Category Archives: Aid

Infant mortality in Venezuela has doubled during crisis, UN says

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UN security council officials clash over ‘politicised’ aid to troubled country as peace-building chief warns of ‘grim realities’

Infant mortality in Venezuela has soared by roughly 50% during the prolonged political crisis in the country.

Briefing the UN security council, the UN’s political and peace building chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, depicted a devastating collapse in Venezuela’s health system. She warned that 40% of medical staff had left the country and said hospital stocks of medicine had dwindled to 20% of the required level.

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More than half of $2.6bn aid to Yemen pledged by countries involved in war

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Saudi Arabia, US and UAE among top donors at summit to ease crisis in country where they are fighting or selling arms

More than half of $2.6bn (£1.9bn) in donations at a special one-day conference to ease humanitarian crisis in Yemen was pledged by countries that are either fighting in the civil war or selling arms to those undertaking the fighting.

The UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres nevertheless hailed the money raised and the news that talks had led to the UN finally gaining access to a grains facility near Hodeidah port that contains enough supplies to feed more than 3m people for a month.

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UN target of $4bn in aid for Yemen reliant on Saudi and US pledges

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Dominant donors to record appeal to alleviate suffering of civil war will include countries leading aerial bombing campaign

The international community will gather on Tuesday to try to raise more than $4bn to help alleviate the suffering and famine caused by Yemen’s civil war, but will find itself heavily dependent on three combatants in the conflict – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the US – to reach its fundraising target for 2019.

The $4.2bn (£3.2bn) target for 2019 – the largest sum sought for any single year since the start of the civil war in 2015 and an increase of 33 % on last year – will be the focus of an all-day pledging conference in Geneva.

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Weakened aid budget may be used to fund $2bn Pacific island infrastructure bank

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Aid groups fear money will be diverted from the aid budget, risking doors ‘closing to us in Asia’

Aid groups fear the federal government is on the verge of taking more money from the strained aid budget to fund a $2bn infrastructure bank for Pacific island nations.

Prime minister Scott Morrison announced the Australian infrastructure financing facility last year as part of Australia’s “Pacific step up”, which is aimed at combatting rising Chinese influence in the region.

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Trump has turned foreign aid into shabby political theatre | Peter Beaumont

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Stalled relief supplies for Venezuela at the Colombian border are a stark illustration of Trump’s crudely transactional approach to aid

In their grey livery, the US Air Force C-17s shuttling into Camilo Daza airport in Cúcuta, Colombia, look more belligerent than friendly – which is, perhaps, the point.

In the city itself, the planes’ cargo – boxes labelled USAid and intended for distribution by the Venezuelan opposition just across the border – are accumulating in the town’s warehouses.

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I witnessed the purgatory of people trapped in Syria’s Rukban camp | Marwa Awad

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Constant hunger and thirst haunt those stranded in the desert, where escape means paying vast sums to smugglers

Between the southern border of Syria, Jordan and Iraq lies a stretch of land akin to purgatory. More than 40,000 people are stranded in Rukban, almost 300km from Damascus.

Families here are cut off from the world, facing hunger and lacking healthcare, transport and education.

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Roger Waters condemns Richard Branson’s Venezuela aid concert

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Virgin says event ‘is not a political statement and the US is not involved’

The Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has criticised an upcoming Live Aid-style concert to raise funds for humanitarian aid for Venezuela, by claiming it is a US-backed effort to tarnish the socialist government.

Related: Maduro government and Richard Branson to hold rival Venezuela concerts

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US aid for Venezuela arrives in Colombia, but delivery uncertain

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Juan Guaidó calls on military to let supplies in, but President Maduro denies any crisis

A US military transport plane carrying humanitarian aid meant for Venezuela has landed in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta, where food and medicine is being stored amid uncertainty over how and where aid will be distributed.

The shipment on Saturday is the second arrival of large-scale US and international aid for Venezuelans, many of whom have scant access to food and medicine, since the opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president last month in defiance of the socialist president, Nicolás Maduro.

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Trump’s unseemly haste shows World Bank must no longer be in thrall to US

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The race to head the World Bank opened with the US candidate already known. Other countries must stand up and be counted

With characteristic lack of restraint, the Trump administration last week jumped the gun on the World Bank presidential election process by naming David Malpass as its preferred candidate to succeed Jim Yong Kim.

The formal nomination process, which did not begin until the following day, is based on selection principles agreed in 2011 that put the emphasis on an “open, merit-based and transparent” appointment. It is high time those principles were put in practice.

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UK aid funding must not be privatised | Letter

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Proposals to refocus aid as private investment could weaken support for vulnerable people worldwide, says Claire Godfrey

Proposals by the international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, to refocus UK aid towards for-profit investment risks weakening support for the people who need our help the most, and compromising the work Britain does to make the world a safer, healthier and more just place to live in (Report, 30 January). The Department for International Development has a long-standing history and reputation as a world leader in helping millions of people worldwide to access clean water, healthcare, better jobs and education. DfID’s focus on ending extreme poverty has secured a global reputation that Britain is proud of and one which we continue to champion. Any move to expand the role of private investment in international development must reflect the basic and shared human values underlying charity, humanitarian aid and development, and not prioritise the pursuit of profit over tackling poverty.
Claire Godfrey
Head of policy and campaigns at Bond, which represents over 400 UK NGOs working in humanitarian aid and development

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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Penny Mordaunt criticised over call for aid to come from private sector

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International development secretary says she wants DfID to become more a fundraising than a spending department

Penny Mordaunt has been criticised by charities and MPs for suggesting the government’s international development spending should become more reliant on private sector investment and philanthropy.

