hunger

Seasonal rains due in Sudan and South Sudan will exacerbate already dire conditions in refugee camps, restrict travel and access, and heighten the risk of disease, a group of leading humanitarian agencies warned today.

The current food crisis in Niger is likely to escalate into a full-scale humanitarian emergency if urgent action is not taken, international agency Oxfam warned today. Already, 1.9 million people are at severe risk, and by April, this number could rise to 3.5 million people if help doesn’t come now, according to the National Early Warning System.

According to a recent field study conducted in communities in western and eastern Niger, between 70 and 90 per cent of people estimate their food stocks will run out before the next harvest, creating an imminent ‘hunger gap’.

Yemen is at the crossroads of humanitarian catastrophe international aid agency Oxfam said today in reaction to new figures from the World Food Programme, which showed a radical increase in the number of people facing severe hunger in the country.

Estimates of people in need of assistance in the Sahel increases to over 11 million people, as agency warns humanitarian efforts need to be stepped up in the coming weeks.

On the eve of the 2012 African Cup of Nations, more than 25 footballers have spoken out in solidarity with millions of people facing hunger across their region.

Thousands of needless deaths occurred and millions of extra dollars were spent because the international community failed to take decisive action on early warnings of a hunger crisis in East Africa, according to a new report by the international aid agencies Oxfam and Save the Children.

Negotiators at the UN climate talks have narrowly avoided a collapse, agreeing to the bare minimum deal possible.

In the last year extreme weather events shocked global markets contributing to soaring wheat prices and imperiling food security in many parts of the world, according to research compiled by Oxfam at the start of the Durban climate talks.

International aid agency Oxfam today releases a digital edition of its report Growing a Better Future: Food justice in a resource constrained world, to coincide with the beginning of ‘GROW Week’ – a week of activism highlighting the world’s broken food system.