Month: July 2021

GENEVA – A United Nations overview of conditions in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray province after more than nine-months of civil strife finds a society of staggering devastation, of ruined lives and livelihoods. Thousands of people have been killed and two million internally displaced since Ethiopian troops invaded Tigray on November 4 to retake the province from rebel forces. The United Nations reports millions of people are suffering from acute hunger, with some 400,000 on the verge of famine. Malnutrition is soaring, putting thousands of children’s lives at risk Spokesman for the…

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KAYA, BURKINA FASO – The COVID-19 pandemic has led to cuts in foreign aid from donor nations such as Britain, which this month slashed its aid budget by $5.5 billion. The funding loss is being felt in Burkina Faso, where it could shut down a group that helps thousands of survivors of gender-based violence and rape. Britain has cut its annual aid budget, and so have other countries, such as Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia. The largest international nonprofits say the shockwaves of the cuts will be felt by people…

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GENEVA – The U.N. Children’s Fund warns an estimated 100,000 children in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray province are at risk of life-threatening severe acute malnutrition over the next 12 months. This is a tenfold increase over the annual average caseload in this war-torn region. A UNICEF official who has just returned from Tigray says her agency’s worst fears about the health and wellbeing of children in this war-torn region have been confirmed. Marixie Mercado says the malnutrition crisis has worsened because of extensive systematic damage to the food, water, health care,…

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GENEVA – The United Nations warns global hunger is increasing and urgent action is needed to stave off famine and death over coming months in nearly two dozen unstable, violence-prone countries. A report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program said more than a half-million people are experiencing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity and 41 million are at risk of famine. The report from the WFP and FAO focuses on the particularly serious situation in 23 so-called hunger hot spots. Most of those countries…

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KAYA, BURKINA FASO – The COVID-19 pandemic has led to cuts in foreign aid from donor nations such as Britain — which cut its aid budget by $5.5 billion — Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia. The funding loss is being felt in Burkina Faso, where it could shut down a group that helps thousands of survivors of gender-based violence and rape. The largest international nonprofits say the shock waves of the cuts will be felt by people across Africa in all kinds of situations and will result in deaths. “For…

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