By Stan Luchebeleli in Nairobi

THE international community led by the United Nations has sounded alarm bells over what it has termed as the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years and the most affected is Somalia, a country devastated by civil strife in the last two decades due to political instability since the ouster of strongman and dictator Siad Barre in 1992.

According to UN refugee agency director Antonio Guterrres on a visit to the region, this is the “world’s worst humanitarian disaster”, the Star Newspaper of Nairobi reported today, heralding international calls for rapid intervention from humanitarian agencies in the region led by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

Said Mark Graham, the AFSC Director of Development and External Affairs in a dispatch from, Philadelphia, USA, “An escalating food crisis is taking place in the Horn of Africa, creating a situation where at least 10 million people are in need of emergency relief in the region. United Nations officials are calling this “the worst drought in the area in 60 years.”

Graham said AFSC is working in the Dadaab refugee camp on the Somalia-Kenya border and with local partners inside Somalia to support lasting peace efforts before the food crisis began. “Now, our work is adapting to help people survive the humanitarian crisis”, he said.

According to Graham, the AFSC staff in Somalia staff report that more than 1,000 people are arriving at the Dadaab camp in Kenya daily. “The Horn of Africa is facing the worst food crisis in the world today and Somalia is the hardest hit”, he sounded the alarm bells.

He said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; the combination of drought, conflict, and skyrocketing food prices has created the most acute crisis that Somalis have faced in the past 10 years, as he appealed for urgent humanitarian aid to save the many lives threatened with hunger and starvation.

AFSC, he said, would in the short term be coordinating work with local partners to provide assistance and assess the situation to see how AFSC can best be of service in addressing local needs the many suffering in Somalia were facing.

The UN refugee chief Guterrer, on a visit to the Horn of Africa has described the Somalia refugees the poorest in the world. And the German Chancellor Angela Markel, a state visit to Kenya, has promised his country’s assistance to the refugee problem in Dadaab camp when she held talks with President Mwai Kibaki at his Harambee office on Tuesday (July 12).

“As the number of new arrivals keep increasing and more people keep on coming, we have decided to organize and pool our efforts”, Abdiwali Hussein Mohammed, a member of refugee’s organizing committee was quoted by IRIN reporter at the congested Dadaab camp.

In his passionate appeal to the international community, AFSC has asked well-wishers and donors to help respond to the growing humanitarian crisis to maintain AFSC programs by providing the skills for quality livelihoods and conflict resolution that helps lead to lasting peace in Somalia and in the surrounding region.

The agency has opened a webpage http://www.afsc.org/ for gift donations in its crisis fund for relief and peace building in times of crisis. The agency believes the gifts and donations will help AFSC support Africans and others who are trying to survive the food crisis and the ongoing conflicts in the region.

Kenya is feeling the brunt of the humanitarian crisis as thousands continue to trek into Northern Kenya in droves. Food scarcity and high prices of foodstuffs has seen demonstrations in the streets in Nairobi and Kampala. And although Kenya was forced to close her border with Somalia in 2007 due to insecurity and the influx of refugees, new arrivals have continued unabated.

Anna Crumley-Effinger, the AFSC Director for Africa Advocacy and Education says: “Somalia is the epicenter of the crisis in the region and the acute crisis in Somalia will have a more and more severe impact in the region. Overall number of people in crisis in Somalia is now 2.85 million, which means one in three Somalis are affected”.

She warns that funding available to date for carrying out humanitarian operations is less than half of the amount needed. “Lack of funds for food, nutrition and livelihood interventions is particularly concerning. As of 30 June, food interventions are 66 percent funded, while nutrition and livelihood interventions are respectively 38 and 33 per cent funded. If funding is not made available for humanitarian interventions now, the crisis will deteriorate even further. Funds are needed immediately, or thousands more people will die, she said as AFSC headquarters went into worldwide appeal for humanitarian aid to address the crisis in the horn of Africa.

Anna said UNHCR is reporting an average of 10,000 new Somali refugees arriving in Kenya’s Dadaab camps per month (at least 1,300 per day since 19 June) and 5,000-6,000 arriving at Doolow Ado camp in Ethiopia. As of 26 June, a total of 60,200 Somalis were registered in Kenya this year – a more than 100% increase as compared to the same time in 2010.

