Latest news with #Hure
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why are humanitarian crises in African countries so ignored?
African countries have again topped the list of the world's most ignored crises, with nearly all of the worst-funded humanitarian challenges located in the continent in 2024, according to a new study out this week. Released on Tuesday, the report by the nonprofit Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) lists Cameroon, Mozambique and a host of other African nations as some of the most burdened by violence and displacement, but also the most invisible to donors. The news comes as the United States, formerly the world's biggest aid provider, massively cut development funding this year. Aid agencies received only half of what they needed in 2024, and experts say further shrinking aid will likely make 2025 even more bleak for people in need. Eight African emergencies were previously ranked as the most ignored in 2023 as well. Millions of people who have been displaced and face food insecurity or lack shelter are receiving little aid because of 'donor fatigue', poor media coverage and little-to-no political resolution, according to the NRC's 2024 Most Neglected Crises report. The report defined countries in crisis as those that host or have more than 200,000 displaced people, and which have been declared to be in severe crisis emergencies. Of 34 countries analysed, the most 'invisible' according to the NRC report were: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Mali, Uganda, Iran, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras and Somalia. Aside from funding, there was little progress on effective conflict resolution, disaster prevention and diplomatic engagement in all the affected countries, the report added. In general, aid funding dropped overall in 2024, the NRC noted. 'The shortfall between what was required to meet humanitarian needs in 2024 and what was delivered was a staggering $25 billion, meaning over half of all needs went unmet,' the report stated. 'Donor fatigue' and growing waves of nationalistic policies within traditional donor countries are causing the richest countries to reduce foreign aid funding, experts say. A lack of proximity to emergencies, analysts add, also affects attention. 'Too many crises across the continent remain in the shadows – ignored because they don't make headlines, or because they are not seen as of immediate strategic interest to international partners,' Christelle Hure, NRC's head of advocacy in West and Central Africa, told Al Jazeera. 'Crises that knock on Europe's door – as happened in 2015 [with mass immigration] – tend to receive the greatest media attention, while those far away remain not only out of sight but also out of mind,' Hure said. The West-Central African nation tops the list of the world's most neglected crises in 2024. In the English-speaking northeast and northwest regions of Cameroon, a protracted civil war which began in 2017 is continuing. That year, thousands took to the streets to protest against the appointment of French-speaking judges, and in general, alleged discrimination from the Francophone-majority government. Heavy crackdowns to suppress the protests soon saw armed groups springing up, declaring independence. The government in Yaounde, in turn, declared war. Both the rebels and government forces have targeted civilians. Hundreds have died, and thousands more are displaced internally or have fled to neighbouring Nigeria. 'The violence there is largely ignored because it's not a direct threat to the central government,' Beverly Ochieng, a security analyst with United Kingdom-based intelligence firm Control Risks, told Al Jazeera, adding that little has been done to negotiate peace. 'There was a feeling initially that some of the secessionist leaders were trying to lobby Donald Trump to support their cause but they've just not received any attention.' Meanwhile, in the northern Lake Chad Basin region, also connected to Nigeria, violence by the armed group, Boko Haram, has continued for years, displacing thousands. A US-backed joint force of the Lake Chad Basin countries has largely collapsed since the military governments in Niger and Chad pulled out, leaving Cameroon, Nigeria and Benin. Washington's shrinking of security presence and operations in African nations is likely to further destabilise the arrangement. Cameroon itself hosts refugees fleeing Boko Haram in Nigeria, as well as those from the Central African Republic fleeing fighting between two political groups. Together, some 1.1 million people are internally displaced, and 500,000 are refugees. Despite this, Cameroon's displacement crisis was mentioned in fewer than 30,000 articles in English, Spanish, French and Arabic in 2024, compared with the Ukraine war, which was mentioned in 451,000 articles, according to the NRC. Only 45 percent, or $168m of the $371m required, was raised to fund aid in the various crises, according to the United Nations. The government, too, is under fire for seeming indifference: President Paul Biya, 82, and in power since 1982, is often criticised for spending most of his time away in aftershocks of the Tigray war in the country's north (2020-2022) merged with new intercommunal fighting in the Oromia and Amhara regions, creating a potent mix of crises which has seen 10 million people pushed out of their homes nationwide, the NRC report noted. The Fano armed group, which claims to represent the interests of the Amhara people, one of Ethiopia's significant ethnic groups, is fighting the federal army, which tried to disarm it after they both fought Tigrayan forces during the war. The Oromo Liberation Group, meanwhile, says it is seeking independence for the Oromo people, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. Both groups have been met with force by the government in Addis Ababa, which has launched air strikes. Dozens of civilians have died in the fighting. In addition, drought and