Latest news with #humanitarianaid
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘From the ground up': Iowa Hunger Summit explores local solutions to hunger
Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, from right, speaks with Patricia Montague, Kelly McMahon and Aaron Dworkin July 16, 2025 at the 2025 Iowa Hunger Summit at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Hunger fighting advocates gathered Wednesday at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines for the Iowa Hunger Summit, with a focus on the root causes and local solutions to hunger that can make big differences. Speakers focused not only on the ongoing challenges of providing food, which the World Food Prize Foundation calls a moral right, but also on the rippling effects the federal 'big beautiful' law will have on food programming. 'I would be seriously remiss if I did not acknowledge that government policy changes are significantly impacting our collective work right now,' said Ann McGlynn, recipient of the 2025 Iowa SHARES Humanitarian Award. McGlynn was awarded for her work as founder and executive director of Tapestry Farms in Davenport. Her nonprofit reclaims underutilized land and uses it to grow fresh and culturally relevant produce to strengthen food systems for communities in need. It also provides social services to refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She highlighted recent 'slashing' to government-funded food assistance programs and the 'indefinite pause' to the resettlement program inspired by former Iowa Gov. Robert D. Ray, whose work inspired the SHARES award. Beyond policy changes, McGlynn encouraged participants to 'be a friend to an immigrant or refugee,' plant a garden, give produce to people in need, lend time to food assistance programs and call elected officials. 'If you would like some help, you can reach out to me and I'll be personally happy to help,' McGlynn added. According to Feeding America's latest Map the Meal Gap report, 1 in 8 Iowans, and 1 in 6 Iowa children are food insecure. A Food Bank of Iowa analysis of the data found that each of Iowa's 99 counties saw an increase in food insecurity rates in the past year. World Food Prize Foundation President Mashal Husain said while the meal gap can be 'measured in millions,' the 'shame, the isolation, the slow erosion of hope' that hunger brings cannot be measured. 'Yet we are not helpless,' Husain said. 'In fact, there is so much we can do, because in Iowa, we don't just talk about problems, we roll up our sleeves, we care, we show up and we choose to act … we make change, and that is what from the ground up, is all about.' Speakers and sessions at the summit focused on local solutions, the need for federal, local and community support and also on dreaming up new solutions. In a session about maternal hunger support, Lindsy Carroll, an Iowa-based nutrition educator for the Women, Infant and Children, or WIC, program, said her dream was for paid maternal and paternal leave in the country. Her call was met with applause in the packed presentation room. A breastfeeding coordinator for WIC, Yolanda Pina, said she dreamed of support for community gardens in WIC communities. The speakers also highlighted locally led solutions, like Hy-Vee's integration in its online shopping app that allows WIC users to shop online with their WIC cards. Alison Hard, the public policy director for the National WIC Association, said Iowa was one of the first states to launch this service that makes shopping with WIC less time consuming. Hard said this was the type of local solution that can drive national change. WIC is a discretionary budget program, meaning it wasn't affected by cuts in the 'big beautiful' law that made changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Medicaid. Even so, Hard called for congressional support to fully fund the WIC program in their budget bills this year in order to 'avoid waitlists' and ensure every 'eligible family is able to benefit from WIC's critical services.' 'Participation in WIC is rising because of inflation, rising grocery costs and the expiration of other federal supports, and we anticipate that will be even more so after the passage of reconciliation,' Hard said. Hard also mentioned a proposed cut to WIC's Cash Value Benefit, which allows participants to purchase more fresh fruits and vegetables with their benefits. In 2021, the CVB amount increased from $9 a month for children, to more than $20 a month, and higher amounts depending on circumstances. The House budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the WIC program, notes a 10% reduction in funding for vouchers. Hard said these vouchers also need to be protected. Tom Vilsack, CEO of World Food Prize, led a session about the impacts of hunger and food funding cuts to schools, but started by emphasizing the importance of the WIC program and urging attendees to promote the program so 'those who qualify and could use WIC, know about the program.' Vilsack was joined by a number of education policy leaders, including Patricia Montague, who leads the School Nutrition Association. Montague said she fears the impacts federal action will have on school lunch programs. She said school feeding programs are already underfunded, meaning extra costs to cover the program typically come from the state's general budget. Montague said with the changes to SNAP in the federal reconciliation bill that mean the states have to pick up a bigger share of the program, she's concerned states will no longer be able to supplement school lunch budgets. These school lunch programs, other panelists said, are essential to students. Aaron Dworkin, CEO of the National Summer Learning Association, said schools give kids laptops, books, pencils, and all the tools they need to learn. 