Three in five children arriving in refugee camps in Ethiopia from southern Somalia are malnourished while in refugee camps in Kenya, more deaths were recorded amongst Somali children in the therapeutic feeding centres in the first quarter of 2011 than the whole of 2010.

Although AFSC was the first U.S. humanitarian agency to directly work on how to solve local problems bedeviling Somalia in co-operation with other European NGOs since 1980s, the thirst for peace in Somalia has compounded the crisis. Peace has always been elusive, making any successive government in the war-ravaged country unable to embark on an agenda of reconciliation, stability and address insecurity and the spiraling food crisis.

This has made the visiting UN refugee chief to call on the warring troops and other actors in the Somalia political crisis to allow humanitarian aid to flow and be distributed inside the country to avoid the malnourished and the poor having to trek hundreds of kilometers into Kenya to get assistance.

sluchebeleli@yahoo.co.uk

ENDS

By Thomas Ochieng (API Kenya)  

The republic of South Sudan is not a mirage at all, at this most defining moment in the history of the world a new nation is to be born. The road to this historic moment has been painstaking. Many lives have been lost, many have been maimed and families torn apart by the longest civil war that lasted for more than 20 years.

All mankind find peace and tranquility in the almighty but in Sudan the religious intolerance towards the almighty has over centuries brought untold suffering and hatred in a magnitude that is impossible to comprehend. The God given natural resources became a curse that resulted in people taking up arms to fight for their survival in their own country. This has made Africa to be referred as a cursed continent, a tag that has lived with the continent for to long a time, yet there isn’t any holy book, the Bible or Qur’an where these forms of hatred and intolerance exists. This is what was known as Sudan through the ages; where by a stroke of pen a secular nation was turned in an Islamic nation without due regards whatsoever, the rest is left to history.

The declaration of independence and proclamation of the republic of South Sudan,is just the beginning of the very bumpy road ahead of this nation. Hopes and aspirations are abundant yet realities will always be different. The destiny of the South Sudan state lies on its people whom have endured a lot we pay tribute to the fallen hero like Dr John Garang who exemplifies the struggle of the people of South Sudan, Late Garang was the leader of this long struggle for liberty, but like Moses he didn’t leave to see the promised land, yet his spirit and aspirations cannot be destroyed by the challenges that are bound to come up as the journey to freedom starts for my South Sudan brothers and sisters. The leadership of this new states owe us Africans and the world peace and stability, the aspirations of the fallen brethren cannot and should not be in vain, let not the pursuit of power and personal riches be more important than the history you shared as a  people. Long live the Republic of South Sudan, its people and its leadership.

End

In July 2011, President Kibaki launched the Open Government Data Portal, which for the first time makes several large government data sets, including national census data, available online to researchers and the general public. Through the Portal, users can compare different data sets, create maps and other graphics and directly download data for their own use.

-Kenya recently partnered with Google to develop an online database of more than 2,000 copies of the Hansard, a record of parliamentary debates from the past 40 years. The database will enable Kenyans to see if their MP was present in Parliament on a given date, his or her contributions to the day’s debate, as
well as his or her voting patterns, all at the click of a button.

-These initiatives represent “a fulfillment of the citizen’s right to access public information, a right introduced by the new Constitution. This right places an obligation on the Government to provide public information in a time and form that is reliable and accessible to the citizen,” said Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza.

Source:  businessdailyafrica. This material is distributed by Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter  & Associates on behalf of the Office of the President of the
Republic of Kenya. Additional information is available at the
Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

ETHIOPIA-SOUTH SUDAN: Obang Ojulu, “I’m doomed to life at way station”

Photo: Jane Some/IRIN

Obang Ojulu at the way station in Malakal

MALAKAL, 12 July 2011 (IRIN) – After fleeing attacks by government soldiers at his home in Gambella region of Ethiopia when he was in high school, Obang Ojulu, 29, has lived most of his adult life as a refugee. Since leaving home in 2003, Ojulu has married and has a child and acquired a driver’s licence but he remains at a way station in Malakal, capital of South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, with about 80 other Anuak families.

Ojulu spoke to IRIN about why he cannot return home:

“I remember government soldiers coming to our area in Gambella and shooting hundreds of people, mostly those from my community, the Anuak. Some people called it genocide.

