Seattle, U.S.A. – While drought conditions persist in West Africa, putting millions in peril, more than 150,000 teens across America will sacrifice this weekend to take part in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine, the world’s largest teen hunger awareness campaign.

Since 1992, 30 Hour Famine has raised more than $140 million, involving more than 6 million teens in fighting global hunger. This year, part of 30 Hour Famine funds will go to address the food crisis in West Africa (Mali,Niger, Senegal, Mauritania and Chad). The food crisis continues in the Horn of Africa as well.

Almost 15 million people across the Sahel (in West Africa) need food now. One million children suffer from severe malnutrition. According to a World Vision field study almost 90 per cent of people there estimate their food will run out before the next harvest. Every family surveyed said they’ve cut back on how much food they eat daily because there’s not enough to go around.

Many are forced to sell their animals to buy food but this is flooding the market causing livestock prices to plummet. Children are dropping out of school because families leave in search of food. Nearly one third of the population are still in debt from the last widespread crop failure in 2009.

This weekend, April 27th - 28th, teens nationwide prepare for the 21st annual 30 Hour Famine, forsaking food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world’s poorest children face. Prior to the event, teens raise funds by explaining that $1 can help feed and care for a child a day. As they fast, teens consume only water and juice as they participate in local community service projects.

In 2011, 30 Hour Famine raised$9.5 million with funds going to fight global hunger. This year’s goal: $11 million. More than 850 million people will go to bed hungry tonight. World Vision is a relief and development organization reaching more than 100 million people worldwide.

World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine Manager Michele Tvedt was in the Horn of Africa recently. “I’ve seen poverty on every continent but this is the worst. Mothers burying their children in the desert – these are decisions no one should have to make. But American teens are standing with them.” Tvedt has personally done 30 Hour Famine for 13 years, adding up to more than 420 hours of fasting over the years.

Michele Tvedt is available for interviews. Here’s a link to a video: http://bit.ly/JD11rA

For info: www.30hourfamine.org or call 800-7-FAMINE or visit www.facebook.com/wv30HF

About World Vision – World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty.  World Vision serves the world’s poor regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org.

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New York, U.S.A. – As malnutrition reaches emergency levels across the Sahel region of West and Central Africa affecting at least one million children, UNICEF partner UPS has sprung to action to provide transport for the first aerial shipment of lifesaving UNICEF supplies to Mauritania this year, a country within the affected region.

The UPS flight, departing from Cologne, Germany on April 22 early morning contained 102,000 pounds of critical UNICEF relief supplies including nutrition, health, education, water, sanitation, and hygiene items.

UPS worked quickly with UNICEF to coordinate the shipment of relief items from various locations including UNICEF’s Supply Center in Copenhagen, in addition to Madrid, Lier, and Toulouse for delivery to Nouakchott, Mauritania on Sunday, April 22. Flying in supplies dramatically reduces the delivery time to affected communities.

“UPS understands that during humanitarian emergencies, the need to move supplies quickly is essential and can mean the difference between life and death,” said U.S. Fund for UNICEF President and CEO Caryl Stern. “We are extremely grateful that UPS has once again donated its expertise and services, this time to help UNICEF deliver lifesaving supplies to the one million children at risk in the Sahel region, and for their ongoing support in times of emergency.”

UPS has consistently supported UNICEF’s preparedness and emergency relief efforts, responding to the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010 by offering volunteers, logistician experts, and transport services. They also donated a charter flight carrying 24 metric tons of critical UNICEF relief supplies last November from Copenhagen to Nairobi for children affected by the severe drought in the Horn of Africa.

“Logistics plays an incredibly vital role whenever a humanitarian crisis occurs, which is why UPS has lent its expertise for many years to bringing critical logistical support to areas of the world affected by disease, drought, and other disasters,” said UPS International President Dan Brutto, a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

“For example, we just completed a temperature-controlled move of flu vaccine from the U.S. to Laos.  With this drought situation in the Sahel region, millions of lives are at stake and UPS is proud to be working with our partners at UNICEF to provide timely, life-saving supplies to the people of West and Central Africa.”

An estimated 15 million people are affected by the drought in eight countries across the Sahel, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and northern Cameroon, Nigeria, and Senegal. UNICEF needs more than $60 million for immediate relief operations to save children’s lives and prevent a humanitarian disaster from unfolding.

During a recent visit to the region, UNICEF’s Executive Director Anthony Lake called for an urgent escalation of humanitarian efforts to bring about an end to the crisis. Women and children in the Sahel are suffering from the impact of multiple threats—poor harvests because of drought, high food prices, and insecurity in parts of the region. Due to recent unrest in Mali, approximately 200,000 people have been displaced to neighboring countries – including Mauritania – exacerbating the hunger crisis there.

In January and February, tens of thousands of children were treated for severe acute malnutrition at nutritional rehabilitation centers that are filling up fast with the start of the “lean season”—the period between harvests that is traditionally the worst time of the year in a harsh environment with difficult logistics.

How to help: To make a tax-deductible contribution please contact the U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Website: www.unicefusa.org/sahel
Toll free : 1-800-FOR-KIDS
Mail: 125 Maiden Lane, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10038

Image Courtesy of   hdptcar

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The humanitarian situation in South Kordofan that has garnered international concern, and which some have now exploited to push an agenda of intervention, prompted the formation of a joint assessment team composed of UN agencies (UNICEF, WFP, WHO, FAO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs. Their report just concluded that the humanitarian situation in the region is at “Normal levels” and that food security is “good” and stable for the conflict-affected population of 53,220.

The survey covered a sample of 53 villages in the region and found the levels of malnutrition among children under the age of five to be at 4.4 percent, a figure that is far below 15 percent which constitutes the United Nation’s rate of emergency. These sobering findings emphatically refute and contravene the claims of imminent catastrophe claimed by scaremongers.

These encouraging statistics are a function of the humanitarian interventions dispensed by the Government and partners aimed precisely at mitigating the impact of the conflict on the population. The assessment further notes the need for coordination between the humanitarian actors and recommends an extension of the period of food assistance in order to avoid shortages while concurrently generating programs for supplementary and therapeutic diet.

It also calls for creating quick impact projects in host communities to support farmers, pastoralists and traders. While the government and partners continue to provide assistance, there ultimately remains a security threat posed by the rebels who continue to launch attacks against civilians and deliberately destroy their livelihoods. Still, this stresses the need on all stakeholders and the peace-loving to pressure the rebels to abandon this destruction and pursue peace.

Sudan continues to call on South Sudan to recognize its negative role in this crisis and cease its support to the rebels. And in order for the U.S. and those pushing for an intervention to play a constructive role, they must look at the facts on the ground not the exaggerated allegations.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/sossaheluk/

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