough is done to actually make a difference to the lives of the millions of Iraqi people currently facing the world’s largest crisis.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
World Aids Day
- ODI's World Aids Day page includes a wealth of information and papers on a variety of related issues
- UNAIDS have just released a new HIV Epidemic Update, available from their website - it includes fact sheets by region, and useful slides and graphics.
- ChristianAid report: Don’t Take on an Empty Stomach: Why HIV Treatment Won’t Work without Food
- More people are living with HIV and AIDS in Washington DC (the capital) than in any other US city, according to Reuters.
- British Red Cross have launched redcrosshiv.org, a dedicated HIV/AIDS site, which includes Youtube videos and links to Facebook and Bebo pages - Web 2.0 has arrived at Moorfields...
'This campaign is as a result of work undertaken by BRC. Ipsos MORI conducted a survey in Great Britain, Ethiopia, South Africa and Kyrgyzstan. In each country, 300 young people aged 14-25 were interviewed. Interviews in Ethiopia, South Africa and Kyrgyzstan were carried out face-to-face, in-home, and in Great Britain interviews were carried out online using a pre-recruited sample from Ipsos MORI's research panel.Events at Moorfields:
Presentations in the auditorium, 2-3.30pm
-ICW Achievements over 15 years and outlook for the future - Fiona Pettitt, ICW
-Prevention of mother to child transmission - Nicola Stevenson and Alyson Lewis
-Communications project: International survey of young people and HIV - Amelia Lyons and Corinne Evans
-Celebration of partnership with ICW (International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS) - Matthias Schmale
Please come along to hear the latest research, attitudes and support towards people living with HIV. You are also invited to light a candle in City Point square between 12 noon and 2pm in support of people living with HIV.
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