Africa

In a recently released report, the international aid organization Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim or ACF) warns that a famine may occur in southern Sudan unless immediate action is taken.

Once again a population faces starvation—and disastrously, once again no one is paying attention.

On Sunday, August 28, the international relief organization Action Against Hunger (ACF) sent an airplane from Barcelona to Niamey, capital of Niger, carrying more than 20 tons of humanitarian aid to deal with Niger's food crisis.

In response to the ongoing crisis in Niger, the international aid organization Action Against Hunger (ACF) has begun distributing 3,000 tons of food to 153,000 people. Action Against Hunger has also begun treating 27,000 malnourished children in the area, and plans to increase its response by opening additional centers to treat children suffering from severe malnutrition.

The international aid organization Action Against Hunger is stepping up its response to stave off a famine that the UN warns could affect 2.5 million people—800,000 of whom are children.

The international relief organization Action Against Hunger (ACF) called on the United States, as well as the other Group of 8 countries, to intervene in an emergency in northern Mali and Niger.

Humanitarian aid organization Action Against Hunger (ACF) has dispatched an emergency operation to attend to the most vulnerable groups that are being displaced in search of water, food, and grazing land for their animals - their only source of nutrition and income.

One week from the end of the 30-day deadline imposed by the United Nations Security Council, and with African-Union sponsored peace talks underway between rebels and the government, the humanitarian situation for the Darfur population continues to be of great concern.

The rainy season has worsened the situation in terms of hygiene for already-destitute populations who have been displaced many times. In addition, the heavy rains have hampered the international aid effort.

According to 28 nutrition surveys implemented in southern Sudan in 2003, the estimated average prevalence of global acute malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition, expressed in Z-scores, were 20.8% and 3.6% respectively. In 2002, the estimated average rates of GAM and SAM were 26% and 5% respectively, suggesting an improvement of the nutritional situation in southern Sudan.

Refugees from the eastern province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo returned to their homes this week only to find that government and rebel troops had stolen their belongings, pilfered or destroyed at least sixty percent of the harvested crops, and looted a number of hospitals and therapeutic feeding centers run by Action Against Hunger / Action Contre la Faim (ACF) , according to an evaluation conducted by the international humanitarian organization.