PHILIPPINES: Nutrition gains at risk

from IRIN via AlertNet

In the Philippines, one out of four children is considered underweight or stunted - telling signs of nutritional problems. But this figure, which translates into four million children under 10 being undernourished, is considered an improvement, according to the country's Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI). In the early 1990s, 30 to 40 percent of the same age group were found to be either underweight, stunted or in a worse physical condition.

With the surge in global food prices, however, these gains are at risk. The Philippines is one of the world's largest importers of rice and food security is one of the major determinants of nutritional status, according to specialists.

On 14 April, the Council for Health and Development, a local NGO, issued a statement calling for genuine agrarian reform to address the food crisis, warning that "it will not be surprising if the Philippines shall take the place of sub-Saharan Africa as first in rank in terms of malnutrition incidence", if proper measures are not put in place. About a third of children under five in sub-Saharan Africa are underweight, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

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SRI LANKA: Snakes and Ladders

from IRIN

Disaster management experts in Sri Lanka have found a novel use for the snakes and ladders board game - training children in disaster mitigation. The snakes represent disasters while the ladders are mitigation methods. When a player gets to a snake he slides down on the board but when he reaches a ladder he moves up.

The game forms part of a disaster awareness programme conducted at schools in 16 districts around the country by the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, part of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

"Children are aware of disasters," UNDP field coordinator for the programme, Zihan Zarouk, told IRIN, "but they have limited knowledge of how to face them or their aftermath."

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INDONESIA: Because you're worth it - HIV and the hairdressers

from IRIN

A visit to the barber’s shop or hairdressing salon in Indonesia could entail far more than a shave or a trim - a lesson in HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it.

The French-based international company L’Oréal, with the support of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in December 2007 established a programme to encourage Indonesian hairdressers to discuss HIV/AIDS awareness with their clients.

The L’Oréal campaign -“Hairdressers of the world against AIDS”- was launched in May 2005 in South Africa and has been going in 15 countries, including India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the UK and Brazil. UNESCO has provided educational materials for the awareness training seminars.

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INDONESIA: Firm action needed in confronting bird flu pandemic

from IRIN

As the Indonesian government moves to stem the spread of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its latest report stated that Indonesia’s bird-flu situation remains "critical”.

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China pressed over Tibet at U.N. human rights body

from AlertNet

China came under pressure at the United Nations' human rights forum on Tuesday to ease its clampdown on Tibet by lifting curbs on movement and information and not using force in the restive Himalayan region.

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PHILIPPINES: Seeking to rebuild lives swept away by mudslides

from IRIN

Despite a string of typhoons over several weeks starting in September 2006, no one expected the devastation that typhoon Reming (Durian) would cause to Albay Province in the eastern Philippines on 30 November 2006.

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SRI LANKA: Boosting capacity in “psychological first aid”

from IRIN

When school teacher M. Shihama was put in charge of a class of unruly slow learners earlier this year, her heart sank.

“At first, I was reluctant to take them on,” said the social science teacher at Al-Falah high school in Negombo in the western Gampaha District, fearing they were just troublemakers “But then I found that the children were actually miserable because they had been told they weren’t as good as the others."

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PAKISTAN: Social stigma hampering efforts to fight TB

from IRIN

Uzma Hassan (not her real name) will never forget the day almost five years ago she was told her son, then aged 10, had contracted tuberculosis (TB).

"He had been coughing and losing weight, but we never thought of TB, because, frankly, that's a sickness associated with poor people," Hassan, aged 40, told IRIN. "We couldn't believe it when the doctor told us he had tested positive for TB."

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SRI LANKA: Flash floods displace thousands in war-torn area

from IRIN

More than 50,000 people have been hit by flooding in northwestern Mannar District in Sri Lanka since 12 March, the government said. The area has witnessed intense clashes between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the last six months, restricting access to relief agencies.

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TIMOR-LESTE: IDPs begin to return home as security improves

from IRIN

A month after the attacks in Timor-Leste that left rebel leader Alfredo Reinado dead and President Jose Ramos Horta wounded, some of the 30,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) living in camps throughout Dili, the capital, are returning home.

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Set Us Free

from YouTube

This video was created after a recent trip to Bangladesh and India to look at various opportunities for adolescent girls.

The song - which speaks to the power of the coming generations of girls - is from Peter Buffett's upcoming release "Imaginary Kingdom."

Kosovo's First Month

from International Crisis Group

A month has passed since Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008. Much has gone well, but there is a real risk, as made most evident with the violence on 17 March around the courthouse in north Mitrovica,[1] that partition will harden at the Ibar River in the north, and Kosovo will become another frozen conflict. To seek to prevent this, more countries must recognise and embrace the new state, the international missions (European Union and NATO) must be more proactive and coordinate their operations and, most importantly, it must be demonstrated to Serbia, supported by Russia, that it will not be permitted to break up the new state.

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Philippines: Conflict IDPs in Mindanao face shortages

from OCHA via ReleifWeb

Baikongan Ismail sits in a small airless schoolroom in Datu Piang, a mountain of plastic chairs piled behind her. The classroom has been home to her family of six for three months, ever since renewed armed hostilities between competing local clans, backed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), forced them to evacuate their farm in Barangay Pandi in mid-December 2007.

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Foreign donors back away from Indonesia AIDS fight

from AlertNet

Foreign donors who have propped up Indonesia's fight against AIDS/HIV are poised to slash their funding programmes, partly because they now consider Indonesia a middle-income country, officials said on Wednesday.

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UN aids flood victims in Kazakhstan as heavy snows melt

from UN News Centre

United Nations units are coming to aid of flood victims in southern Kazakhstan, where heavy rains and rapidly melting snow have displaced more than 13,000 people following Central Asia’s harshest winter in decades.

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Nepal: IDPs being neglected by government, say aid workers

from OCHA via ReliefWeb

Local and international aid agencies struggling to get internally displaced persons (IDPs) back to their homes are concerned about an alleged lack of government interest in their plight.

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AFGHANISTAN: Returnees struggle to find shelter (video)

from IRIN

Thousands of Afghans have been returning home from neighbouring countries in the past year with little hope and prospects. In 2007, over 360,000 returned. Under the government’s current three-year plan, all Afghan refugees are expected to come back by the end of 2009.

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Taliban hampering Afghan polio vaccination: health officials

from Agence France Presse via ReliefWeb

Taliban-linked unrest has hampered a polio vaccination drive in Afghanistan where four more cases of the crippling disease were recorded this year, health officials said Tuesday.

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As half a million face hunger, aid to Tajikistan underfunded – UN

from UN News Centre

More than half a million Tajiks could soon face food shortages as a severe winter turns to flooding and an appeal for $25 million remains only one-quarter funded, a United Nations spokesperson said today.

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Afghan mothers give children opium (video)

from IRIN via AlertNet

Afghanistan is the world's leading producer of opium. Villagers in remote areas of Badakhshan Province, north-eastern Afghanistan, have been using opium as a substitute for medicine for years. They are oblivious to the harm it can do to their health.

There is no official data about the number of drug addicts in Badakhshan. However, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) says one million people are addicted to drugs there, 45,000 of whom are women.

This video short shows a women's opium smoking session in the village of Jukhan, tucked away in mountainous Badakhshan. While efforts are being made to rehabilitate drug addicts in the village, Bibi Mulla, her relatives and friends smoke opium at home and give it to their children up to three times a day.

Watch the video