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According to Pennsylvania Senator Robert Casey, “we must be prepared to address a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis” in Yemen. Chairing a Senate hearing last week Casey emphasized, “The U.S. needs to send a message of clear solidarity with the Yemeni people, that we are concerned for their well-being and the prospects for their future.”

Meanwhile, humanitarian resources remain severely lacking within Yemen, with children particularly vulnerable. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), as well as UNICEF, lack adequate funding to carry out hunger relief missions which would help stabilize the country.

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine

At a refugee camp in Kenya, a Somali mother feeds PlumpyNut to her malnourished child. Photo: Laura Sheahen/CRS

With drought and famine striking East Africa, children are at great risk of severe andeven deadly malnutrition. What can save the children? Plumpy’nut, a special peanut paste which aid agenices are using in the field right now.

Laura Sheahen of CRS shares these two photos of  plumpy’nut at work in a refugee camp in Kenya, where many Somalis have fled in search of food.  Children under age 5 are most at risk in a hunger crisis because without the right nutrients they can suffer lasting physical and mental damage. So quick intervention is the key.

If you want to save children then give them plumpy’nut. How do you do this? One way is through the Catholic Relief Services East Africa Emergency Fund. Please see my article on the CRS appeal.

Also Edesia, a Rhode Island based producer of plumpy’nut, is collecting funds for East Africa. Read more about Edesia here.

Article first published as Catholic Relief Services Issues Appeal to Save Starving People in East Africa on Blogcritics.

We all live on the same planet, but there are two different worlds. In one world, food is so plentiful you can choose from hundreds of varieties within a square mile of your home. In the other world, some small children go for days without one thing to eat.

Shelters dot a refugee area in Dadaab, Kenya. Thousands of refugees are flooding into Dadaab every week. Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

This is what is tragically happening in East Africa as Somalis flee their homeland to escape the severe drought that has descended. Children perish in this desperate search for food. Others are severely malnourished as they arrive in refugee camps. The UN World Food Programme says over 11 million people need food aid. In parts of Somalia famine has been declared.

Somali children are dying of starvation as their families flee the drought conditions in their homeland.

The massive drought in Eastern Africa is putting around 10 million people in desperate need of aid in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and parts of Uganda. The drought has ruined food supplies for an already impoverished population.

Read the full article at Yahoo! Associated Content

Jeff Hillard, a College of Mount St. Joseph English teacher and editor of RED! Magazine , just delivered supplies to the Landmark Church’s Food Pantry in Cincinnati, Ohio. With tough times hitting the region, pantries like this one are in need of donations perhaps more than ever.

In the case of Landmark Church, Hillard explains the pantry hopes to receive regular supplies from the Freestore Foodbank , the Cincinnati area’s largest emergency food provider. The need is great with food insecurity rates in Cincinnati and throughout Ohio at about 17 percent, according to Feeding America . That is an alarmingly large percent of the population struggling to get food on the shelves.

Read the full article at Examiner.com

The Obama administration recently stated the urgency of “resolving the political crisis in Sanaa so that the Yemeni Government and people can successfully confront the serious challenges they face.”

The terrorist group Al Qaeda is clearly one of these major challenges. So too are hunger and malnutrition, which are fast on the attack throughout Yemen. The U.S. and its allies have to enact a food for peace plan now.

Hunger has only intensified in Yemen since the political unrest unfolded between President Saleh’s regime and those seeking his removal. Food prices have gone up, families are now being forced to skip meals as they struggle to afford anything. Malnutrition rates, already high, are likely to go even higher.

Fighting in Southern Yemen between the government and militants allegedly linked to Al Qaeda is adding to the country’s humanitarian crisis.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other aid agencies are feeding those displaced by the conflict. WFP said this week: “While past clashes in Yemen have tended to lead to temporary displacement, it appears as if the current displacement in the south will be quite protracted.”

WFP has a plan to distribute rations to millions of hungry Yemenis, including the newly displaced. However, WFP remains about $60 million short on funding for its Yemen hunger relief mission.

In addition, UNICEF needs to have sufficient stocks of ready-to-eat foods like Plumpy’nut which can save the smallest children from lifetime damaging malnutrition. This has been an overlooked area of the utmost importance.

So what you have is hunger-fighting missions, which can do a lot to stabilize and give hope to Yemen, that are lacking in international donor support.

Food can revitalize nutrition levels. It can bring hope at a time when turmoil could drive the country into chaos. Food can stimulate the education system when used in school feeding. Food can also support work projects to rebuild the country. Food is a powerful tool for peace and progress.

In addition, food is about the most inexpensive foreign policy investment that can be made. A coalition of nations does not have to expend very much to deploy food for peace.

George Marshall’s famous European recovery program was set up by a less famous, but extremely important, interim aid food package. That is the kind of project Yemen needs right now as the country either can tip toward peace and political reconciliation, or can slide into chaos, poverty, Al Qaeda-domination and suffering.

Article first published as U.S.- Yemen Partnership Can Mean Food for Peace on Blogcritics.

A hunger crisis is raging throughout the globe, afflicting nearly one billion people. In the Horn of Africa millions are at risk of starvation in a region plagued by a severe drought and conflict.

High food prices and malnutrition are rampant in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan, and so many other countries. However the U.S. Congress, as it plans its next budget, is proposing reducing international food aid. These cuts would impact the U.S. Food for Peace and other global hunger fighting programs.

Save the Children is one of the aid agencies on the front line of fighting hunger. Nora O’Connell, a senior policy advisor for the charity, talks about these potential budget cuts to food aid and what it will mean in the struggle to end global hunger. Most important of all, she answers how you can have your own say in determining U.S. food aid policy.

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine.

The Congress is proposing budget cuts to international food aid as it prepares the FY 2012 budget. There is a strong push for cuts to reduce federal spending. But is cutting Food for Peace and other hunger fighting programs the right place to go? Robert Zachritz, director of advocacy for World Vision, voices his opinion.

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine.