2015 AFRICA

Africa Hunger and Poverty Facts   Africa Web Links 
World Child Hunger Facts

Farmers, civil society organizations rally behind environmentalist jailed for exposing land grabbing in Cameroon Mborn Sixtus Inter Press Service December 15, 2015 Also see HN special report Trade and Hunger.

Farmers will have limited access to climate smart agricultural knowledge and skills as cash strapped Zimbabwe cuts technical assistance from agricultural extension officers. Photo: © Busani Bafana/IPS

Weak agricultural finance, drought feed malnutrition in Zimbabwe Ignatius Banda Inter Press Service December 15, 2015

Around 80 percent of South Sudan’s working-age youth are unemployed or underemployed, and many have joined the conflict. Loyola-Marymount University’s professor of African Studies, Jok Madut Jok.explains: “Why do all these unemployed youths flock to the conflict? They join because they have nothing to lose because corruption has not allowed resources to trickle down” to create jobs for them and give them a future, he told IRIN. Photo: Jason Patinkin/IRIN

Fueled by corruption, South Sudan war enters its third year Karin Zeitvogel IRIN News December 17, 2015
South Sudan food team finds risk of 'widespread catastrophe'  Tom Miles Reuters November 26, 2015 See Harmful economic systems as a cause of hunger and poverty

In Nigeria, Chinese investment comes with a downside Keith Bradsher and Adam Nossiter New York Times December 5, 2015 See Hunger Notes special report on development assistance

Workitu Tegenu and her children at their home near Welenchi. Photo: Colin Cosier/IRIN

Ready or not―drought tests Ethiopia Colin Cosier IRIN News November 27, 2015

Pope, in Kenya, calls for compassion for poor and nurturing of youth Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times November 26, 2015 Pope Francis arrives in a Kenya fed up with graft Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times November 25, 2015

Mariama Sonko, third from right, with a women farmers' organization. Mariama Sonko is a farmer and organizer in Casamance, Senegal. She is the National Coordinator of We Are the Solution, a campaign for food sovereignty led by rural women in West Africa. Photo courtesy of Fahamu.

We are the solution: African women organize for land and seed sovereignty.  An interview with Mariama Sonko. Simone Adler and Beverly Bell Other Worlds November 4, 2015

Ethiopia tries to avert another famine. Mindful of past disasters, Ethiopians are readier than before to deal with drought. The Economist November 2, 2015

A little girl feeds the family herd in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Photo: Mohammad Ibrahim/IRIN

Cattle rustlers profit from Boko Haram bonanza Mohammad Ibrahim IRIN News September 28, 2015  Also see World hunger photos: the stories and images of poor people's lives

Wake up and sell more coffee. Small farmers in Africa need to produce more. Happily that is easier than it sounds The Economist September 19, 2015

Starvation as a product of war  Nicholas Kristof New York Times July 23, 2015
The worst atrocity you have never heard of (video) Nicholas Kristof and Adam B. Ellick New York Times July 13, 2015
Mapped: A world at war IRIN News July 30, 2015  See Hunger Notes special report on humanitarian assistance

Corruption is killing children in Angola Nicholas Kristof New York Times June 24, 2015

Violence has driven at least 1.5 million people from their homes in the three conflict-affected northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. The vast majority have been taken in by friends and relatives in the main cities, but the hospitality has imposed a significant burden on their hosts. Farming and markets are also disrupted, with many areas facing “emergency” levels of food shortages, one step below famine, according to the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Network (FEWS Net). Photo: Nigerian Defense Headquarters

Beyond Boko Haram: Nigeria’s hidden crisis Obinna Anyadike IRIN News June 5, 2015

 A displaced woman sets up camp in Mali's Timbuktu region. Photo: Africare

Thousands flee violent upsurge in northern Mali Katarina Höije IRIN News May 29, 2015  

Prof Grace Irimu shows IPS a drip feed bag and a copy of Kenya’s ‘Basic Paediatric Protocols’ as she explains the importance of intravenous treatment in saving the lives of young children affected by acute watery diarrhoea. Photo: Miriam Gathigah/IPS  

When Kenyan children's lives hang on a drip Miriam Gathigah Inter Press Service May 23, 2015

A Burundian woman suffering from suspected cholera lies in the health clinic at Lake Tanganyika Stadium in Kigoma, Tanzania. Photo: Jessica Hatcher/IRIN

Photo feature: Burundi's endless exodus IRIN News May 22, 2015

Carcasses dot the sandy landscape in southern Mauritania's Hodh El Chargui region, where a lack of rain has affected both wild vegetation growth and crops. Photo: Jaspreet Kindra/IRIN

Food worries widen in Mauritania Mamoudou Lamine Kane and Jennifer Lazuta IRIN News May 26, 2015

The Mozambique Council of Ministers is considering a massive project along the Lurio River in northern Mozambique without consulting the estimated 500,000 affected people in the project area. Photo: Flickr/Stig Nygaard

Giving away land without consultation in Mozambique Timothy Wise Food Tank  May 19, 2015 See HN special report Trade and Hunger

