From WEEKLY NEWS 10/00
9 March 2000
On Monday, the Red Cross Societies of
Japan and North Korea are to resume the second round of their talks in
Beijing on humanitarian assistance between the two countries. The
Japanese government is restoring its food aid to North Korea after a break
of three years as a direct result of the meeting of the two delegations
from the respective Red Cross Societies in Beijing last December. Japan
will formally announce its offer to send 100,000 tonnes of rice to North
Korea at the meeting. The International Federation's delegation in Pyongyang
has been working with the Red Cross Society of the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea for over five years, first bringing food aid to more
than 130,000 people left destitute by devastating floods in 1995 and 1996,
and later focusing its programmes on health care. It is currently
supplying nearly 1,700 health institutions with medicines, as well as providing
training for nurses, midwives, community health workers and doctors. The
major health problems in North Korea at the moment are respiratory and
gastrointestinal diseases. Some cases of malnutrition have been reported
due to lack of food and diarrhoeal diseases. Due to lack of heating at
the health facilities, patients are mainly treated in their homes.
WEEKLY NEWS IS PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES
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