New York Times: Administration Names Agriculture Official to Run U.S. Aid Agency, Ending Delays
The Obama administration on Tuesday named Rajiv J. Shah, a medical doctor and health economist at the Agriculture Department, to run its main foreign aid arm, the United States Agency for International Development. Development experts said they were pleased by Dr. Shah’s appointment, but even more pleased that the administration had finally found someone to fill the job. Because Dr. Shah, a former executive with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has already been confirmed by the Senate once before, the administration is hopeful that he will be approved quickly.

Reuters: Over 20 million people need food aid in east Africa: U.N
The United Nations reported Tuesday that drought and war in eastern Africa have left more than 20 million people in desperate need of emergency food aid. In its latest report on food and crop prospects, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said delayed rains and dry spells often followed by floods had hurt crops and pastures in Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda. The U.N. agency is hosting a world food summit in Rome next week, hoping to win broad support for an increase in agricultural investments in poor countries to help them feed themselves.

AllAfrica.com: U.S. Peace Corps to Bring New Focus to Food Security
AllAfrica.com interviews Aaron S. Williams, the new director of the Peace Corps, whom the Obama administration named to the position earlier this year. The Peace Corps, which will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary, is planning to increase its focus on food security, with a particular effort to establish a broader presence and deeper involvement at the community level. Remarked Williams, “I want to see us having a broad, expanded role in food security, especially because in Africa women play an instrumental role in the agricultural sector. I want to see us reach out to women who are involved in agriculture. I want to see us reach out to young people and introduce them to the importance of agriculture and food security.”

Reuters: Food: Is Monsanto the answer or the problem?
Amid reports of a burgeoning food security crisis, Reuters highlights the efforts of Monsanto, a company which claims to want to lead a second “Green Revolution.” Using biotechnology and genetic transfers, Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, hopes to create a corn variety that could grow well in dry conditions, even in drought-prone Africa, helping to alleviate hunger and poverty. However, the company is generating controversy, as critics continue to question the safety of biotech crops, the possible complications to humanitarian efforts and the difficulties that may come from increasing control of the global food supply by giant corporations.

AIDS Map: Global cost of HIV treatment and prevention could reach $35 billion by 2031
According to the AIDS 2031 project published in the November/December edition of Health Affairs, without a serious change in approach, AIDS will still be a major pandemic and funding required in resource-poor countries could reach an estimated $35 billion annually, three times the current level, by 2031—the fiftieth year of the pandemic. Results support policy choices focusing on investments in high-impact prevention for most-at-risk groups, efficient treatments, new prevention tools together with significant behavior-change efforts, all of which could help cut costs by half as well as help control the pandemic.