Meeting set to discuss unending cycle of drought and food insecurity in Africa

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] Experts and leading thinkers in agriculture, climate change and the environment will gather in Nairobi from April 10-13 at the World Agroforesty Centre.

They will review innovative ways to tackle Africa’s unending cycle of drought and food insecurity. The meeting, Beating Famine, comes in the wake of another food crisis sweeping across the Sahel region of Africa, through Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania.

The conference, a joint initiative by World Vision and the World Agroforestry Centre, will bring together policy-makers from across Africa, leading agriculture/food security/environment experts, international NGOs, donors, academia, practitioners and the media.

“The world watched as millions suffered from famine in the Horn of Africa last year and now that suffering is spreading to parts of West Africa,” said conference organiser Rob Francis. “These crises are calling for a long-term sustainable approach to food insecurity and famine, and we believe the answer lies with a greater emphasis on the environment and better agricultural practices.”

It will focus on practical, low cost and proven techniques to reverse land degradation and deforestation, lift incomes, adapt and mitigate against climate change, and ultimately prevent famine.

 According to Dennis Garrity, UN Drylands Ambassador and senior fellow at the World Agroforestry Centre, “The national planning segment of the conference will be particularly significant. Governments and NGOs throughout the East African region are now partnering to implement national scaling-up programmes to create an evergreen agriculture based on smallholder adoption of trees for enhanced soil fertility, and fodder, fruit and fuelwood production. Accelerating the widespread use of these practices would have an enormous impact.”

“In essence, we hope to spark a regreening movement that transforms thinking across the world,” said World Vision East Africa climate change and environment specialist Assefa Tofu. “Governments, development organisations and also the community must learn to see the power of simple, effective environmental techniques as a new way of tackling hunger.”

Various presentations will be made at the conference by high level delegates, as well field trips and demonstrations.

A demonstration of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) will be conducted by FMNR pioneer Tony Rinaudo on Friday April 13 in Kijabe, Kenya. FMNR has helped make great advances for the food security and economic sustainability of farmers in eight countries across Africa and three in Asia.

Small-holder farmers in Côte d’Ivoire to receive IFAD’s US$22.5 million grant

Ochieng' Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] Small-holder farmers in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, especially rural young people and women will receive US$22.5 million from The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD to help improve food security and incomes.

The grant agreement for the Support to Agricultural Production and Marketing Project was signed in Rome on 16 March 2012 by Janine Tagliante-Saracino, Ambassador of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire to Italy, and Kanayo Nwanze, President of IFAD.

About two-thirds of the population in Cote d’Ivoire is engaged in farming, forestry and fishing sectors. Agriculture contributes to about 24 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product with rice, maize, cassava, plantains, yams grown as staple foods, while cocoa, coffee, timber, rubber and palm oil are for export.

The country’s economy is still highly dependent on agriculture despite increasing importance of oil and gas production.  The poor rural people particularly small producers without access to appropriate technologies, services and markets have been left vulnerable by a long period of civil conflict and the new IFAD-supported project is expected to provide sustainable rural development in the context of a post-crisis environment in Savanes, Bandama Valley and Zanzan regions in the North.

To improve food security and household incomes in these regions, the project will enhance farm production by helping small producers to access improved seeds and mechanized equipment for tillage and harvesting.

The project, Cofinanced by the government of Côte d’Ivoire, will also support local processing of agricultural products through improved infrastructure and marketing, and will emphasize training and empowerment of smallholder farmer organizations. It is expected that the project will help smallholders move towards profitable, market-influenced farming, in which the market determines the investment strategy and production choices.

This new project will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and benefit more than 25,000 poor rural households, including women and young people.

Leaders call for global “bold action” to enhance food security.

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

Rwanda is striving to rebuild its economy with coffee and tea productions, which are significant sources of foreign exchange, the country’s president, Paul Kagame, told the 35th Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on Wednesday.

In his opening remarks, Kagame urged the international community to “be bold and try what has not been done before. We must learn from what has worked and adapt these models to suit smallholder farmers. The reality in most developing countries is that smallholder agriculture remains the source of livelihood and food supply. Every farmer counts.”

Nearly two-thirds of the Rwandese population live below poverty line but in the past five years progress has been made according to Kagame who noted that the country’s gross domestic product has grown at an average of 8 per cent.

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze pledged at the meeting to pull up to 90 million people out of poverty, saying that long-term rural development is the key to poverty reduction. He pointed to IFAD Member States’ commitment to a target of US$1.5 billion in new contributions for IFAD’s Ninth Replenishment of resources – a 25 per cent increase over IFAD’s last round of fund-raising.