“When the attacks intensified, it became hard for me and the rest of the students to remain in school. I dropped out and, together with other members of my family, we tried to escape. However, I got separated from my parents, whom I have not seen since.

“I tagged along other fleeing families and, slowly, we made our way to Sudan. I made it to the way station [in Dagarshufu area] in Malakal in 2007 and I have been here since then.

“Although we get food rations from UNHCR [UN Refugee Agency], life at the way station is not easy; when the rations are delayed or when we don’t get the full rations, we have to survive by doing casual work in town. Water is scarce, especially when the bowser does not deliver, forcing us to rely on water that we fetch from the nearby River Nile.

“Right now, it has been two weeks since the bowser delivered water; when we have chlorine tablets, we just drop it into the water we fetch from the river; when we don’t have the tablets we use a cloth to filter the water into the containers we store it in.

“Since our arrival here, only one Anuak student has made it to secondary school although we get help from UNICEF [UN Children's Fund] to keep our young children in primary school.

“My wife does not work; and the driver’s licence I have does not help much because I cannot get work as a refugee. We hear there are plans to settle some of us here in South Sudan; we don’t know when this will happen.

“I would be happy to remain here because I am afraid to return home. I also know there is a case going on about the 2003 killings in Gambella [the Anuak Justice Council, an umbrella organization for the Anuak, has filed a complaint before the International Criminal Court over the 2003 killings in Gambella]; I am watching its development and waiting for its outcome so as to be able to decide whether or not to go back.

“For the time being, I am doomed to life at this way station. If I were Sudanese, like other Sudanese Anuak returning from the north, I would be resettled but since I am Ethiopian, I will remain here. It is a life in limbo.”

js/mw source www.irinnews.org

By Thomas Ochieng (API Kenya)                                                    

Cancer pandemic has for long been seen to be a disease of the more affluent, developed world indeed this disease has for long been referred to as a disease for the ‘rich’, but not anymore.Statistics from the World Health Organization estimates that in 2008, there were 681 000 new cases of cancer in Africa, and 512 000 people died of the disease. It is projected that, should the current trend continue, then that by 2030, these figures will rise to 1.6 million new cases with 1.2 million deaths. This trend is mainly related to rapid urbanization, unhealthy work environments, and the use of child labor which increases exposure to cancer-causing factors. The situation is made worse by the high number of infection-related cancers among HIV/AIDS patients and the high costs of modern treatment of cancer which most African patients cannot afford. It’s on this background that the Africa Cancer Foundation has been launched.

The Africa Cancer Foundation the brain child of the family and friends of Kenya’s minister for Health Prof.Peter Anyan’g Nyong’o a prostate cancer survivor, whom through the harrowing experience of having a cancer patient. The foundation aims at promoting the prevention of cancer in Africa and provides a holistic solution to people affected directly and indirectly by cancer particularly the disadvantaged people. The cancer foundation will also seek to establish best practices across the world creating linkages with cancer facilities through out the world thereby reducing the know-how between the developing and developed world in the treatment of cancer.

During the colorful but somber launched graced by cancer patients and survivors, the gathering were taken through the real life experience of cancer sufferings and tribulations.There was very emotional testimonials from the very young to the old. We were told of the experience of Alexandria Jowi a three year old girl who was diagnosed with leukemia and since the had undergone countless chemotherapy in Kenya, South Africa and recently India where she underwent a successful bone marrow transplant. Then there was Ms Mary Onyango a breast cancer survivor but with sings of new cancer, who was diagnosed for cancer in 1999 and underwent chemotherapy in South Africa, and since then has been a champion of breast cancer awareness in the country. We heard from the beautiful Ms.Jane Likimani a cervical cancer survivor who has undergone through untold pains and suffering in trying to fight the disease. The audience was entertained by ‘princess’Rose Wekesa a 9  year cancer patient whom in spite of undergoing through a very painful treatment course, camouflages her pain by singing and just being a child like the healthy ones.

Cancer treatment and care still remains a challenge to many people in Africa who cannot afford the chemotherapy and expensive drugs that are still not widely manufactured. This foundation launched in Kenya by a sitting health minister is an underscore of the neglect of health sector in this continent. This is a challenge to African governments to invest in provision of health care to its citizens. The prioritization of spending by the Africa’s governments needs a paradigm shift and as a start, the Abuja declaration of allocation at least 10% of the national budgets to the health sector should be adhered to.