'Why would we not just give them meals?' Dworkin said. Vilsack ended the segment by quoting World Food Prize laureate Cary Fowler, who said, 'If you don't feed people, you fee conflict.' While he was U.S. secretary of Agriculture, Vilsack helped to champion the SUN BUCKS program, to help low income families receive a little bit of extra funding during the summer months, when schools aren't providing two meals, five days a week to students. Gov. Kim Reynolds has opted out of participating in the feeding program every year. This year, she spearheaded the Healthy Kids Iowa program as a cheaper alternative. Vilsack said that during Covid, food box programs fell short in catering to dietary needs, but added 'that's part of the challenge.' 'The SUN BUCKS program is a program that's pretty easy to administer and provides assistance and help to families. The food-box program is a little different but it's a start and we'll see how it goes,' Vilsack said. He also announced the relaunching of the Iowa Hunger Directory, an initiative to profile all organizations fighting hunger to provide insight into how Iowans can support their work around the state. 'I think basically, if you don't feed kids, you're not feeding your future,' Vilsack said. Solve the daily Crossword
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Senior official says Trump-era closure of aid agency led to waste of food meant for 27,000 malnourished children
WASHINGTON, July 17 — A senior US official yesterday acknowledged that President Donald Trump's closure of the US aid agency bore blame for the waste of nearly 500 tons of emergency food intended for hungry children. Officials said the United States plans to incinerate the high-energy biscuits, intended as emergency food for malnourished young children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, after they passed their July expiration date in a warehouse in Dubai. Under questioning by lawmakers, Michael Rigas, the deputy secretary of state in charge of management, tied the decision to the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, which closed its doors on July 1. f'I think that this was just a casualty of the shutdown of USAID,' Rigas said, adding that he was 'distressed' that the food went to waste. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has slashed more than 80 per cent of US foreign assistance, saying it does not meet core American interests, and put remaining USAID functions under the State Department. The Atlantic magazine reported Monday that the United States bought the biscuits near the end of Joe Biden's administration for around $800,000 and that US taxpayers will spend another $130,000 to destroy the food. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said lawmakers had specifically raised the issue of the food with Rubio in March. 'Sometimes the tiniest detail really exposes the soul,' Kaine said. 'A government that is put on notice—here are resources that will save 27,000 starving kids, can you please distribute them or give them to someone who can? 'Who decides, no, we would rather keep the warehouse locked, let the food expire, and then burn it?' Rigas said that the United States remained the world's largest donor and he promised to learn further details about the biscuits. 'I do want to find out what happened here and get to the ground truth,' he said. Rigas has also supervised hundreds of layoffs at the State Department as part of Trump's sweeping cost-cutting drive first led by tycoon Elon Musk. — AFP
CTV News
a day ago
- Health
- CTV News
WHO asks more countries to accept Gaza patients
The World Health Organization on Wednesday called on more countries to accept and treat patients from the Gaza Strip after the medical evacuation of a group of mostly children to Jordan. 'Today, WHO led the medical evacuation of 35 patients, mostly children, from Gaza to Jordan, accompanied by 72 family members,' the UN health agency's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. 'We are grateful to the government of Jordan for its continued support and for providing specialised care to critically ill patients. 'More than 10,000 people in Gaza still need medical evacuation. We urge more countries to step forward to accept patients for medical evacuations -- lives depend on it. There are many more waiting.' The agency has long called for expanded medical corridors, including the full resumption of the pre-war traditional referral pathway to hospitals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It has also said that at current rates, it would take years to evacuate all Gaza patients needing treatment. The WHO says that in Gaza, airstrikes and a lack of medical supplies, food, water and fuel have 'virtually depleted' the under-resourced health system, with many hospitals out of operation and others barely functioning. The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 58,573 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
UN agency sounds alarm as 1 in 10 children in Gaza now malnourished