Nwanze promised that IFAD would continue to be “the voice of the smallholder farmer, fisherperson, pastoralist, the landless farm worker and of women and youth.”

Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, in his maiden address to a United Nations agency since he took office, commended IFAD’s focus on women and reaffirmed Italy’s support for IFAD and the other Rome-based food agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Programme.

The Italian leader underscored the “interdisciplinary” nature of development efforts that involves various factors including empowerment.

“Giving women equal access to agricultural resources and inputs is one of the most powerful ways of reducing poverty and hunger,” he told the packed room of international leaders and journalists. “I strongly encourage IFAD to continue to focus on this important dimension in all of its activities.”

The vice president of Liberia, Joseph Nyuma Boakai, said that ending hunger in the country was a priority and strengthening ties with IFAD will make a real difference. “We can’t keep falling back on emergency food. We must commit ourselves to sustainable agriculture,” he added.

Although the Western Africa nation is endowed with natural resources and the potential for self-sufficiency in food, it has been suffering from persistent high unemployment, low literacy and the absence of basic infrastructure such as adequate roads, water and electrical services.

In the delegates plenary session on that day, Lindiwe Majela Sibanda, CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), a regional policy and advocacy network for southern Africa, discussed the promise that the Rio+20 Conference may hold for agriculture.

“The last five years have been frustrating, when agriculture was outside of the discussions about climate change,” Sibanda said. "For the first time in history, agriculture is part of the discussions.”

The Rio+20 meeting, to be held in June, will focus on two themes: developing a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and an institutional framework for implementing these objectives.

Development leaders and heads of state or government gathered for the opening of to discuss the world’s most urgent problem: how to feed the world and protect the planet at the same time.

The meeting’s theme is sustainable smallholder agriculture. Small-holder farming supports 2 billion people providing up to 80 per cent of the available food in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia.

Nearly 1.2 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods, particularly important in Latin America where they cover 40 per cent of the region’s land area. An expert panel drawing on the experiences of Mesoamerica’s indigenous people and forest communities discussed how best to support the sustainable management of forests in Latin America at the IFAD meeting that ended Thursday.

“Crops for the Future” was the title of a discussion that focused on how improved crop varieties can enhance the resilience of smallholder farmers in the context of climate change.

Fifteen million children suffer from chronic malnutrition in Africa, Kenya worst hit.

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] Africa is now a home to 15 million children suffering from chronic malnutrition compared to 1990. This is figure is expected to reach 8.5 million by the close of this decade if no serious interventions are taken.

 A global report by Save the Children released February 15 revealed that, today, two in five African children or 60 million children are malnourished.

The report says that in Kenya, the number of children suffering from malnutrition has increased since 2003 and more than a third of the total children, 35.5 per cent, suffer from chronic malnutrition currently.

According to the report, 'A Life Free from Hunger: Tackling Child Malnutrition, the situation worsened last year as a result of the drought that affected the arid and semi-arid regions of northern Kenya.

Progress to tackle malnutrition has been slower in Kenya and Africa generally than anywhere else in the world. Soaring food prices and economic downturn in the last year has made it even harder for families to buy enough of the right food for their children.

Half of the world’s malnourished children live in five countries – Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, India and Bangladesh –where half of all families have been forced to spend much less on food according the report.

The report is a snap-shot of the hardship that families are facing in countries where, even before food price spikes, many of the poorest children were already surviving on a diet dominated by a basic staple meal such as white rice, maize or cassava, which have very low nutritional value.  

Save the Children has shown that rising food prices and malnutrition are putting additional pressure on countries with already high burdens of child mortality.

The report warns that over the next 15 years, a further half a billion children’s lives around the world will be left blighted by malnutrition unless something is done now.  

Prasant Naik, Kenya Country Director, Save the Children UK says, “The government of Kenya has made some achievements in reducing hunger and malnutrition. However, the country still lacks a strong political will to tackle child malnutrition, or nutrition champions to lobby for the right policies and practice. There is very weak coordination between the authorities and aid agencies and funding levels for hunger and nutrition have remained low with a greater focus on other sectors.”

Naik applauds the response to last year’s drought but is concerned that chronic malnutrition is not receiving the response it demands. “Chronic malnutrition is suffered by millions of Kenyan children and who remain relatively neglected. This is a crisis that we cannot ignore any more as mortality rates due to malnutrition continue to rise. Stunting impedes the mental and physical development of a child. The child can never reach their full potential, and that undermines the human capital to drive the economy.”

