Kerry urged an end to the five year conflict between the government and rebels. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died, while millions more face severe food shortages.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Tag Archives: Syria Crisis
UNICEF doctor says Syrian children need life-saving Plumpy’Nut
Deadly malnutrition is threatening Syrian children says Dr. Rajia Sharhan of UNICEF. Having just witnessed the hunger and suffering in the town of Madaya, Dr.Sharhan said yesterday “It’s becoming here more visible that malnutrition exists in the besieged areas.”
Over 13 million Syrians need humanitarian aid because of the five year civil war. But many Syrians live in areas under siege and blocked by military forces from receiving deliveries of life-saving food and medicine.
Madaya is one of those towns. This month UNICEF and other relief agencies were finally allowed back into Madaya for the first time since October. What aid workers saw was shocking. There was malnutrition and death right before their eyes.
Dr. Sharhan says “Children need Plumpy Nut, Supplementary Plumpy and Plumpy Doz in addition to micronutrient interventions.” Plumpy is an enriched peanut paste which can save children from malnutrition, but only if aid workers can reach them.
Children who suffer with malnutrition will have lasting physical and mental damage unless treated in time. Or they may perish as some have tragically in Madaya and other areas under siege.
Humanitarian agencies are demanding full and regular access to areas under siege in Syria. UNICEF’s Hanna Singer says the relief agency “reiterates its previous call on all parties to the conflict to lift the siege on communities in Syria and provide unimpeded, unconditional and sustained humanitarian access to allow teams to conduct assessments of health, nutrition and other humanitarian needs, the provision of on-site medical and nutritional therapeutic care and the immediate medical evacuation of women and children in critical condition.”
There is hope that a nationwide ceasefire can be implemented which would allow relief supplies to flow into areas of need. The ceasefire would coincide with peace talks in Geneva.
Dr. Sharhan says the relief agencies hope to send another convoy of supplies to the Madaya area on Saturday. The convoy will contain three months of supplies.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger, Uncategorized
Syria Needs Its Own Peace of Christmas Eve
Secretary of State John Kerry says, “the time is now to stop the killing in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government that the long-suffering people of that battered land can support.”
Ending the civil war in Syria can bring relief to the over 13 million Syrians who have suffered from food and medicine shortages. Peace in Syria can rally all the necessary power to defeat the terrorist group ISIS (Daesh) which has thrived because of the chaos of the war.
Clearly we all need peace in Syria. That would be the best holiday gift for the whole world.
See my commentary at The Huffington Post.
Filed under History, Uncategorized
Syria: airstrikes displace civilians, food supplies destroyed
The United Nations says that airstrikes by Syria‘s government and allies have intensified in the northwest part of the country. Also, in a report released yesterday, the Norwegian Refugee Council says relief agencies have been forced to suspend operations in these conflict zones. This at a time when civilians are most in need.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger, Uncategorized
Plumpy’Nut needed in Northern Syria
The food Plumpy’Nut is desperately needed for hungry children in northern Syria, according to a new report released by the United Nations.
Read the update at Examiner:
Filed under global hunger
Buffalo News Oped on Syrian Refugee Crisis
We have seen the heartbreaking images of Syrians in desperate attempts to flee their war-torn homeland. All they want is to find safety in Europe, away from the conflict in the Middle East.
Thousands of Syrians each day are making this dangerous journey. They are tired, scared and hungry. What should the international community do? Start welcoming them.
Read the full article at The Buffalo News.
Filed under global hunger
My Boston Globe column on hunger in Syria
The United States is deploying warplanes to Turkey to step up the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. But we cannot forget the other enemy Syrians are facing — hunger. This may be the most powerful foe of all.
The UN World Food Programme, or WFP, feeds around 4 million people inside Syria each month, but many civilians are still starving. They are trapped by the ongoing civil war, which has destroyed food production and farming.
Read the full article at The Boston Globe.
Filed under global hunger
International cooperation needed to feed hungry Syrians
As Syrian refugees face increasing hunger, we can find inspiration from Egypt’s own history to meet this humanitarian emergency. It was April 1946, when the former United States president Herbert Hoover came to Cairo on an urgent mission.
Famine threatened the globe. President Harry Truman dispatched Hoover as a food ambassador. His goal was to find food supplies that could …
Read the full article at Daily News Egypt
Filed under global hunger
Syria Must Let Food Reach Yarmouk Victims
We, the international community, must speak out for the people left starving by Syria’s civil war. All across Syria, civilians are routinely being blocked from receiving the food needed to survive. The world cannot turn its back on these innocent war victims.
One scene of this ongoing tragedy in Syria is Yarmouk and the nearby towns of Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham. They all need life-saving food right away. Years of civil war has ruined food supplies for this area.
Read the full article at The Huffington Post.
Filed under global hunger
Ike’s Food for Peace to the Rescue in Syria
A program started by President Dwight Eisenhower is a lifeline today for Syria’s war victims. The U.S. Food for Peace initiative is feeding millions of hungry Syrians affected by the brutal civil war.
Last week, Food for Peace made a $65 million donation through the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for Syria. It came just in the nick of time. WFP was about to cut its food aid to Syrian refugees because of low funds. Even with the donation, WFP still cannot restore full rations, showing how much more needs to be done.
Read the full article at The Huffington Post.
Filed under global hunger
Author William Lambers 