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria seeks input into 2017-21 strategy Hunger Notes May 25, 2015  

Mothers are vital to Democratic Republic of the Congo food security Susan Kim UNICOR May 14, 2015

Malawi study reveals devastating cost of child undernutrition. Research commissioned by African Union and backed by Malawian government highlights social and economic impact of inadequate nourishment in early life. Sam Jones The Guardian May 13, 2015  See World Food Program report: The Cost of Hunger in Malawi

The great land giveaway in Mozambique Timothy Wise Dollars and Sense March/April 2015 See HN special repport: Trade and Hunger

The Kenyan government is threatening to dismantle the world’s largest refugee camp in Dadaabb, setting off a panic among the nearly 350,000 people who live here and the international aid organizations that care for them. Photo: Washington Post

Kenya is threatening to close the world's largest refugee camp Kevin Sieff Washington Post April 28, 2015

Members of Burundi’s ruling party youth wing on the march. Armed, murderous, militarised, partisan, powerful, unaccountable, uneducated: this is how many in and even outside Burundi describe the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling party. It, however, dismisses such accusations as opposition propaganda. Photo: Desire Nimubona/IRIN

Who are the Imbonerakure and is Burundi unravelling? Ignatius Ssuuna IRIN News April 28, 2015

Eritrea and North Korea are the world's most censored countries, advocacy group says Rick Gladstone New York Times April 21, 2015

An unidentified woman from Zimbabwe's Mashonaland Central Province at Manzou Farm packs her tobacco with the help of her children as they prepare to leave following an eviction order. “Land grabs in Africa have helped to perpetuate economic inequalities similar to the colonial era economic imbalances” – Terry Mutsvanga, Zimbabwean rights activist. Photo: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS  

Land seizures speeding up, leaving Africans homeless and landless Jeffrey Moyo Inter Press Service April 8, 2015 See HN special repport: Trade and Hunger

After losing 29 relatives, Josephine Dolley took in six orphans and is determined to provide for them despite Liberia’s economic crisis. Dolley, left, speaks with one of her adopted children. Photo: W. Leaming/Washington Post

Ebola took away her family, home and job: Now she’s trying to start over Kevin Sieff Washington Post March 23, 2015 Also see World hunger photos: the stories and images of people's lives

Taking stock: the circumference of the upper arm is a measure of malnutrition. Photo: Jason Patinkin/IRIN 

Women and malnutrition – the case of South Sudan Jason Patinkin IRIN News March 18, 2015

 Struggling to cope: IDPs in Maiduguri. Photo: Obinna Anyadike/IRIN

Boko Haram violence displaces 1.2 million Nigerians Obinna Anyadike IRIN News March 4, 2015

Orange-fleshed sweet potato is high in beta-carotene which converts to vitamin A in the body. In sub-Saharan Africa most locally grown varieties are white-fleshed, hence no beta-carotene, and people, as yet, still prefer the white-fleshed varieties. Photograph: Felicity Cloake

Magic mash: reducing child malnutrition with sweet potatoes. A project to introduce orange-fleshed Vitamin-A-rich sweet potatoes to sub-Saharan Africa can improve child health. But can local eating habits be changed? Ian Low The Guardian February 18, 2015

Smallholder farmers in Africa are struggling with the effects of climate change. Photograph: ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images

Creating a fertile future for farmers in Africa. What are the most effective ways of encouraging the development of smallholder farming? Diversification, training and working with the private sector are key Frederika Whitehead The Guardian February 13, 2015

The Dominion Farms’ land grab in Nigeria Global Justice Now January 2015 See  full report (8 page PDF) See Ministers must answer to Nigerian land-grab investments Chris Walker Pambazuka News February 12, 2015  See HN special repport: Trade and Hunger

A party political billboard along a Lagos highway. Nigeria’s crude oil exports are often mispriced, according to a new report. Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

Africa losing billions from fraud and tax avoidance. First African initiative to address illicit outflows says governments, multinationals and crime deprive poor countries of crucial services. Mark Anderson The Guardian February 2, 2015 See HN special report Harmful economic systems: Obtaining income

A woman walks in the burned down and completely destroyed Christian neighborhood of Jos, Nigeria. Photo: Andy Spyra/Laif/Redux

The enemy within: Boko Haram’s reign of terror across Northern Nigeria, Part I Andy Spyra (photos) and Kevin Sieff (text) Washington Post January 28, 2015

Women in the Mayo-Sava part of Cameroon say they are too frightened of potential Boko Haram attacks to farm. Photo: IRIN

How Boko Haram brought hunger to northern Cameroon IRIN News January 28, 2015

Gates priorities: Improvements in African agriculture, health, education and banking Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post January 22, 2015

 

Anti-balaka militia in the Central African Republic. Photo: Crispin Dembassa-Kette/IRIN

Central African Republic: A crisis told in numbers IRIN News January 12, 2015

More than half of Africa’s arable land ‘too damaged’ for food production, report says Busani Bafana Inter Press Service January 13, 2015  Access full report: No Ordinary Matter: conserving, restoring and enhancing Africa’s soil

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