Malnutrition is said to be accounting for a third of all child deaths worldwide, or 2.6 million per year. But it continues attract lo profile investment as opposed to other causes of child mortality like HIV, AIDS or malaria. Child mortality rates from malaria have been cut by a third since 2000, but child malnutrition rates in Africa have decreased by less than 0.3 per cent.

 Human and economic costs occasioned by chronic malnutrition are huge. A chronically malnourished child can have an IQ of up to 15 points less than a child properly nourished. Kenya, it is estimated, lost 95 billion shillings due to stunting in 2010 while the cost of child malnutrition to the global economy was nearly KShs. 10 trillion. 

A substantial increase in investment will be required to expediting practical and basic solutions, which have a high impact on tackling malnutrition. The 1,000 days between pregnancy and age two are the window of opportunity and intervention that are most important to focus on this period.

Iron and foliate supplementation during pregnancy, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, micronutrient supplementation, complementary feeding, good hygiene practices, de-worming and zinc supplementation have proved effective. Additionally, better investment in cash transfers targeted at the poorest families can reduce families’ vulnerability to fluctuating food prices. 

Save the Children has celled for increased budgetary allocation to the health sector, specifically to nutrition related interventions and a multi-sectoral engagement to fund and implement the National Nutrition Action Plan, the country’s blueprint on nutrition intervention.

The organisation also wants nutrition indicators included as a measure for economic growth along with infrastructure, favourable investment environment and sound fiscal policies.

“Malnutrition is increasingly recognised as one of the biggest threats to sustainable economic and social development, but not receiving the commensurate funding and more children continue to die every hour. We need to appreciate the gravity of the situation and take action to channel the manpower, the intellect and resources, coupled with the much needed political will to alleviate malnutrition,” said Wanja Gitonga, Every One Campaign Manager, Save the Children.

“We know what works, but we need an emphatic political will to prioritise malnutrition, keep it at the top, scale up intervention at the national and sub-national levels.”

Facts:

►The survey results showed that in India, one of the world’s biggest boom economies and where half of all children are stunted, more than a quarter of parents surveyed said their children went without food sometimes or often.

►In Nigeria, nearly a third of parents had pulled their children out of school so they could work to help pay for food.

►In Bangladesh, 87 per cent of those surveyed said the price of food had been their most pressing concern in 2010. 

WHO Announcement on HIV and Injectable Contraception a Responsible Step Forward

MEDIA STATEMENT

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the results of a technical consultation examining the potential link between hormonal contraception and HIV risk. On the advice of its Guidelines Review Committee, WHO concluded that current medical eligibility criteria recommendations should remain—that women at high risk of HIV infection can continue to use all existing hormonal contraceptive methods (oral contraceptives, injectables, patches, rings, and implants) without restriction. It also recommended that women at high risk of HIV who choose progestin-only injectable contraception should be strongly advised to also use condoms and other preventive measures. WHO also called for expansion of the contraceptive method mix and further research on the relationship between hormonal contraception and HIV.

Below is a statement by Population Council president Peter Donaldson in response to the WHO announcement:

"The Population Council welcomes today's announcement from the World Health Organization, which was based on a careful review of the scientific evidence. Many women and men in developing countries where maternal mortality and HIV risk are high urgently want to plan their families and prevent HIV. Today's guidance protects women's rights and health by recommending that women have access to highly effective contraceptive methods, are fully informed about potential risks and benefits, and receive counseling on how to stay safe.
"WHO recommended that providers strongly advise women at high risk of HIV who choose progestin-only injectable contraception to also use condoms and other preventive methods to reduce their risk of HIV. This will encourage clinicians to provide women with full information about potential risks and benefits of contraceptive methods, without unnecessarily impeding access to them.
"For sixty years, the Population Council has conducted important biomedical, social science, and public health research to develop new contraceptive methods and improve the delivery of family planning and other reproductive health services. Today's announcement underscores the need for new, multi-purpose products that prevent both HIV and unintended pregnancy—and for new contraceptive methods that better meet the family planning needs of women in developing countries. The Population Council's Center for Biomedical Research is working on both."

For more information, visit http://www.popcouncil.org/topics/reprotech.asp

Some African sex workers are naturally HIV resistant, a new research has revealed

By Ochieng Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] A new research has revealed that some African sex workers are naturally HIV resistant. The research that was led by Dr. Michel Roger of the University of Montreal Hospital Centre and the university’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology found that HIV-resistant sex workers in Africa have a weak inflammatory response in their vaginas – a surprise for the researchers, who were expecting the contrary considering the women’s high exposure to the virus. “In this part of the world, women represent over 60 per cent of HIV cases, and this proportion continues to increase,” Roger said in a press release.