The international development secretary told cabinet ministers she would aim for her department to become a fundraising department rather than a spending department, telling them it was unsustainable to continue to meet the spending target with taxpayer cash.

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MPs pass counter-terror bill amendments to protect aid workers

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Move follows calls to exempt people working in conflict zones from bill that would make it an offence to visit terror hotspots

MPs have passed amendments to the government’s latest counter-terrorism bill to try to protect British aid workers and journalists from facing criminal charges in conflict zones.

The controversial draft bill, aimed at tackling Isis fighters travelling abroad, allows the home secretary to declare somewhere a “designated area” and make it an offence for UK nationals and residents to be there. The bill orginally allowed individuals – including humanitarian workers, journalists and academics – to be investigated by the police and ultimately face 10 years in prison.

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UN refugee chief: I would risk death to escape a squalid migrant camp

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Filippo Grandi calls on rich countries to give proper funding for developing nations that host people fleeing conflict

The head of the UN refugee agency has said he too would do “anything” to escape if he was stuck in a squalid refugee camp, as he called on the world’s wealthy nations to properly fund services in developing countries.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Filippo Grandi, the high commissioner for refugees, said countries are not getting enough recognition for hosting refugees, and that he would campaign for Cairo to receive more bilateral development aid to support its efforts.

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‘Real risk’ of refugees freezing to death in Syria after rains destroy shelters

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As temperatures fall, aid workers warn of danger to at least 11,000 people across Idlib, with storms also battering camps in Lebanon

At least 11,000 child refugees and their families are facing a weekend of freezing temperatures with no shelter, after torrential rains across Syria’s Idlib province swept away tents and belongings.

Aid workers warn there is a real risk people will simply freeze to death as temperatures have already dropped to -1C, amid a shortage of blankets and heating fuel.

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Maggots could be sent to Syria by UK to help clean wounds

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The plan is part of an initiative, co-sponsored by the DfID, to help those affected by conflict or humanitarian crises

The UK government is taking part in a pioneering international aid project which could see consignments of maggots sent to crisis zones such as Syria as a simple and effective way to clean wounds, it has been announced.

So-called maggot therapy was been used in the first world war, when their efficacy in helping wounds heal was discovered by accident, and it is sometimes used in the NHS, for example to clean ulcers.

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Yemen: Houthi rebels’ food aid theft only tip of iceberg, officials say

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Questions over relief effort multiply as it emerges aid officials knew for months of armed groups diverting food

The theft of food aid in Yemen by Houthi rebels might be only the tip of the iceberg, officials believe, as questions multiply over international relief efforts in the famine-ravaged country.

It has emerged that aid officials have been aware for months that armed groups – most prominently Houthi rebels in the capital, Sana’a – have been diverting food aid into the key areas they control, including by manipulating data in malnutrition surveys used by the UN.

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From abuse to abortion laws: the world’s 12 hot topics in 2018 | Liz Ford and Sneha Lala

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We cast a look back at the issues that dominated the headlines in the past year, from the devastation in Yemen to the trauma of Rohingya refugees

The year was dominated by allegations of sexual abuse and harassment in the aid sector, and anger at the failure of those in power to believe and support those making them.

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The world in 2018: how much do you know? – quiz

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The year began with the Oxfam scandal and ended with a withering verdict on the food we eat. What do you remember?

Allegations of harassment at aid agencies and charities were frequent in 2018. Which organisation was branded 'a boys' club' by one employee?

UN Women

UNAids

Oxfam GB

ActionAid

Students in Cape Town scored a world first by creating a bio-brick from which substance?

Human saliva

Cow's milk

Horse manure

Human urine

Which singer came out in support of a Brexit-beleaguered Theresa May, suggesting the PM's gender made her a target for unfair criticism?

Lady Gaga

Paloma Faith

Kate Bush

Rae Morris

In a report condemning the 'diabolical state' of our diets, nutritionists found that more than four in 10 children worldwide consume what daily?

Chocolate

Cake

Crisps

Sugary drinks

Researchers at Harvard University believe it may be possible to protect countries in the global south from climate change using what?

A gigantic sunshade in the sky

Blanket distribution of sunscreen

A gigantic heat-absorbing sponge

Tibetan prayer beads

Which of the following food staples is threatened by a virulent fungus that could wipe it out of existence?

Wheat

Potatoes

Bananas

Chocolate chip cookies

Scientists working in Tanzania have developed an innovative method of diagnosing tuberculosis – involving the use of what?

Giant pandas

Giant armadillos

Giant frogs

Giant rats

In a speech on equality at the UN, which actor said she was tired of 'being undervalued, undermined and disrespected, because of my gender'?

Sienna Miller

Nicole Kidman

Gal Gadot

Emma Watson

Ethiopian girl band Yegna made headlines after losing UK aid funding. To which British girl band have they been compared?

Girls Aloud

The Spice Girls

The Saturdays

Sugababes

To which of the following did the Trump administration NOT make aid funding cuts in 2018?

Abortion services

Palestinians

Polio

Pakistan

10 and above.

Take a bow, you're a bonafide newshound!

7 and above.

My, my, now that was impressive – you really didn't miss much in 2018, did you?

4 and above.

A solid effort. Let no one say you ignored the headlines in 2018

0 and above.

Oops. It would seem the world passed you by somewhat in 2018. Was it all that talk of Brexit and Trump?

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