flooding have compounded food shortages. In the southern Gofa zone, heavy rains caused two landslides on July 21 that killed more than 200 people, the worst such landslides in the Southern African country appears on the list for the first time this year. Political upheaval following hotly contested October elections saw protesters who supported the independent opposition candidate, Venancio Mondlane, shot dead by Mozambican state security. About 400 people died in the violence, according to local media tallies. Separately, ongoing attacks by an armed group with affiliations to ISIL (ISIS-Mozambique) in northern, oil-rich Cabo Delgado flared up in 2024. Violence has continued there since 2022 and has seen thousands displaced, while also disrupting a billion-dollar oil and gas investment project. Government forces working with regional troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwandan soldiers were able to push the fighters back in 2023, allowing many displaced people to return. However, because the fighters are deeply embedded in local communities, the conflict has turned volatile again very quickly. Prone to cyclones due to its location in the Indian Ocean, Mozambique was hit by Cyclone Chido, which also devastated the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in December. The storm made landfall in the northern region of Mozambique, which is facing armed conflict. Some 120 people were killed, and about 155,000 buildings were damaged or 2015, more than two million people have been displaced in Burkina Faso because of the activities of violent armed groups like the Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which wants to create a caliphate. Several of those groups now control close to half of the country, despite efforts by the military-led government to push them back with support from Russian forces. The rebels have held civilians suspected of supporting government forces under siege for more than two years, blocking entries and exits to now nearly 40 towns and cities. Massacres of villagers, however, have been blamed on both armed groups and government forces who are accused of attacking civilians perceived to be aiding the fighters. Neighbouring Mali is ranked fourth on the neglected crises list and faces a similar situation. Analyst Ochieng attributes shrinking aid to the three military-led countries of the West African Sahel, including Niger, partly to the hostile stances towards Western powers of the leaders there. All three have cut off Western allies which previously provided both military and humanitarian aid, particularly France. Their hostility has extended to humanitarian groups, sometimes perceived as being tied to Western nations, further limiting aid. 'These military leaders are focused on economic development and they don't even want to be seen as not being able to provide for their people … that makes it very difficult for any donors to approach them to provide help, or even for aid agencies to assess what the actual needs are,' Ochieng said. Uganda: Although the country itself does not face large-scale internal violence, Uganda is listed because it hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa – close to two million people from neighbouring South Sudan, Sudan and the DRC. Shrinking aid, the NRC warned, could escalate friction between local communities and refugees. Democratic Republic of the Congo: Decades of violence by a slew of armed groups vying to control the country's rich deposits of minerals, and more recently, offensives by the rebel M23 group, have seen hundreds of thousands displaced in eastern DRC between 2024 and early 2025. The outbreak of Mpox in the same region in 2023 contributed to disruption. The African Union and the US are currently leading peace talks between the DRC government and neighbouring Rwanda, accused of backing M23. Other deadly attacks from groups like the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) often go unnoticed. Somalia: Entrenched violence from the al-Shabab armed group, which has been active for decades, as well as drought, continues to displace people in the East African country. It received 'dangerously low' funding in 2024, the NRC said. US President Donald Trump's sweeping aid cuts after he took office in January, and his decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the agency that distributes it, have prompted fears that humanitarian emergencies could worsen in 2025. As the world's biggest aid donor, the US distributed about $70bn in foreign aid yearly, particularly for healthcare. In 2024, the most aid went to Ethiopia, Jordan, DRC, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria. With those funds either reduced or halted altogether, aid workers worry that emergencies on the African continent could worsen. Other major donors are also making cuts, observers warn. In February, the UK cut foreign aid by 0.2 percent, while the Netherlands will slash 2.4 billion euros ($2.72bn) in aid from 2027. France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden have all announced reductions to their aid budgets since. Hule of the NRC said the African Union (AU) must take the lead in resolving the continent's multiple crises through political negotiations. The bloc's Peace and Security Council, tasked with anticipating and mitigating conflict, has previously been criticised as being too slow to act. 'What is urgently needed today isn't just more funding – it's clear political commitment, not only from donors but crucially from the African Union and its member states,' Hule said. Countries, she added, also need to reduce administrative and regulatory barriers that hamper aid workers. 'Easing these constraints, in close collaboration with authorities and the African Union, would greatly enhance the efficiency and impact of our collective response,' she added.
Wakala News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Wakala News
Why are humanitarian crises in African countries so ignored?