“Studying women who are naturally resistant to the virus enables researchers to identify interesting information in terms of developing vaccinations or microbid gels that could prevent transmission of HIV.” The word microbid refers to something that is able to destroy microbes.

Roger and his team has been working with women from Benin and Zimbabwe over the past fifteen years to get a better idea of the immune and molecular mechanisms involved in the transmission of HIV.

These countries were targeted because of the high number of infected women and the existence of natural resistance in some of them. The study found out that when these women come into contact with the virus, the immune system cells in their vaginas produced fewer inflammatory molecules (cytokines and chemokines) than the same cells in HIV-infected women.

These molecules play a role in activating and recruiting “lymphocyte T-cells” that normally attack and destroy viruses. However, HIV is cunning and actually uses the T-cell to invade the body. “Fewer T-cells means fewer target cells available for the virus to use,” Roger explained.

The researchers discovered that the immune response was very different in the women’s blood than in their vaginal mucous membrane. The findings show that it would undoubtedly be more effective to develop vaccinations that would block the virus at the entry point to the body rather than try to fight it once it is already established within the body’s system.

“AIDS vaccination research has entirely focused on the blood stream and this approach has been a failure,” Roger said. “Our research shows that the immune response is different at the site of the infection, and that we should turn to the entry points in order to find a means for blocking the virus.” A vaccination of this kind could be administered via the nose and would immunize all mucus membranes in the body.

Research will continue in order to better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the vaginal immune response. Scientists suspect that genetic factors may be at play, as it has been discovered that sisters living in similar circumstances have the same HIV-resistant profile.

Roger’s latest published research in this area appeared in the PLoS One edition of September 2011. The study “High Level of Soluble HLA-G in the Female Genital Tract of Beninese Commercial Sex Workers Is Associated with HIV-1 Infection” received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Réseau SIDA of the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec.

Many still lack access to energy worldwide

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] The world has made massive gains in access to electricity over the last two decades but governments and development organizations must continue to invest in electrification to achieve critical health, environmental, and livelihood outcomes, a new research in Worldwatch’s Vital Signs says.

Between 1990 and 2008, close to 2 billion people worldwide gained access to electricity but the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that more than 1.3 billion people still lack access to electricity, while the United Nations estimates that another 1 billion have unreliable access.

The UN General Assembly has designated 2012 as the “International Year of Sustainable Energy for All,” providing an opportunity to raise awareness of the extent and impacts of the electrification challenge.

It is estimated that, at least, 2.7 billion people, and possibly more than 3 billion, lack access to modern fuels for cooking and heating.

This lot relies instead on traditional biomass sources, such as firewood, charcoal, manure, and crop residues, known to emit harmful indoor air pollutants when burned.

These pollutants, the study says, cause nearly 2 million premature deaths worldwide each year, an estimated 44 percent of them in children. Among adult deaths, 60 percent are women. Reliance on traditional biomass also contributes to adverse environmental impacts, including forest and woodland degradation, soil erosion, and black carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change.

There is massive variation of electrification between rural and urban areas in developing countries.

For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, the rural electrification rate is just 14 percent, compared with 60 percent in urban areas.

The study has called for improved cook stoves saying they can play an important role in reducing energy poverty, enabling people to utilize more modern fuels or to use traditional fuels more efficiently.

They can double or triple the efficiency of traditional fuels, reducing indoor air pollutants. Consuming less fuel also saves time and money, leaving people with more disposable income and allowing them to invest more in their futures.

A growing number of governments, international agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and businesses are working to overcome energy poverty, focusing in particular on the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

To date, 68 developing-country governments have adopted formal targets for improving access to electricity; 17 countries have targets for providing access to modern fuels, and 11 have targets for providing access to improved cook stoves.

According to the IEA, some US$1.9 billion was invested worldwide in 2009 in extending access to modern energy services, such as electricity and clean cooking facilities.

The agency projects that between 2010 and 2030, an average of $14 billion will be spent annually, mostly on urban grid connections. But this projected funding will likely still leave 1 billion people, largely those who live in the most remote areas of developing countries, without electricity.

It says that average annual investments will need to rise to $48 billion to provide universal modern energy access.

The study says that the largest populations lacking access to electricity are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These two regions jointly account for more than 80 percent of all people worldwide lacking electricity access.

But in Latin America, electricity access is generally quite high, at 93.2 percent overall, but Haiti remains a regional outlier, with only 39 percent of its population having access.

Asia has the largest number of people that rely on traditional biomass for energy, with 836 million in India alone. Altogether, 54 percent of the population of developing Asia relies on traditional biomass fuels.