Africa

A Djiboutian soldier enters a dark building during a night vision goggle training exercise in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Oct. 10, 2016. The Djiboutian troops prepare for a two-year deployment to Somalia. Photo: Staff Sgt. Benjamin Raughton/U.S. Airforce
A Djiboutian soldier enters a dark building during a night vision goggle training exercise conducted by U.S. Army trainers in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Oct. 10, 2016.  The Djiboutian troops prepare for a two-year deployment to Somalia, as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia’s effort to remove al-Shabaab from the region.  Photo: Staff Sgt. Benjamin Raughton/U.S. Airforce  See larger photo and full story.

In Somalia, U.S. escalates a shadow war

by Mark Mazzetti, Jeffrey Gettleman and Eric Schmitt New York Times October 17, 2016

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has intensified a clandestine war in Somalia over the past year, using Sp...

Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Government of Southern Sudan. Photo: UN/Jenny Rockett
Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Government of Southern Sudan.  Around $4 billion has been “lost” in the 11 years since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, with most coming from oil revenues.  Download full report (66 page PDF). Photo: UN/Jenny Rockett

How South Sudan’s leaders robbed their country – and nearly got away with it

by Karin Zeitvogel IRIN September 15, 2016

South Sudan’s political and military leaders have bled their country dry to fuel extravagant lifestyles and fund a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes, says the Washington-based conflict investigative group, ...

San Bushwomen. Photo: Mario Micklisch
San Bushwomen. For the past 20 years, the San have been systematically stripped of their homes, land and culture. Now these people live, dispossessed, on the edge of the huge game park, forbidden to hunt in or enter the land they have lived on sustainably for centuries. Photo: ©©  Mario Micklisch  (Click to see larger photo.)

The tribes paying the brutal price of conservation

by John Vidal The Guardian September 9, 2016

Across the world, governments are protecting habitats. But indigenous peoples are being evicted....

20-month-old Ummi Mustafa and her mother, Maiduguri, Nigeria. The latest red flag from FEWS NET draws particular attention to places like Banki Town and Bama in Borno State, where the threat of Boko Haram violence continues to limit movement and prevent humanitarian access. Photo: Credit: Guy Calaf/Action Against Hunger USA
20-month-old Ummi Mustafa and her mother, Maiduguri, Nigeria.  The latest red flag from FEWS NET draws particular attention to places like Banki Town and Bama in Borno State, where the threat of Boko Haram violence continues to limit movement and prevent humanitarian access.  Photo: © Guy Calaf/Action Against Hunger USA (Click to see larger photo.)

Malnutrition rates in Nigeria “horrifying”

by Eromo Egbejule IRIN September 4, 2016

Levels of Global Acute Malnutrition for children in northeastern Nigeria recorded in July and August were well over the 15 percent threshold deemed “critical”, and, in some cases, higher than 50 percent, meaning more than half the children surveyed suffered from moderate or severe acute malnutri...

South Sudanese women and children queue to receive emergency food July 25, 2016, at the U.N. protection of civilians (POC) Site 3, which hosts about 30,000 people displaced during the recent fighting in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Photo: Adriane Ohanesian/Reuters
South Sudanese women and children queue to receive emergency food July 25, 2016, at the U.N. protection of civilians (POC) Site 3, which hosts about 30,000 people displaced during the recent fighting in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Photo: Adriane Ohanesian/Reuters

In South Sudan, mothers are so hungry many can no longer breast-feed

by Kevin Sieff The Washington Post September 2, 2016

Weeks after the outbreak of deadly fighting in South Sudan, aid groups say their movement is being restricted by continued violence and government checkpoints, harming their ability to get food and medicine to severely malnourished children.  “We already have an extremely serious food-insecurity ...

Tanzania garment factory (March 6, 2009). Photo: BBC World Service
Tanzania garment factory (March 6, 2009). Local textile industries have suffered severely from the low-cost competition of  second-hand textiles which are collected in more developed countries and sold abroad.  Photo: BBC World Service (Click to see larger photo.)

Tanzania empowers youth with tailoring skills as East Africa ban on used clothes, shoes nears

by Xinhua Coastweek (Kenya) August 29, 2016

East African countries including Tanzania imported 151 million dollars worth of second-hand clothing last year, most of which were collected by charities and recyclers in Europe and North America....

Egypt's Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafi attends the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, Egypt March 14, 2015. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Egypt’s Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafi attends the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, Egypt March 14, 2015.  Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Egypt’s wheat corruption scandal takes down embattled supply minister

by Eric Knecht and Maha El Dahan Reuters August 26, 2016

Parliamentarians who formed a fact-finding commission to investigate the fraud have said upwards of 2 million tons, or 40 percent of the locally procured crop, may be missing....

South Sudan, 2016: Girls wash foraged wild greens in a river’s unsafe waters. Photo: © UNICEF/UN25843/Everett
Photo: © UNICEF/UN25843/Everet

South Sudan: Girls wash foraged wild greens in a river’s unsafe waters

by UNICEF August 19, 2016

South Sudan, 2016: Girls wash foraged wild greens in a river’s unsafe waters, in the Torit region in Eastern Equatoria State, where late rains and insecurity in the region have led to failed crops and severe food insecurity, especially for the poorest. An estimated 2.8 million people in the countr...

A girl stands beside a laundry line in a poor neighborhood overlooking Cabinda, a heavily guarded territory that accounts for half of Angola’s oil output. Photo: Nichole Sobecki/The Washington Post
A girl stands beside a laundry line in a poor neighborhood overlooking Cabinda, a heavily guarded territory that accounts for half of Angola’s oil output.  A yellow fever epidemic in Angola could turn into a global crisis. Photo: © Nichole Sobecki/The Washington Post

An oil boom made Luanda, Angola the most expensive city in the world. Now it’s in crisis.

by Kevin Sieff Washington Post August 9, 2016

A bag of rice can now cost five times what it did a year ago.  The country has not purchased a single dose of malaria medication since last year. In the first three months of 2016, Angola had roughly 1.3 million cases of the disease. At least 3,000 people have died, according to the World Health O...

Child being weighed by health care worker to see if the child may be malnourished. ©Matthew Abbott/AP/SIPA
Child being weighed by health care worker to see if the child may be malnourished.  “In the Northern Region of Ghana, 30 percent of children under five are stunted or chronically malnourished,” the report said. “This not only affects their growth but also their educational development and economic potential, and consequently the future of the country.” Photo: ©Matthew Abbott/AP/SIPA

Malnutrition costs Ghana economy $2.6 billion annually

by Dasmani Laary The Africa Report August 9, 2016

Ghana loses $2.6 billion annually, or 6.4 percent of its gross national product, due to problems associated with poor nutrition in children, a United Nations report has revealed....

  • World Hunger Education
    Service
    P.O. Box 29015
    Washington, D.C. 20017
  • For the past 40 years, since its founding in 1976, the mission of World Hunger Education Service is to undertake programs, including Hunger Notes, that
    • Educate the general public and target groups about the extent and causes of hunger and malnutrition in the United States and the world
    • Advance comprehension which integrates ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives on the world food problem
    • Facilitate communication and networking among those who are working for solutions
    • Promote individual and collective commitments to sustainable hunger solutions.