MASSIVE AID EFFORT CONTAINS GROWTH OF MALNUTRITION IN DARFUR KHARTOUM – Despite the deteriorating security situation in Darfur, a new United Nations assessment has found that overall malnutrition levels have mostly stabilized in 2006 and food insecurity has improved slightly thanks to a stronger international response to the suffering in Sudan’s war-torn west.
HARVEST PROSPECTS FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA PROMISING BUT LONG-TERM PROBLEMS PERSIST JOHANNESBURG – James T. Morris, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, said on Thursday that southern Africa may be on the cusp of better harvests but the underlying causes of the region’s four-year crisis still remain and must be addressed.
WFP CONCLUDES OPERATION IN LEBANON BEIRUT – The United Nations World Food Programme today concluded a three-month successful operation in Lebanon to provide food assistance to over 810,000 Lebanese who were affected by the bombardment of Lebanon during this summer’s Middle East crisis.
UN AGENCY HEADS URGE PRESIDENT KIBAKI TO PREPARE FOR WORSENING DROUGHT AND PLEDGE CONTINUING SUPPORT FOR DROUGHT AFFECTED CHILDREN AND FAMILIES Nairobi 2 March 2006 The Executive Directors of the World Food Programme and UNICEF, James T. Morris and Ann M. Veneman, will meet Kenya President Mwai Kibaki today to urge an even stronger focus on the catastrophic impact of the deepening drought.
HISTORIC HUMANITARIAN HELICOPTER SERVICE WOUND UP IN PAKISTAN ISLAMABAD - The largest humanitarian helicopter operation ever organised by the United Nations ended today after having successfully transported nearly 30,000 tons of aid supplies and tens of thousands of aid workers and other passengers to the Pakistan-administered parts of Kashmir struck by a devastating earthquake eight months ago.
WORLD’S FIRST HUMANITARIAN INSURANCE POLICY ISSUED ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme announced today that AXA RE has been awarded the world’s first insurance contract for humanitarian emergencies. The contract provides US $7 million in contingency funding in a pilot scheme to provide coverage in the case of an extreme drought during Ethiopia’s 2006 agricultural season.
