Pakistan News Service

Friday Mar 29, 2024, Ramadan 19, 1445 Hijri
Logo
LATEST :
Pakistan News Home -> Tribune Corner -> News Details

UN says Pakistan has food 'emergency', but donors look elsewhere

25 June, 2013

  Related News  
Pakistan hosts highest number of refugees: UNHCR
Pakistan calls for abolishing veto in UNSC
  Related Articles  
Appraisal of UN address
By Malik Muhammad Ashraf
United Nations & the Global Social Development
By Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
  Related Speakout  
Pakistan and India in General Assembly
58th Session of United Nations General Assembly
  More on this View All

PESHAWAR: Hunger in Pakistan is at emergency levels after years of conflict and floods, but funding has dwindled as new crises such as Syria grab donors' attention, the United Nations food aid chief said on Sunday.

Fighting in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan compounded problems caused by three consecutive years of floods that destroyed crops and forced millions of people to temporarily abandon their homes.

Although most have now returned, about half of Pakistan's population still does not have secure access to enough food, up from a little over a third a decade ago, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said. Fifteen percent of children are severely malnourished, and some 40 percent suffer from stunted growth.

"This is an emergency situation, both from the food security side as well as from the malnutrition side," WFP chief Ertharin Cousin told Reuters. "We need to raise the alarm."

At a centre for treating acute malnutrition in Pakistan's Swat Valley, visited by Cousin on Sunday, a young mother called Zainab clutched her underweight 2-month-old baby and waited for a high-nutrition food ration.

"When the area was evacuated, we left our cattle and our homes, when we came back our cattle were dead and our homes were destroyed," said Zainab, who wore a black burqa.

There is growing concern that international donors will lose interest in the unstable border areas after the withdrawal next year of U.S.-led foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Already, Cousin said, the rising cost of the refugee crisis in Syria meant it was harder to attract funds to Pakistan.

WFP's Syria-related operations currently cost $26 million a week, and are forecast to rise as high as $42 million a week by the end of the year, putting a strain on Western donors.

North Korea is even worse hit by funding shortages, Cousin said, partly due to a drop in donations noticed at the beginning of this year, when Pyongyang threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States.

"We are significantly under-funded in DPRK going into this lean season, and we are very concerned about what that means," said Cousin, who called off a visit to North Korea during the tensions in March. She said she still planned to visit.

End.

 What do you think about the story ? Leave your comments!

Heading (Optional)
Your Comments: *

Your Name:*
E-mail (Optional):
City (Optional):
Country (Optional):
 
 
Field marked(*) are mandatory.
Note. The PakTribune will publish as many comments as possible but cannot guarantee publication of all. PakTribune keeps its rights reserved to edit the comments for reasons of clarity, brevity and morality. The external links like http:// https:// etc... are not allowed for the time being to be posted inside comments to discourage spammers.

  Speak Out View All
Military Courts
Imran - Qadri long march
 
Candid Corner
Exclusive by
Lt. Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Pakistan itself a victim of state-sponsored terrorism: Qamar Bajwa
Should You Try Napping During the Workday?
Suggested Sites