Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have fled a repressive dictatorship since 2001. Their small northeast African country, which has a population 4-5 million and was once touted as part of an African “renaissance,” is one of the largest per-capita producers of asylum seekers in the world.
Author: WHES
Which 7 countries are most committed to ending hunger? In a recently published index, researchers analysed the political commitment to hunger and nutrition of 45 developing countries
Some of the world’s poorest countries are taking significant strides in addressing undernutrition and hunger, according to new evidence from the hunger and nutrition commitment index (Hanci) 2013. Guatemala, Peru, Malawi, Brazil, Madagascar, Nepal and Tanzania were rated highly committed, but Burundi and Liberia have made progress on action to reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition.
The relationship between single mothers and poverty is not as simple as it seems
It’s clear in America that family structure and poverty are intertwined: Nearly a third of households headed by single women live below the poverty line. And just six percent of families led by married couples are in the official ranks of the poor. Poverty, meanwhile, touches an astounding 45 percent of children who live without a father.
Veronica Maz, helped start 3 DC social service agencies, dies at 89
On a wintry day in 1970, Georgetown University professor Veronica Maz took two of her sociology students to Washington’s skid row to see poverty close up. They talked to a few of the homeless people who were roasting chicken claws over fire barrels.
What we know about how poor neighborhoods become wealthier: very few of them do and many of those that do are in cities with substantial income growth
See Report
What kept food security from improving after the recession?
Alisha Coleman-Jensen Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture
USDA’s annual survey on food security among American households showed, not unexpectedly, that the prevalence of food insecurity increased during the 2007-09 recession. In the post-recession period, the highest monthly unemployment rate dropped from 10 percent in 2009-10 to 8.3 percent in 2012. But the rosier employment picture was matched by very little improvement in the level of food insecurity – i.e., households’ lack of consistent access to adequate food for active, healthy lives. The national prevalence of food security was 14.5 percent in 2012, essentially the same as in 2009 and 2010. What could be the explanation?
My Economic Research Service (ERS) colleagues and I set out to examine the relationship between national economic conditions and the level of food insecurity. Specifically, we examined the role played not only by the unemployment rate, but also by general inflation and by change in the price of food relative to other goods and services.
We found that these three economic measures together account for 92 percent of the year-to-year variation in food security from 2001 to 2012. From the early post-recession period (2009-10) to 2012, inflation increased almost one and a half percentage points. The price of food relative to the price of all goods and services was two-thirds of a percentage point higher in 2012 than in 2009-10.
Higher general inflation, combined with higher relative food prices, offset any gain in food security from lower unemployment in 2012. With many living expenses rising, families had less money to spend on food, and higher food prices meant food budgets didn’t stretch as far.
During the first week of September, ERS will release 2013 food security estimates, which will indicate whether or not the 2012 trend continued in 2013. The association of food insecurity with unemployment, inflation, and the relative price of food are explored in our recent ERS report. Understanding these relationships may aid in developing more effective policies and programs to support the food security of our Nation’s households.
See the orginal article
More college students battle hunger as education and living costs rise
When Paul Vaughn, an economics major, was in his third year at George Mason University, he decided to save money by moving off campus. He figured that skipping the basic campus meal plan, which costs $1,575 for 10 meals a week each semester, and buying his own food would make life easier
Can America learn to love misshapen veggies? An ex-Trader Joe’s exec’s plan to reduce food waste and feed the hungry
America’s growing income inequality has dominated the national conversation in recent months, accompanied by an avalanche of data: economists tell us the richest 1 percent of American households earn 20 percent of all income and own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. But how do these figures translate into everyday life? For a glimpse into what has gone wrong, consider America’s food paradox: Grocery stores catering to wealthy shoppers discard billions of pounds of wholesome food because of minor cosmetic flaws while, in low-income neighborhoods across the country, 48 million Americans lack reliable access to affordable, nutritious food.
Ugandan police raid US-financed health project in what appeared to be the first public action to enforce a new anti-homosexuality law
Police officers raided the offices of an American-financed project that offers services to AIDS patients, a government spokesman said Friday, in what appeared to be the first public action to enforce a new anti-homosexuality law. The Makerere University Walter Reed Project in Kampala was singled out for “training youths in homosexuality,” the spokesman, Ofwono Opondo, said Friday on Twitter.
The race to adapt to climate change
Momina Ali is a teenager in one of the toughest and hottest places on earth – Ethiopia’s Afar region where average annual temperatures hover around 35 degrees Celsius. Increasingly intermittent rainfall in her village, Anderkelo, means that every three or four days Momina takes a day off school to search for water. In future the chances are that Momina’s treks for water could take even longer, depending on how rising temperatures affect the rains around her village and hence its water table.
