(Extract)

Wheat and rice prices mostly fall around the region

Strong production generally kept domestic prices around the region stable or drove them slightly down for wheat, wheat flour and rice, except in India and Myanmar where government procurement programmes pushed prices higher. Overall, however, prices were mostly higher than at the same time last year, according to FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS).

LAHORE/DUBAI, 17 May 2013 (IRIN) - Hamza Mazhar, a 35-year-old teacher from Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, says he never wants to see the inside of a government hospital again.

“My mother was taken to the hospital with an upper respiratory tract infection in February this year and doctors said she needed care in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU),” he told IRIN.

Food security levels are generally better than a year earlier in East Africa and the Sahel, with most areas facing either IPC phase 1 ‘minimal’ or phase 2 ‘stressed’ conditions, thanks to favorable agro-climatic conditions in 2012.

Executive Summary

The recent decline in food security and nutrition indicators in Pakistan is partly attributable to the impact of security operations in the north west, natural disasters and rising food prices.
The rehabilitation of millions of displaced people is yet to be achieved. Food insecurity and undernutrition must be addressed to enable economic growth and stability.

In this special podcast interview IDS Director and Bulletin editor, Lawrence Haddad, explains the economic and social effects of the nutrition crisis in Pakistan, what drives the crisis and why the country may be on the brink of change.

With the Pakistan elections imminent, Haddad offers his view on how a newly elected government could show its commitment to eradicating undernutrition.

Islamabad/Brussels, 8 May 2013 - The European Union has provided € 300,000 from its Nobel Peace Prize money to UNICEF to support its educational activities for children affected by a lack of security in parts of northwestern Pakistan. The agreement was formalised today in Islamabad, between Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan and Dan Rohrmann, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan.

The Global Overview collates information from a range of sources and displays it in a manner that allows for quick comparison of different humanitarian crises.

HIGHLIGHTS

• A 7.8 earthquake hit South-Eastern Iran on 16 April, close to the border with Pakistan. The impact was felt in both countries, with 14 people killed, 73 injured and two missing.

• New and worsening humanitarian crises since 2011 have led to a considerable increase in CERF allocations to the MENA region. The largest recipients have been Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.