African countries have again topped the list of the world's most ignored crises, with nearly all of the worst-funded humanitarian challenges located in the continent in 2024, according to a new study out this week. Released on Tuesday, the report by the nonprofit Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) lists Cameroon, Mozambique and a host of other African nations as some of the most burdened by violence and displacement, but also the most invisible to donors. The news comes as the United States, formerly the world's biggest aid provider, massively cut development funding this year. Aid agencies received only half of what they needed in 2024, and experts say further shrinking aid will likely make 2025 even more bleak for people in need. Eight African emergencies were previously ranked as the most ignored in 2023 as well. What does the report say? Millions of people who have been displaced and face food insecurity or lack shelter are receiving little aid because of 'donor fatigue', poor media coverage and little-to-no political resolution, according to the NRC's 2024 Most Neglected Crises report. The report defined countries in crisis as those that host or have more than 200,000 displaced people, and which have been declared to be in severe crisis emergencies. Of 34 countries analysed, the most 'invisible' according to the NRC report were: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Mali, Uganda, Iran, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras and Somalia. Aside from funding, there was little progress on effective conflict resolution, disaster prevention and diplomatic engagement in all the affected countries, the report added. In general, aid funding dropped overall in 2024, the NRC noted. 'The shortfall between what was required to meet humanitarian needs in 2024 and what was delivered was a staggering $25 billion, meaning over half of all needs went unmet,' the report stated. Why are African humanitarian emergencies ignored? 'Donor fatigue' and growing waves of nationalistic policies within traditional donor countries are causing the richest countries to reduce foreign aid funding, experts say. A lack of proximity to emergencies, analysts add, also affects attention. 'Too many crises across the continent remain in the shadows – ignored because they don't make headlines, or because they are not seen as of immediate strategic interest to international partners,' Christelle Hure, NRC's head of advocacy in West and Central Africa, told Al Jazeera. 'Crises that knock on Europe's door – as happened in 2015 (with mass immigration) – tend to receive the greatest media attention, while those far away remain not only out of sight but also out of mind,' Hure said. Which are the most neglected African emergencies? Cameroon The West-Central African nation tops the list of the world's most neglected crises in 2024. In the English-speaking northeast and northwest regions of Cameroon, a protracted civil war which began in 2017 is continuing. That year, thousands took to the streets to protest against the appointment of French-speaking judges, and in general, alleged discrimination from the Francophone-majority government. Heavy crackdowns to suppress the protests soon saw armed groups springing up, declaring independence. The government in Yaounde, in turn, declared war. Both the rebels and government forces have targeted civilians. Hundreds have died, and thousands more are displaced internally or have fled to neighbouring Nigeria. 'The violence there is largely ignored because it's not a direct threat to the central government,' Beverly Ochieng, a security analyst with United Kingdom-based intelligence firm Control Risks, told Al Jazeera, adding that little has been done to negotiate peace. 'There was a feeling initially that some of the secessionist leaders were trying to lobby Donald Trump to support their cause but they've just not received any attention.' Meanwhile, in the northern Lake Chad Basin region, also connected to Nigeria, violence by the armed group, Boko Haram, has continued for years, displacing thousands. A US-backed joint force of the Lake Chad Basin countries has largely collapsed since the military governments in Niger and Chad pulled out, leaving Cameroon, Nigeria and Benin. Washington's shrinking of security presence and operations in African nations is likely to further destabilise the arrangement. Cameroon itself hosts refugees fleeing Boko Haram in Nigeria, as well as those from the Central African Republic fleeing fighting between two political groups. Together, some 1.1 million people are internally displaced, and 500,000 are refugees. Despite this, Cameroon's displacement crisis was mentioned in fewer than 30,000 articles in English, Spanish, French and Arabic in 2024, compared with the Ukraine war, which was mentioned in 451,000 articles, according to the NRC. Only 45 percent, or $168m of the $371m required, was raised to fund aid in the various crises, according to the United Nations. The government, too, is under fire for seeming indifference: President Paul Biya, 82, and in power since 1982, is often criticised for spending most of his time away in Switzerland. Ethiopia The aftershocks of the Tigray war in the country's north (2020-2022) merged with new intercommunal fighting in the Oromia and Amhara regions, creating a potent mix of crises which has seen 10 million people pushed out of their homes nationwide, the NRC report noted. The Fano armed group, which claims to represent the interests of the Amhara people, one of Ethiopia 's significant ethnic groups, is fighting the federal army, which tried to disarm it after they both fought Tigrayan forces during the war. The Oromo Liberation Group, meanwhile, says it is seeking independence for the Oromo people, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. Both groups have been met with force by the government in Addis Ababa, which has launched air strikes. Dozens of civilians have died in the fighting. In addition, drought