SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS

In Brief

Appeal No.01.21/2004;

Programme Update no. 2;

Period covered: July to November 2004;

Appeal coverage: 58.6%;

Outstanding needs: CHF 2,146,843 (USD 1,896,500 or EUR 1,391,300).

Click here to go directly to the attached Contributions List, also available on the website.Appeal target: CHF 5,184,993 (USD 3,894,098 or EUR 3,337,619)

Now, Bolton and his colleagues see one child die every day.

"In the past, death was an uncommon event in children, especially after the newborn period," said Bolton. "Now we've seen a complete reversal of the gains we made in the 1960s, '70s and '80s."

In the early 1960s, nearly one in five

HARARE, 27 December (IRIN) - A senior prison official has warned of widespread malnutrition and disease in Zimbabwe's jails, due to a shortfall in funds for food and medicines.

Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZBS) chief accountant Rosemary Kanonge told parliament's portfolio committee on justice and legal affairs earlier this month that, apart from the shortfall in funds, overcrowding in Zimbabwe's jails would also worsen the situation.

The country's prisons have the capacity

HIGHLIGHTS

● UNICEF’s “The State of the World’s Children 2005”, shows that more than half the world's children, over 1 Billion, are suffering extreme deprivations. Almost all indicators show that children in sub-Saharan Africa are in most dire need. HIV/AIDS is playing a large role in their scarcities.

● Results of the assessment of locust infestation are expected in January.

RIACSO provides support to national efforts in addressing the southern African triple threat of food insecurity, weakened capacity for governance and HIV/AIDS and ensures cohesion and complementarity of the effort at a regional level. In addition, RIACSO supports the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, Mr. James Morris, in his mandate to raise awareness of the situation, its underlying causes and to provide recommendations on how to strengthen the response and mobilise donor support.
REGIONAL AND COUNTRY SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENTS

HARARE, 22 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe has over 20 laws relating to children's rights, but implementation is weak and many of the laws breached the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), according to a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report.

The document, 'Children and Women's Rights in Zimbabwe, Theory and Practice', attributed the gap between theory and practice to administrative constraints, socioeconomic challenges and a lack of human and financial resources.

Although Zimbabwe had comprehensive laws

Rome, 20 December 2004 - Despite normal or above-average food production in some countries during 2004, food security in sub-Saharan Africa has taken a hit from a combination of factors, including drought, invasions by crop-devouring locusts and civil conflicts, says FAO's Africa Report, published today.

All told, 23 countries in the region

(A) Highlights

(B) Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe: (1) Afghanistan, (2) Azerbaijan, (3) Iran

(C) East and Central Africa: (1) Burundi, (2) DR Congo, (3) Ethiopia, (4) Kenya, (5) Republic of Congo, (6) Rwanda, (7) Sudan, (8) Tanzania, (9) Uganda

(D) West Africa: (1) Chad, (2) Cote d'Ivoire, (3) Guinea, (4) Liberia, (5) Sierra Leone

(E) Southern Africa: (1) Regional, (2) Angola, (3) Lesotho, (4) Malawi, (5) Mozambique, (6) Namibia, (7) Swaziland, (8) Zimbabwe

(F) Asia: (1) Bangladesh, (2) China, (3) DPR Korea, (4) Myanmar