KERALAMONITOR .COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L N E W S ZIMBABWE: Re-admission to Commonwealth a step closer
ZAMBIA: Families surviving on 38 percent of food requirements
JOHANNESBURG, 10 February (IRIN) - More than 75 percent of Zambians living in the country's Southern, Western and Lusaka provinces do not have a secure source of food and many households throughout the country are surviving on only 38 percent of their daily food requirements, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said in its latest report. According to the Zambia Food Security Update released on Friday, the estimated number of people who will need food aid until March/April rose from 26 percent of the total population to 28 percent - 2.77 million people.
This was partly attributed to low availability of maize in rural areas, resulting in sharp increases in maize prices after August. "Most households simply cannot afford to purchase maize now, even if it is available in the local markets," FEWS NET said.
To survive, households have reduced the amount they eat and were found to be relying more on wild foods than in recent years. Assessments by the multi-agency vulnerability assessment committee (VAC) indicated that half the households had average incomes below US $11 per month between last August and December, which paid for only 38 percent of a family of six's food needs. This did not include money for schooling or basic items like soap and matches. Families had also been unable to sell livestock to raise money for food due to an outbreak of anthrax and contiguous bovine plural pneumonia in North-Western Province. The ban has since been lifted, but a new ban has been imposed in part of Western province due to another anthrax outbreak.
The committee found that HIV/AIDS in Zambia was depleting human and financial capital and that 25 percent of rural households with chronically ill members did not harvest cereals during 2001 to 2002. The presence of a chronically ill family member could result in a 58 percent reduction in income from cash crop sales, most households' primary source of income. They also faced enormous funeral expenses, and 60 percent of these families were no longer sending their young children to primary school.
Food prices rose significantly towards the end of last year, eroding households' buying power and limiting their access to food. The government has blamed the private sector for failing to meet commercial import expectations and millers have been accused of hoarding maize in anticipation of price hikes, thereby creating artificial shortages. In January the government announced that it would import over 200,000 mt of maize to reduce prices but this has not yet started arriving in the country, FEWS NET said. The organisation warned that uncertainty was high among farmers, millers and the government, creating conditions for speculation. It also warned that mis-timed importation would lead to a loss of confidence in maize production and marketing with possible implications in maize production next year. "We are hoping to meet all our beneficiary targets in February and March through increased imports and by distributing government stocks, which are scattered around the country,"
Somalia : Hijacked ship's crew escape from captors
NAIROBI, 10 February (IRIN) - A foreign ship and its crew, held for six months by Somali militiamen, escaped on Saturday from the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, a local journalist in Bosaso told IRIN on Monday.The North Korean-registered, Greek-owned cargo ship was originally seized by over a dozen gunmen in speedboats last August off the coast of Puntland.
The ship and its crew, initially held at the coastal village of Bareda, 150 km east of Bosaso, had been moved to the coast near Bosaso a month ago, said the journalist. Most of the militia left the ship after its owners refused to pay the initial ransom demand of US $1 million. Only four militia were left and "two of those decided to go to Bosaso to buy qat [narcotic leaf] on Saturday", he said.
"The six crew members somehow managed to disarm the remaining two, and took off with the ship," the journalist told IRIN. Other sources in Bosaso told IRIN that the ship was suspected to have dumped toxic waste in Somali territorial waters, and "that is why no one has officially come forward to claim ownership". A number of ships have been hijacked off the Somali coast since the outbreak of civil war in Somalia in the 1990s. Many of them have been accused of illegally fishing, while others have been accused of dumping toxic waste.
11 February 2003
WHO AND FIA JOIN EFFORTS FOR ROAD SAFETY
Leaders from around the world will meet in London today in a joint effort
to improve road safety and reduce road traffic related deaths. Among them,
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization
(WHO), Max Mosley, President of the Federation Internationale de
l'Automobile (FIA), and ministers from several countries. With experts in
road safety, they come together to expose the phenomenal increase in road
traffic injuries in recent years.
In 2000, over 1.2 million people were killed due to road traffic
incidents, making it the world's 9th leading cause of death. By the year
2020 this figure is projected to nearly double. In addition to the
staggering death rates, injuries due to road traffic crashes are a major
drain on health and health care system resources. Data show that in some
countries, 1 of every 10 hospital beds is occupied by a victim of a road
traffic crash. Although car ownership is greater in industrialized than
developing countries, studies show that in 2000, 90% of all traffic
fatalities occurred in low- and middle- income societies. The majority of
the victims of these incidents were people who will never be able to
afford a car: pedestrians, cyclists and users of public transportation.
"The human suffering for victims of traffic-related injuries and their
families is incalculable. In strict economic terms, the costs associated
with surgery, prolonged hospitalisation and long-term rehabilitation for
such victims, in addition to their lost productivity, represent tens of
billions of dollars each year. These costs seriously compromise prospects
for development" said Dr Brundtland. "We must multiply our efforts to
prevent people from falling victim to road traffic collisions."
The conference, hosted by the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and
Society, will focus attention on the trend of rising road traffic
injuries. "Poor road safety causes one of the greatest inequities in the
world today. More than a million people - the vast majority in the poorest
countries of the world - are being killed each year, often because
unsuitable vehicles are being driven on unsuitable roads by poorly trained
drivers. These are the forgotten victims of road crashes" said Mr Mosley.
Conference participants will also review proven strategies for reducing
road traffic injuries. "The main obstacles for improving road safety are
ignorance about the magnitude of the problem and its preventability" says
Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of Injuries and Violence
Prevention, WHO. "If policy makers were fully aware of the gains to be
achieved by implementing policies on issues such as drunk driving,
speeding, motorcycle helmets, and visibility, many lives could be saved."
Looking ahead, the Director-General of WHO has dedicated World Health Day
2004 to "Safe Roads", creating an opportunity to draw the general public's
attention to the growing but preventable problem of road traffic injuries.
This day will also be an occasion to launch the joint WHO/World Bank World
Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention - providing facts on the global
magnitude of the problem and pointing out directions for road traffic
injury prevention.