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Showing posts with label needs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label needs. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

AU Summit: FAO DG says Africa needs collective effort to transform - NaijaAgroNet

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The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu has called for a collective sustained effort, political will and renewed commitment across the African continent, and globally, to transform agrifood systems and deliver better nutrition.
Qu was speaking at a High-Level event on addressing malnutrition in Africa during the 36th ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Emergency: UNICEF needs $3.6bn for 48m children in crises

The UNICEF is urgently in need of $3.6 billion to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to 48 million children living through conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies in 51 countries in 2018, reports NaijaAgroNet.
UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes, Manuel Fontaine disclosed in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, noted that around the world, violent conflict is driving humanitarian needs to critical levels, with children especially vulnerable. Conflicts that have endured for years – such as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, among other countries –  continue to deepen in complexity, bringing new waves of violence, displacement and disruption to children’s lives.

“Children cannot wait for wars to be brought to an end, with crises threatening the immediate survival and long term future of children and young people on a catastrophic scale. Children are the most vulnerable when conflict or disaster causes the collapse of essential services such as healthcare, water and sanitation. Unless the international community takes urgent action to protect and provide life-saving assistance to these children, they face an increasingly bleak future,” Fontaine said.
According to Communication Specialist UNICEF Nigeria, Eva Hinds, parties to conflicts are showing a blatant disregard for the lives of children, hence children may not only be coming under direct attack, but are also being denied basic services as schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure are damaged or destroyed. Approximately 84 per cent ($3.015 billion) of the 2018 funding appeal is for work in countries affected by humanitarian crises borne of violence and conflict.

The world is becoming a more dangerous place for many children, with almost one in four children now living in a country affected by conflict or disaster. For too many of these children, daily life is a nightmare.
The spread of water-borne diseases is one of the greatest threats to children’s lives in crises. Attacks on water and sanitation infrastructure, siege tactics which deny children access to safe water, as well as forced displacement into areas with no water and sanitation infrastructure – all leave children and families at risk of relying on contaminated water and unsafe sanitation. Girls and women face additional threats, as they often fulfil the role of collecting water for their families in dangerous situations.

“117 million people living through emergencies lack access to safe water and in many countries affected by conflict, more children die from diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation than from direct violence,” said Fontaine. “Without access to safe water and sanitation, children fall ill, and are often unable to be treated as hospitals and health centres either do not function or are overcrowded. The threat is even greater as millions of children face life-threatening levels of malnutrition, making them more susceptible to water-borne diseases like cholera, creating a vicious cycle of undernutrition and disease.”

As the leading humanitarian agency on water, sanitation and hygiene in emergencies, UNICEF provides over half of the emergency water, sanitation and hygiene services in humanitarian crises around the world.

When disasters strike, UNICEF works with partners to quickly provide access to safe drinking water, sanitation services and hygiene supplies to prevent the spread of disease. This includes establishing latrines, distributing hygiene kits, trucking thousands of litres of water to displacement camps daily, supporting hospitals and cholera treatment centres, and repairing water and sanitation systems. These measures save lives, have long-term impact and pave the way for other important services like health clinics, vaccination programmes, nutrition support and emergency education.

The largest component of UNICEF’s appeal this year is for children and families caught up in the Syria conflict, soon to enter its eighth year. UNICEF is seeking almost $1.3 billion to support 6.9 million Syrian children inside Syria and those living as refugees in neighbouring countries.

UNICEF said that working with partners and with the support of donors, intends in 2018 to provide 35.7 million people with access to safe water; Reach 8.9 million children with formal or non-formal basic education; Immunize 10 million children against measles; Provide psychosocial support to over 3.9 million children; Treat 4.2 million children with severe acute malnutrition.
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Saturday, June 17, 2017

SDGs: Civil society needs conducive environment to thrive

The Lagos State Coordinator of the Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development (CSCSD), Dr. Adeshina Bello has called on the government at all levels to create a sustainable and conducive environment for the coalition to thrive in carrying out its mandate to the society, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking at a one-day coalition Sustainable Development Conference in Lagos, held at Justice, Peace and Development Centre (JDPC), Bello noted that the environment must be conducive for the members of the coalition including private sector, social sectors, academia, mass media and other stakeholders to ensure that sustainable development  goals are maximally achieved.

