WFP To Halve Food Aid To Yemen

Though one in three people in Yemen is “suffering from chronic hunger,” the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said Tuesday it has been forced to halve its food aid to the country because of a lack of funding from donors, Reuters reports (Nebehay, 5/4). Emilia Casella, a WFP spokeswoman, “said 3.4 million Yemenis needed food aid. But just 476,000 were receiving help after the agency received about a quarter of the 103 million dollars (78.4 million euros) needed to keep food aid going this year,” Agence France-Presse writes. She said, “Due to lack of funding, the WFP has been forced to cut rations by half … By August WFP in Yemen will have run out of food almost completely,” Casella added (5/4). The Yemen Observer reports on the press conference in which members of Yemen’s government and WFP officials called for additional aid (al-Kibsi, 5/4).

Fiji, Global Fund Sign $9M TB Grant

“Fiji’s Ministry of Health and the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] have signed a $9 million agreement to help reduce tuberculosis in Fiji,” the Indian Weekender reports. The grant will be used for laboratory improvement, TB program and health information system strengthening over the next 27 months, according to Neil Sharma, the health minister (5/4). 

More Female Health Workers In Developing Countries Could Reduce Maternal, Child Mortality Rates, Study Shows

Investments in the training of female health workers could help drive down maternal and child mortality in developing countries, BMJ News reports in an article examining the results of the annual State of the World’s Mothers 2010 report, which ranked 160 countries by maternal and child health indicators. “The charity says that countries that have trained women to deliver care within their communities have seen the ‘most dramatic drops’ in child and maternal mortality rates. Bangladesh, for example, has reduced its child mortality rate by 64% since 1990 ‘thanks – in part – to the recruitment of thousands of women health workers,'” BMJ News writes. “A quarter of women questioned in 41 developing countries who currently have no health services said they go without medical help because they have no access to a woman health worker,” BMJ News writes (Moszynski, 5/4).

New York Times Examines Hunger In Niger

The New York Times examines the current “food crisis” in Niger. “Rains and crops failed last year – rainfall was about 70 percent below normal in the region – and now half the population of 15 million faces food shortages, officials say. Thus it was in 2005, 1985 and 1974,” the newspaper writes. “But there is a big difference this year: the new military government here is acknowledging serious hunger, trying to do something about it – and asking for help.” The article includes interviews with people on the ground and looks at the potential for addressing hunger (Nossiter, 5/3).

Financial Times Reports On Rise Of Chronic Diseases In Developing Countries

The Financial Times looks at chronic diseases in the developing world. The newspaper examines the factors that have led to the growth of chronic or non-communicable diseases in developing countries and reports on the unique challenges they face in controlling diseases, such as diabetes. The article features quotes from Ala Alwan, assistant director-general at the WHO, and Thane Wettig, vice-president of global marketing for the company Lilly Diabetes (Davis, 5/4).