Ends.

HIV/AIDS: Debunking the spending backlash

Photo: Allan Gichigi/IRIN

HIV/AIDS funding under scrutiny

JOHANNESBURG, 7 July 2011 (PlusNews) – National AIDS programmes are feeling the pinch as the international community and governments rethink their prioritization of AIDS over other infectious diseases. The withdrawal of support for the fight against HIV is gaining momentum and it is time to get angry, according to Francois Venter, head of the Southern Africa HIV Clinicians Society. He spoke to IRIN/PlusNews about debunking the five major claims fuelling the backlash against global HIV expenditure, drawing on work by University of Cape Town professor Nicoli Nattrass and long-time HIV activist Gregg Gonsalves.

Claim 1: AIDS spending is disproportionate to the disease burden

“People say AIDS shouldn’t be the priority. There are a whole lot of disaffected people who feel they lost out, so they might think it should go to… education, arms or whatever priority they feel is more important. We need to be harsh about this [claim] and say that we’re spending what we should be spending.

“We’ve actually spent so long underfunding health as a whole, and particularly HIV and tuberculosis, that we probably could be spending even more money now [on them].” 

Claim 2: The rise in HIV/AIDS spending has been at the cost of health spending elsewhere

Nattrass and Gonsalves have noted that while the proportion of HIV spending in health budgets globally more than doubled between the early 1990s and 2005, health spending increased generally – a gain Venter said was largely due to the advocacy around HIV.

“We have increased the amount of money being spent on health largely due to the advocacy around AIDS by saying, ‘this is the right thing to do’,” he told IRIN/PlusNews at the recent South Africa AIDS conference.

“If you look at the ‘pie’ it’s much, much bigger than it was 10 years ago. It’s still not big enough but we need to acknowledge that [progress on HIV] is not at the expense of a whole range of other things.”

Claim 3: The AIDS response undermined health systems by creating the “biggest vertical programme in history”

“I think we need to honestly acknowledge the fact that other health programmes are not functioning. I acknowledge the fact that the AIDS programme has been vertical and needs to be [integrated]. I think that AIDS programmes have had minimal impact on other programmes. The challenge for us in the HIV world is going to be to repair the rest of the healthcare system; we’ve made some real strides forward in terms of improving it.”

I cannot understand that in this day and age people have started arguing that we should take away drugs from sick people and turn them to [HIV] prevention

About 70 percent of HIV patients on treatment in the developing world receive drugs funding at least in part by the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria but Nattrass and Gonsalves highlight that more than one-third of the Fund’s money has gone to strengthening health systems.

The authors note that while the AIDS response initially centred around treatment activism focused on antiretrovirals and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, it increasingly moved to other illnesses including tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections and cervical cancer. 

Claim 4: The AIDS response has undermined health systems directly by attracting human resources out of the public health sector

While Nattrass and Gonsalves acknowledge this happened in some cases, they cite a review of studies that concludes that in most cases, the HIV response helped build better public health systems.

Claim 5: Prioritize HIV prevention and radically cut back on AIDS treatment

“This is the one that makes me the sickest and I cannot understand that in this day and age people have started arguing that we should take away drugs from sick people and turn them to [HIV] prevention,” Venter said.

“I don’t think anyone… would argue prevention is properly funded, or has enjoyed the support that everything else gets but to try and pretend that [prioritizing prevention over treatment] is something we can do without losing a lot of sleep over? It’s just rotten.”

Venter quoted Gonsalves, who recently wrote the following in response to the backlash against funding HIV: “So when people say, ‘oh we can’t afford to treat people with HIV. It’s becoming an entitlement,’ we need to reflect on this abject terror: ‘we have what it takes to keep you alive, but we won’t pay for it. Your family is going to watch you die.’

“That’s what it was like eight or nine years ago, that’s what it was like in the United States 15 years ago. We need to tell people when they turn around and say, ‘we just need to spend on prevention,’ that this is what they actually mean,” Venter added. “You’re going to take people [with HIV] and send them back to their families to die and that is not acceptable.”

llg/kn/mw source www.irinnews.org