Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Children in Need, Stay in Need

famine_2

As the number of hungry and malnourished people passes one
billion, a new UNICEF report identifies lack of food as one of the
largest causes of death amongst children.

Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition says that
under-nutrition in mothers and children is a factor in a third of all
deaths of children under five. 

Ethiopia could soon be contributing to these figures. After a
disastrous series of crop failures, the number of Ethiopians needing
emergency aid has jumped from 4.9 million to 6.2 million in the past 10
months.

Twenty-five years after Ethiopia’s famine killed a million people
and spurred a massive global aid effort, the government has appealed for help for more than six million facing starvation.

State Minister for Agriculture, Mitiku Kassa said the
drought-stricken country needed 159,000 tonnes of food aid worth 121
million dollars between now and year’s end for 6.2 million people.

“Since… January, the country continues to face several humanitarian
challenges in food and livelihood security, health, nutrition, and in
water and sanitation,” he said.Geda Shenu, a 50-year-old farmer says;

“We are between life and death.”.......read full article at Heroin and Cornflakes

Posted via email from ann's posterous

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