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On Monday Diane Sawyer hosted a special on Afghanistan for ABC News. She posed the question: Are we winning the war? Well, we are certainly losing the war there against hunger and poverty.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says there are “7.3 million vulnerable and food-insecure Afghans.” You cannot win the peace in Afghanistan if hunger and malnutrition are so widespread.

Part of Sawyer’s coverage for Afghanistan might as well have started back in December when she hosted a 20/20 special, “Be the Change: Save a Life.” One of the features was about the life-saving food for children, called plumpynut.

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine

It was on June 5th, 1947 when Secretary of State George Marshall took to the podium at Harvard University’s graduation ceremonies. In his speech, Marshall proposed a European recovery program for nations lying in ruin from World War II.

He said, “Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.”

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine

Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, is descending deeper into chaos by the hour. Humanitarian needs were massive in the country even before the political unrest and violence began to unfold in recent months.

With the upsurge in violence, there are reports of displacement and shortages of basic goods. Aid agencies continue to be hard at work in Yemen. But will they have the resources to carry out their relief missions in the short and long-term? Typically, many humanitarian operations in Yemen have been underfunded despite the fact the country has a high rate of hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

Read the full article at Examiner.com

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is short $220 million to fight hunger in Afghanistan for the rest of this year. Child feeding programs are already the victim.

The WFP office in Afghanistan reports that shortages of high energy biscuits are preventing 520,000 children from receiving food at school. If low funding continues, an additional 500,000 children will lose school meals in June.

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it’s resuming the hunger relief mission in the Sa’ada governorate of Northern Yemen. Along with its partner, Islamic Relief, WFP is bringing food aid to people who have been victimized by the years of conflict between the government and Al-Houthi rebels. Recent unrest in Sa’ada had temporarily suspended WFP activities to bring food to the hungry.

Photo from last year showing destruction is Sa'ada City resulting from the conflict between the Yemeni government and rebels (Aysha Twose/Save the Children)

The Sa’ada region is desperately in need of food aid, medical supplies, reconstruction, and a lasting peace. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the years of fighting, leading to lost livelihoods and increased risk of hunger and malnutrition.

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine

“Do not wait to be appointed “boss” to be a leader.” This is what Josette Sheeran, who directs the UN World Food Programme, told graduates at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

But what if a whole group of people decides to become the “boss,” at least for a while?

Take what happened back in 1947 when a train whistled across America making stops in various cities as it headed East. This may not seem out of the ordinary. But the purpose of this train most certainly was.

Read the full article with video at American Chronicle

The political unrest and violence in Yemen are not the only battles ongoing in the impoverished country. The smallest children in Yemen have their own struggle against deadly malnutrition. Yemen has one of the highest child malnutrition rates in the world.

A convoy of three trucks loaded with UNICEF emergency supplies funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), makes it through to Sa’ada on 19 May 2011 (Mohammed Al-Asaadi/UNICEF)

That is why three UNICEF trucks with life-saving plumpynut arrived in Sa’ada governorate in Northern Yemen last week. Plumpynut is a special peanut paste which can give small children the nutrition they need to survive.

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine

This month the UN World Food Programme (WFP) will launch an emergency safety net operation to provide rations to hungry Yemeni families. However, only four out of 14 intended areas, or governorates, in Yemen will receive the rations. GianCarlo Cirri, WFP’s Yemen director, says, “We would need additional funding to cover for the 10 remaining governorates.”

Yemen is currently experiencing massive political instability with a powerful protest movement pitted against long-time President Saleh. Food instability has been raging for years in the poorest country in the Middle East.

Read the full article at Blogcritics Magazine

Who suffer the most from this tragedy? Children. Last year three Yemeni children got to voice their message of hope for their embattled country. This was part of an interactive event hosted by Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations. Bashir Shalili, a boy from Yemen said, “We don’t want war. We want peace. We have the right to education.”

Read the full article at the Yemen Times or Blogcritics Magazine.