and flooding have compounded food shortages. In the southern Gofa zone, heavy rains caused two landslides on July 21 that killed more than 200 people, the worst such landslides in the country. Mozambique The Southern African country appears on the list for the first time this year. Political upheaval following hotly contested October elections saw protesters who supported the independent opposition candidate, Venancio Mondlane, shot dead by Mozambican state security. About 400 people died in the violence, according to local media tallies. Separately, ongoing attacks by an armed group with affiliations to ISIL (ISIS-Mozambique) in northern, oil-rich Cabo Delgado flared up in 2024. Violence has continued there since 2022 and has seen thousands displaced, while also disrupting a billion-dollar oil and gas investment project. Government forces working with regional troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwandan soldiers were able to push the fighters back in 2023, allowing many displaced people to return. However, because the fighters are deeply embedded in local communities, the conflict has turned volatile again very quickly. Prone to cyclones due to its location in the Indian Ocean, Mozambique was hit by Cyclone Chido, which also devastated the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in December. The storm made landfall in the northern region of Mozambique, which is facing armed conflict. Some 120 people were killed, and about 155,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Burkina Faso and Mali Since 2015, more than two million people have been displaced in Burkina Faso because of the activities of violent armed groups like the Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which wants to create a caliphate. Several of those groups now control close to half of the country, despite efforts by the military-led government to push them back with support from Russian forces. The rebels have held civilians suspected of supporting government forces under siege for more than two years, blocking entries and exits to now nearly 40 towns and cities. Massacres of villagers, however, have been blamed on both armed groups and government forces who are accused of attacking civilians perceived to be aiding the fighters. Neighbouring Mali is ranked fourth on the neglected crises list and faces a similar situation. Analyst Ochieng attributes shrinking aid to the three military-led countries of the West African Sahel, including Niger, partly to the hostile stances towards Western powers of the leaders there. All three have cut off Western allies which previously provided both military and humanitarian aid, particularly France. Their hostility has extended to humanitarian groups, sometimes perceived as being tied to Western nations, further limiting aid. 'These military leaders are focused on economic development and they don't even want to be seen as not being able to provide for their people … that makes it very difficult for any donors to approach them to provide help, or even for aid agencies to assess what the actual needs are,' Ochieng said. Other African emergencies Uganda: Although the country itself does not face large-scale internal violence, Uganda is listed because it hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa – close to two million people from neighbouring South Sudan, Sudan and the DRC. Shrinking aid, the NRC warned, could escalate friction between local communities and refugees. Democratic Republic of the Congo: Decades of violence by a slew of armed groups vying to control the country's rich deposits of minerals, and more recently, offensives by the rebel M23 group, have seen hundreds of thousands displaced in eastern DRC between 2024 and early 2025. The outbreak of Mpox in the same region in 2023 contributed to disruption. The African Union and the US are currently leading peace talks between the DRC government and neighbouring Rwanda, accused of backing M23. Other deadly attacks from groups like the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) often go unnoticed. Somalia: Entrenched violence from the al-Shabab armed group, which has been active for decades, as well as drought, continues to displace people in the East African country. It received 'dangerously low' funding in 2024, the NRC said. Will Trump's aid cuts further affect these crises? US President Donald Trump's sweeping aid cuts after he took office in January, and his decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the agency that distributes it, have prompted fears that humanitarian emergencies could worsen in 2025. As the world's biggest aid donor, the US distributed about $70bn in foreign aid yearly, particularly for healthcare. In 2024, the most aid went to Ethiopia, Jordan, DRC, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria. With those funds either reduced or halted altogether, aid workers worry that emergencies on the African continent could worsen. Other major donors are also making cuts, observers warn. In February, the UK cut foreign aid by 0.2 percent, while the Netherlands will slash 2.4 billion euros ($2.72bn) in aid from 2027. France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden have all announced reductions to their aid budgets since. Hule of the NRC said the African Union (AU) must take the lead in resolving the continent's multiple crises through political negotiations. The bloc's Peace and Security Council, tasked with anticipating and mitigating conflict, has previously been criticised as being too slow to act. 'What is urgently needed today isn't just more funding – it's clear political commitment, not only from donors but crucially from the African Union and its member states,' Hule said. Countries, she added, also need to reduce administrative and regulatory barriers that hamper aid workers. 'Easing these constraints, in close collaboration with authorities and the African Union, would greatly enhance the efficiency and impact of our collective response,' she added.