One in every 10 children screened in clinics in Gaza run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is malnourished, as child hunger surges across the territory amid the continuing Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid. Israel's punishing prevention of aid entering Gaza has led to 'severe shortages of nutrition supplies', UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday, describing the situation for starving children as 'engineered and man-made'. Lazzarini said the UN must be allowed to do its work in Gaza, particularly bringing in 'humanitarian assistance at scale, including for children'. 'Any additional delay to a ceasefire will cause more deaths,' he said, noting that more than 870 starving Palestinians had been killed so far while trying to access food from the highly criticised distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the United States. UNRWA's communications director, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a videolink from Amman, Jordan, that 'medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out'. 'Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March,' Touma said. 'One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries,' she said. 'As malnutrition among children spreads across the war-torn enclave, UNRWA has over 6,000 trucks of food, hygiene supplies, medicine, medical supplies outside of Gaza. They are all waiting to go in,' Touma added. 'The world cannot continue to look away.' '1 in 10 children screened by UNRWA in #Gaza is now malnourished,' UNRWA @JulietteTouma briefs the press at @UNGeneva. Before the war, such cases were almost unheard of. Now, Gaza's shattered health system is overwhelmed — and aid is being blocked by the Government of Israel.… — UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 15, 2025 Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rare in Gaza. Andee Clark Vaughan, an emergency nurse with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA) based in Gaza, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday how Israeli authorities had confiscated baby formula from medical workers entering the territory. 'Immune systems are so compromised here because of the malnutrition,' Vaughan said, describing how Palestinian mothers are so malnourished that they are unable to produce breast milk to feed their infants and forced to make difficult decisions to keep their children alive. 'What we've been seeing here is moms trying to do their utmost best, mixing water – which is often contaminated – with beans or lentils just to make something of sustenance to get these kids fed and get them nutrients,' Vaughan added. On Monday, UNICEF said that last month, more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- General
- Khaleej Times
UAE launches largest water supply project from Egypt to southern Gaza
UAE's 'Operation Chivalrous Knight 3' has announced the launch of the largest desalinated water supply project from Egypt to southern Gaza, as part of its emergency response to the deepening water crisis in the besieged Strip. At a press conference held at the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) headquarters in Deir al Balah, the operation revealed that a new 315mm water transmission line, stretching 6.7 kilometres, is now under construction. The pipeline will connect the UAE-established desalination plant on the Egyptian side to a displacement area between Khan Younis and Rafah governorates. The project is expected to provide 15 litres of desalinated water per person daily, benefiting around 600,000 residents in southern Gaza, where more than 80 per cent of water infrastructure has been destroyed due to the dire ongoing developments in Gaza Strip. Sharif Al Nayrab, media director for Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 in Gaza, stated, 'This new water pipeline is more than a rapid response to the urgent thirst crisis in Gaza; it is a continuation of the UAE's unwavering commitment to supporting the Palestinian people, particularly in the face of the humanitarian disaster caused by war.' He added that the UAE has consistently led relief efforts in Gaza, from building desalination stations and delivering water tankers to drilling wells and maintaining water networks, culminating in this vital initiative aimed at securing safe drinking water for the most affected areas. Omar Shatat, Deputy Director-General of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility for Technical Affairs, expressed gratitude to the UAE, which has been on the frontlines of humanitarian support since the onset of the war. He noted that UAE-funded projects have helped municipalities and civil society institutions maintain essential services amid extremely challenging conditions. Khalil Abu Shammala, a representative of civil society in Gaza, praised the UAE's crucial role and the humanitarian projects implemented under the Operation Chivalrous Knight 3. He also emphasised that initiatives like this provide residents with access to safe and healthy water, strengthening their resilience in the face of persistent crises. This initiative marks a new chapter in Operation Chivalrous Knight 3's efforts to repair critical infrastructure in Gaza, particularly in the water sector, and is part of broader UAE-led humanitarian operations to mitigate the disaster and support the steadfastness of the local population.
