Africa

Oil money, and where it flows: The movie ‘Big Men’ looks at Ghanaian oil discovery

by Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times March 13, 2014

Not for nothing does “Big Men,” Rachel Boynton’s astonishing documentary about the 2007 discovery of oil off the coast of Ghana, open with a quotation on greed from the economist Milton Friedman. Dropping us into a perfect storm of avarice, this cool and incisive snapshot of global capitalism ...

Finding enough food for the children is very difficult,” said Ndeye Diagne. “ Always my children are hungry.” Photo: Jennifer Lazuta/IRIN

An alarming outlook for Senegal’s hungry. The number of food insecure in the Sahel is expected to grow from 11.3 million in 2013 to more than 20 mil...

by IRIN News March 12, 2014

The number of food insecure in the Sahel is expected to grow from 11.3 million in 2013 to more than 20 million in 2014, mainly due to an increase in cases in northern Nigeria, northern Cameroon and Senegal. IRIN went to Louga, in northern Senegal, to find out why the number of hungry is so high. ...

With the main harvest season just weeks away, Central African Republic farmers struggle to recover from devastation

by IRIN News March 12, 2014

With the year’s main planting season just weeks away, many in the Central African Republic (CAR) have been left desperately ill-equipped by months of conflict. In the charred village of Bessan, to the west of the country, the concerns are typical: a dire lack of seeds, tools and manpower....

Nigerians ask why oil funds are missing

by Adam Nossiter New York Times March 10, 2014

LAGOS, Nigeria — Even in a country where untold oil wealth disappears into the pockets of the elite, the oil corruption scheme he was investigating seemed outsize — and he threatened to lay it bare at a meeting with Nigeria’s top bankers....

US takes training role in Africa as threats grow and budgets shrink

by Eric Schmitt New York Times March 5, 2014

DIFFA, Niger — Across Africa, affiliates of Al Qaeda and other Islamist militants are proving resilient and in some cases expanding their influence, from Nigeria to Libya to Somalia, Western and African counterterrorism officials say....

Unravelling Zimbabwe’s “food crisis”

by IRIN News March 4, 2014

Is there a food crisis in Zimbabwe? The UN says 2.2 million people will be in need of food assistance until the end of March, based on a 2013 government-led joint survey by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC). But the government is now questioning those findings....

Under chronic stress, Niger farmers are losing ground

by IRIN News March 3, 2014

Farmers in drought-ridden parts of Niger are facing a dangerous combination of stresses - chronic drought, land degradation, pests and poor seeds - which threaten to throw them even deeper into hunger and poverty....

Increasingly erratic weather has seen maize production decline steeply over the last decade. Photo: Mujahid Safodien/IRIN

Swaziland’s dry spell upends sunny outlook on food

by IRIN News March 3, 2014

A prolonged dry spell with scorching temperatures has undone an optimistic outlook for Swaziland’s harvest of maize, the staple. Instead, experts are now predicting another round of scarcity and hand-outs in the perennially food-insecure country. ...

Niger’s “remarkable” progress in reducing child deaths

by IRIN News February 27, 2014

Niger has made remarkable progress in cutting under-five mortality over the past decade, and it looks set to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on reducing child mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015. But high maternal mortality, skyrocketing population growth and low government capacity are...

South Sudan: ‘One of the most dangerous places to give birth’ (video)

by BBC News February 25, 2014

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes due to continuing violence in South Sudan. Many are in need of urgent health care, with pregnant women at great risk. South Sudan is one of the most dangerous nations on earth to give birth, according to a report from the charity Save the C...

  • World Hunger Education
    Service
    P.O. Box 29015
    Washington, D.C. 20017
  • For the past 50 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.