Aid agencies have warned that the West African country of Niger will fall into famine unless the world takes immediate action.
More than 15 million people across West Africa are affected by a hunger crisis. Agencies have been pleading for early intervention in the land-locked region of Niger for six months.
But as previous famines show, help usually arrives late, and only after the world has been shocked by pictures of starving children.
Denise Brown from the World Food Program fears mass starvation is now inevitable.
Save the Children welcomes the announcement by Minister Carr to increase humanitarian aid to the Sahel region of West Africa where 13 million people are at risk of severe hunger.
The announcement lifts the Australian Government’s aid package to humanitarian relief organisations responding to the West Africa food crisis to $20 million, still way short of the $128 million contributed by the Australian Government to help tackle last year’s food crisis on the other side of the continent in the Horn of Africa.
Australian tuberculosis experts aim to help Vietnam reduce prevalence of disease as part of $1.3m healthcare programme
Mike Ives for SciDev.net, part of the Guardian development network
Australia and Vietnam are working together to tackle tuberculosis (TB) in Vietnam, which has one of the highest rates of the disease in Asia. An initial $1.3m (£820,000) has been allocated for a partnership project in which Vietnam is receiving advice from Australian TB experts to apply at all levels of its healthcare system.
Australian aid officials recently went on a field mission to Wonsan, Hamhung and Nampo port to monitor Australian assistance to women and children through WFP in DPR Korea.
The mission visited a pediatric ward and a private household in Wonsan city before overseeing the arrival of Australian funded soya beans at Nampo port.
Haiti's main physical rehabilitation centre will open its doors today for the first time since it was seriously damaged in the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.5 million people homeless.
In Port-au-Prince for the opening, David Brown, leader of the Australian Red Cross International Disability Forum, said the centre had been rebuilt with more than $2 million in support from the global Red Cross Movement, including $700,000 from Australian Red Cross.
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Government of Australia, hereinafter known as Afghanistan and Australia respectively and collectively as “Governments”, share a commitment to peace, democracy and development, and reaffirm their common respect for sovereignty, human rights and the rule of law.
Education provides opportunities for the world’s poorest children by giving them the skills to gain employment and earn an income, increasing productivity in communities. If all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty. This would mean a 12 per cent cut in global poverty.
Carol Bellamy, Chair of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), is visiting Australia this week to discuss Australia’s partnership with GPE and the importance of increasing engagement in the Asia Pacific region.
CARE Australia today welcomed Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s announcement to increase Australia’s foreign aid to Afghanistan from $165 million to $250 million-a-year by 2015-16. The aid will help Afghanistan expand basic service delivery in health and education and improve governance and public financial management.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s announcement of $16 million of funding to respond to the escalating humanitarian crises in West Africa and South Sudan comes at a critical time for the region, CARE Australia said today.
CARE Australia CEO Dr Julia Newton-Howes said more than 22 million people were affected by the worsening food crises in West Africa and South Sudan.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced today that Australia will contribute an additional $16 million in much needed food and emergency medical assistance to respond to two major escalating crises in Africa.
Senator Carr said the money will assist millions of people affected by drought, local conflict, and the collapse of local markets.
"The food crises in West Africa and South Sudan are escalating at an alarming rate," Senator Carr said.
Drug-resistant tuberculosis is a major problem in Papua New Guinea's remote Western Province which just a short boat ride from the far north of Australia.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her country will give Afghanistan 150 million euros ($193 million) annually to support its police and military forces after NATO-led troops leave the country in 2014.
Merkel was speaking on May 16 after signing a long-term strategic partnership agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Berlin.
Merkel, whose country has been one of the leading contributors of NATO troops to Afghanistan over the past decade, also signed a partnership agreement for education, infrastructure and economic cooperation with Afghanistan.
H.E. Ms. Gillian Bird, Ambassador to ASEAN and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, visited the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) this afternoon.
Australia is helping improve access to fresh, safe drinking water for every household on Ebeye, one of the major islands in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Richard Marles, said Australian-supplied water tanks were part of a continuing commitment to improve water and sanitation in the Marshall Islands.
'This year, Australia is supporting the provision of 220 water tanks on Ebeye, in addition to 150 water tanks supplied last year,' Mr Marles said.
The World Food Programme thanked the Government of Brazil for its support to the Emergency and Recovery Operation in Guatemala which targets the most vulnerable population hit by Tropical Depression 12E in October 2011.
To date, the Brazilian government has donated more than 2.785 metric tons of beans and rice with which WFP is able to feed 150.000 people. The Brazilian donation, valued at over US$2 million, arrived in Guatemala with the support of the Australian Government, which covered the transportation costs, worth more than US$1 million.
The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), the peak body for aid and humanitarian charities, has expressed disappointment that the Coalition voted against a motion yesterday on lifting aid to 50 cents in every $100 of national income by 2015. ACFID calls on the Coalition to keep its commitment to reaching this international 2015 deadline for halving global poverty.
Burma will receive the largest increase in aid in percentage terms from the Australian government for 2012-2013, up to $63.8 million from $48.8 million.
In a briefing on the aid budget, AusAID Director-General Peter Baxter said aid to Burma was likely to increase in the future if the Burmese government continued to implement reforms.
In a statement, AusAID said Burma is among the poorest countries in Southeast Asia with almost one-third of its 60 million people living in poverty.
