Genève - Le Fonds mondial de lutte contre le sida, la tuberculose et le paludisme se félicite de la nouvelle selon laquelle la Suisse envisagerait d’augmenter sa contribution au Fonds mondial. Cette information a été donnée par le Conseiller fédéral pour les Affaires étrangères et Vice-président de la Confédération, Didier Burkhalter, qui au cours d’un entretien avec le Directeur exécutif du Fonds mondial, Mark Dybul, aujourd’hui à Berne, a réaffirmé les engagements de la Suisse vis-à-vis du Fonds mondial.

HARARE — In Zimbabwe, the Swiss government has given $6 million to the U.N. Children's Fund to improve the country’s water and sanitation. The African country still has significant numbers of people sharing water sources with animals, and an even greater number who do not have access to a working bathroom.

In Zimbabwe’s capital, luxury cars of all models are seen in the streets. But just outside the capital, there is poverty. It gets worse in the rural areas where some people go their entire life without a decent water supply and have to mostly defecate in the open.

Today marks the start of Swiss membership of “Friends of Yemen”, a group of over 30 states and several organisations which exists to support political transition in Yemen. At today’s meeting in London, Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter mentioned that between 2012 and 2014 Switzerland has provided around CHF 20 million to support political stabilisation and improve the humanitarian situation in the country.

ANTANANARIVO – Le Programme alimentaire mondial des Nations Unies (PAM) a reçu aujourd’hui de la part du Gouvernement suisse une contribution de presque 550 000 dollars américains en faveur de son programme de secours et de redressement à Madagascar. Cette contribution permettra au PAM de venir en aide à 85 000 bénéficiaires tout au long de l’exécution du projet.

Bern, 30.01.2013 - As the crisis in Syria continues to worsen, the humanitarian situation has reached disastrous proportions with some four million people in need of aid according to estimates of the United Nations. They also face a harsh winter, as do about 700,000 refugees in the neighbouring states. Switzerland, attending the international donor conference in Kuwait, has pledged CHF 10 million of aid in 2013 to assist those affected by the Syrian crisis.

NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2012

After an intense year of natural disasters in 2011, countries in the Asia-Pacific region welcomed a reduction in the number of events in 2012. OCHA and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters recorded 93 natural disaster events in 2012, in which over 3,200 people were killed and more than 75 million people were affected. China and the Philippines experienced the most disasters in 2012.

Tchad – L’OIM et la Direction du développement et de la coopération (DDC) ont signé hier un projet de stabilisation communautaire d’une durée de deux ans, visant à soutenir les moyens d’existence des migrants tchadiens de retour de Libye, qui vivent actuellement dans trois régions septentrionales, à la frontière de la Libye, du Niger et du Soudan.

Chad - IOM and The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) yesterday signed a two-year community stabilization project to support the livelihoods of the Chadian migrants who have returned from Libya and are currently living in three northern regions bordering Libya, Niger and Sudan.

At the beginning of December, typhoon Bopha caused hundreds of deaths and great devastation on the Philippine island of Mindanao. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has now contributed CHF 600,000 to emergency relief efforts.