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Author: WHES
Nutrition and health: The opportunity cost of opportunities lost
Despite significant progress made in child survival responses, millions of children under the age of five continue to die from preventable causes, with malnutrition contributing to 45 percent of those deaths. For those who live, one quarter — approximately 165 million children — suffer from stunting, one of the most measurable signs of malnutrition.
Food justice is about more than food security and nutrition
We need fundamental change in the food system that has developed in the rich world, particularly in the last 75 years or so.
We need an international court to stamp out corruption: The creation of an International Anti-Corruption Court would hold leaders accountable
Mark L. Wolf is a senior U.S. district judge for the District of Massachusetts. He was a special assistant to the U.S. attorney general from 1975 to 1977 and the chief federal public corruption prosecutor in Massachusetts from 1981 to 1985. This piece is condensed from an article published by the Brookings Institution.
House child tax credit leaves behind millions of low-income working families
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) legislation that the House is slated to consider this week has misguided priorities: it would make many relatively affluent families better off while letting millions of low-income working families become poorer.
The passing of Martin Lueders, conflict photographer
Martin Lueders (file photo from 2000)
With great sadness I note the passing of Martin Lueders in June 2014. He was an internationally recognized, award-winning freelance photographer, primarily on humanitarian and environmental issues. He was an outstanding photographer, whose photos helped all who saw his work understand human suffering far outside the bounds which most of us have experienced.
Hunger Notes was privileged to have his photographs illuminate two of our stories in 2000, War Games and Armed Conflict and Hunger.
“These ones, be afraid of them; they are dangerous. They don’t have anything…no second thoughts, no wife, no children. Don’t play with them, theirs is to fight.” — Bystander’s interruption during interview near check point with Kamajohs. Photo Martin Lueders
“A.K., ” an 8-year-old “Kamajoh,” with the Civil Defense Force in Moyamba, Sierra Leone, has been fighting since the age of 6. Kamajohs are traditional hunters of the Mende tribe, who volunteer their service in defending their villages against rebel forces. After going through an initiation ceremony, Kamajohs believe they possess magical powers that deflect enemy bullets.
In 1999, Lueders was commissioned by the United States Agency For International Development’s Displaced Children & Orphans Fund to document child soldiers in four African countries for a traveling exhibit and book entitled, “Playing For Keeps: Children & War in Africa”, which includes 36 black & white photographs and testimonies from current and former child combatants. We used seven of these pictures for our story on child soldiers, War Games by Kellie Anderson, where the photos may be seen. One is shown above–the captions are his as well.
Sarajevo 1997. This cemetery was once a field where people played. At the start of war in the former Yugoslavia in 1992, the Serbian government attacked Sarajevo, the Bosnian Capital. The 43-month siege and artillery bombardment killed civilians, separated families and made daily life a matter of survival.
His photographs also illustrated an important article Armed Conflict and Hunger by Ellen Messer, Marc J. Cohen, and Jashinta D’Costa. One of these photos is shown above.
His photographs were exhibited and published extensively in the United States and Europe. Lueders’s clients included Greenpeace (International and U.S.A.), Scottish International Relief, the Catholic News Service, Catholic Relief Services and Earth Day. His work was published in many magazines and newspapers including TIME, The Chicago Tribune and the Suddeutsche Zeitung (Munich).
Several years ago, a student wrote Hunger Notes asking “how do I save the world?” I didn’t give a very good answer at the time, but the question did stick in my mind. For Martin Lueders, certainly his efforts to change the world for the better involved bravery, compassion, a desire to understand what was happening in often desperate situations, and the skill to communicate what he saw.
Lane Vanderslice is the editor of Hunger Notes
Atlas of African Agriculture Research & Development
The work of agricultural researchers and development workers in Africa has the potential to significantly improve the lives of the poor. But that potential can only be realized with easy access to high-quality data and information. The Atlas of African Agriculture Research & Development highlights the ubiquitous role of smallholder agriculture in Africa; the many factors shaping the location, nature, and performance of agricultural enterprises; and the strong interdependencies among farming, natural-resource stocks and flows, and the well-being of the poor.
US should have tried nation-building in Central America, not Iraq and Afghanistan
It’s nice to see the United States paying attention to Central America again. Too bad it took tens of thousands of desperate children pouring across the border to attract our interest.
Our bees, ourselves: Bees and colony collapse
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — AROUND the world, honeybee colonies are dying in huge numbers: About one-third of hives collapse each year, a pattern going back a decade. For bees and the plants they pollinate — as well as for beekeepers, farmers, honey lovers and everyone else who appreciates this marvelous social insect — this is a catastrophe.
Global food security: Why it affects us all
Concerns about food security — and efforts to achieve it — are nothing new for the international development community.
