HEALTH: WHO malnutrition initiative.

GENEVA, 10 August 2011 (IRIN) - The World Health Organization has launched a web-based information system it hopes will help prevent millions of people from suffering various forms of malnutrition, ranging from under-nutrition to obesity, every year. One of the major challenges in fighting malnutrition has been the vast and often conflicting array of evidence and advice on nutrition information. The e-Library of Evidence for Nutrition Actions (eLENA) eliminates the inconsistent standards and provides authoritative guidelines to tackle malnutrition, said Francesco Branca, WHO's nutrition director. "What we need to do is to make clear what are...

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Oxfam is looking for a new Head of Research

Oxfam's From Poverty to Power maestro, Duncan Green, is moving to a new post of Senior Strategic Advisor. Congrats, Duncan! To read more about his feelings on the occasion and to apply for his role, check out his bl...

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Mercy Corps: Walking for weeks to reach Mogadishu's sprawling camps

Courtesy of Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps Please find below excerpts from Cassandra Nelson's account of her field visit. Read the full text here."I spent several days visiting the camps in Mogadishu where Mercy Corps is working to provide assistance to people who have been displaced by the famine, as well as years of civil war. There are almost 1.5 million displaced people in Somalia — and one-third of them, almost half a million people, are living in camps in Mogadishu.Over the past 60 days alone, an estimated 100,000 Somalis — driven by drought and famine — have fled to Mogadishu in search of food, water, shelter and other assistance. Tens...

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Sharing Water: Connections and Collaboration for the Horn of Africa

Courtesy of Joy Portella/ Mercy Corps On 15th  August, The Humanitarian Forum brought together 61 people from 13 countries to improve connections and collaboration, in partnership with the OIC. They represented multilateral organisations like the UN, Islamic Development Bank  and Red Cross/Crescent movement, western and Muslim international NGOs, and local Kenyan and Somali NGOs. Dr Hany el Banna, Chairman, The Humanitarian Forum said "today is about tomorrow: about what we need to do for recovery and sustainable development, not just fire-fighting". He added, "the humanitarian family needs to come up with solutions as we know the...

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Crisis or no crisis…

That is not a question. For the last three decades, the Horn of Africa has been experiencing famine, drought and ongoing humanitarian crisis. The Guardian newspaper highlights that 50 years ago the region had regular 10-year climate cycles which were mostly followed by a major drought. Now the droughts are becoming more frequent and more desperate as they are lasting longer. The combination of a long, drawn-out civil war, frequent drought and the lack of rainfall every year has lead to many civilians fleeing Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia, a few hundred of thousand to Yemen. Thousands of men, women and children who fled from starvation are...

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