Vox
25-05-2025
- Health
- Vox
'Baby Botox' and the psychology of cosmetic procedures
is the co-host and editorial director of. Before joining Vox, she was a host of NPR's flagship radio showand the popular news podcast, and in 2020 she received the Radio Hall of Fame's One to Watch award. Botox injections used to be a secret for (largely) women in their 40s and 50s. But growing numbers of (largely) women in their 20s and 30s are turning to 'baby Botox,' or smaller doses that are intended to prevent aging rather than combat it. Baby Botox is just one intervention that doctors say younger people now frequently seek, and some view the trend with concern. Dr. Michelle Hure, a physician specializing in dermatology and dermatopathology, says younger patients aren't considering the cost of procedures that require lifetime maintenance, and are expressing dissatisfaction with their looks to a degree that borders on the absurd. Hure traces the demand for 'baby Botox' and other procedures to the start of the pandemic. 'Everyone was basically chronically online,' she told Vox. 'They were on Zoom, they were looking at themselves, and there was the rise of of TikTok and the filters and people were really seeing these perceived flaws that either aren't there or are so minimal and just normal anatomy. And they have really made it front and center where it affects them. It affects their daily life and I really feel that it has become more of a pathological thing.' Hure spoke to Today, Explained co-host Noel King about the rise of 'baby Botox' and her concerns with the cosmetic dermatology industry. An excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below. There's much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You told us about a patient that you saw yesterday, and you said you probably wouldn't keep her on because her mentality really worried you. Would you tell me about that young woman? I had this patient who was mid-20s, and really a beautiful girl. I [didn't] see a lot of signs of aging on her face, but she was coming in for Botox. There wasn't a lot for me to treat. And at the end of the session she was asking me, 'So what do you think about my nasolabial folds?' Basically, it's the fold that goes from the corner of your nose down to the corner of your mouth. It's the barrier between the upper lip and your cheek, and when you smile it kind of folds. Of course, the more you age, the more of the line will be left behind when you're not smiling. And she was pointing to her cheek as if there was something there, but there was nothing there. And so I had to tell her, 'Well, I don't see that, you're perfect.' It's a phantom nasolabial fold. It didn't exist. That sort of mentality where someone is perceiving a flaw that is absolutely not there — providers need to say no. Unfortunately, they're incentivized not to. Especially if you have a cosmetic office, if you're a med spa, if you have a cosmetic derm or plastic surgery office, of course you're incentivized to do what the patient wants. Well, I'm not going to do that. That's not what I do. That means you may get paid for seeing her in that visit, but you're not getting paid for putting filler in her face. I think what I hear you saying is other doctors would have done that. Absolutely. One hundred percent. I know this for a fact because many times those patients will come to my office to get that filler dissolved because they don't like it. In the larger practices or practices that are private equity-owned, which is a huge problem in medicine, you are absolutely meant to sell as many products, as many procedures as possible. Oftentimes I was told to sell as much filler as possible, because every syringe is several hundred dollars. And then if they're there, talk them into a laser. Talk them into this, talk them into that. Then you become a salesman. For my skin check patients, I'm looking for skin cancer. I'm counseling them on how to take care of their skin. I was told, 'Don't talk to them about using sunscreen, because we want them to get skin cancer and come back.' I was pulled out of the room by my boss and reprimanded for explaining why it's so important to use sunscreen. And so this is why I couldn't do it anymore. I had to start my own office and be on my own. I can't do that. That goes against everything that I believe in, in my oath. Because there is potential harm on many different levels for cosmetic procedures. What are the risks to giving someone a cosmetic procedure that they don't really need? This is a medical procedure. There is always risk for any type of intervention, right? What gets me is, like, Nordstrom is talking about having injections in their stores. This is ridiculous! This is a medical procedure. You can get infection, you can get vascular occlusion that can lead to death of the tissue overlying where you inject. It can lead to blindness. This is a big deal. It's fairly safe if you know what you're doing. But not everyone knows what they're doing and knows how to handle the complications that can come about. Honestly, I feel like the psychological aspect of it is a big problem. At some point you become dependent, almost, on these procedures to either feel happy or feel good about yourself. And at what point is it not going to be enough? One of my colleagues actually coined this term. It's called perception drift. At some point, you will do these little, little, incremental tweaks until you look like a different person. And you might look very abnormal. So even if someone comes to me for something that is legitimate, it's still: Once you start, it's going to be hard for you to stop. If you're barely able to scrimp together enough to pay for that one thing, and you have it done, great. What about all the rest of your life that you're going to want to do something? Are you going to be able to manage it? I wonder how all of this makes you think about your profession. Most people get into medicine, it has always been my assumption, to be helpful. And you've laid out a world in which procedures are being done that are not only not helpful, they could be dangerous. And you don't seem to like it very much.