“I equally call on drivers of every sector of the economy to collaborate with the government to ensure rapid development today and forever,” he said.

Bello expressed optimism on the anticipated synergy emanating from the conference so as to drive rapid and lasting development not only in Lagos State, but in Nigeria and the world at large.

He pointed out that a conference like this is an indispensable platform or the state and national development and particularly at a period like this in the history of Nigeria.

“Hence, it is very vital for every stakeholder to identify the SDGs, streamline their activities toward maximally achieving the SDGs, identifying gaps, opportunities challenges and be ready to partner with other stakeholders to achieving abundant durable development in all spheres of life,” he urged.

The coordinator further listed the 17 items in the Sustainable Development Goals to include end poverty, end hunger, ensure good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, good jobs and economic growth.

Additionally, he listed industry, innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production;  climate change action, life below water; sustainable use of ecosystem, forest and combat desertification; access to justice for all; and revitalize global partnership.


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Monday, May 1, 2017

Nigeria under-funds fight against malnutrition, needs $912m - Experts

Nigeria is currently under-funding its fight against malnutrition as the nation needs $912 million to tackle the scourge, especially of child malnutrition which is presently pillaging the country, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Revealing this to NaijaAgroNet at a two-day Media Dialogue on “Leveraging Resources for Child Malnutrition in Nigeria” held weekend in Enugu, South-East Nigeria, Director of Nutrition at the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Dr. Chris Osa Isokpunwu, described the situation as a major challenge in the country fight against child malnutrition.

Isokpunwu, who delivered paper on “Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria: What Will It Cost?” lamented that there are currently about 2.5 million severely malnourished children in Nigeria.

The medical expert quoted Federal Ministry of Health figures as showing that not less than $912 million is required to tackle child malnutrition in the country over the next five years if the problem is not to get worse.

He pointed out that the national budget provided only N2.4 million for child nutrition in 2016, while nothing was provided in the 2015 budget and N30 million was provided in 2014 but was not released.

Also, he noted that the budget for child nutrition was created for the first time in Nigeria in 2014, describing child malnutrition as “a silent killer which has to be stopped” in view of its devastating consequences.

In her paper entitled “Child Nutrition Situation in South-East and South-South Zones of Nigeria”, Ngozi Onuora, Nutrition Specialist at the Port Harcourt office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), decried that every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five-year-olds and 145 women of childbearing age as a result of malnutrition.

According to her, this makes the country the second largest contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world.

Onuora equally said, there are multiple dimensions of child malnutrition which could co-exist in individuals, households and populations, including stunting, wasting, micronutrients deficiencies, overweight and obesity. “These are all manifestation of under-nutrition,” she said.

NaijaAgroNet gathered from statistics provided at the Media Dialogue by nutrition experts that malnutrition, though a national problem is much worse in the North.
As said by the experts at the dialogue held on Thursday and Friday, April 28 and 29, 2017, in Enugu, the statistics showed that the total number of children affected by malnutrition in the South-East in 2016 was 34,889 while 6,700 deaths were recorded.

Also, NaijaAgroNet gathered that  in the South-South, 86,304 children were affected, out of which 16,700 died, while the South-West had 84,417 cases and 16,300 deaths; North-West 1,594,462 cases and 308,000 deaths; North-Central 43,635 cases with 8,400 deaths; and North-East 695,998 cases and 134,000 deaths.

Malnutrition, experts say, not only contributes to close to 50 per cent of deaths in children under five, but also results in a massive cost for the nation.


The Media Dialogue attracted print, electronic and online journalists from Enugu, Lagos and Abuja. Moderated by Geoffrey Njoku, UNICEF Communication Specialist, and Mrs. Ibiba H. Bello, Head, Child Rights Information Bureau, Federal Ministry of Information, Abuja, the event featured a broad spectrum of experts who explored various relevant themes. They included Dr. Bamidele Omotola, Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF Abuja; Dr. Ken Ozoemena, Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF Enugu Office; and Onche Odeh, a Communication Consultant among others.

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