What We’re Reading 19/11/09

Nov 19th, 2009 5:06 PM EST
By Steve Wilson

The Guardian—Bono and Geldof laud Queen’s speech commitment to global poverty relief
Bono and Bob Geldof welcomed Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s decision to include in his legislative agenda the enshrinement in law of international development spending, which would put the government’s commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on development from 2013 on to the statute books.”The proposal to make the 0.7% pledge legally binding is not just a great announcement, it is transformative of real lives, by a government that has led the world in keeping its promises to the world’s poorest people,” Bono said. “The next step is making sure this becomes law as soon as possible, in 2010.”

Voice of America—African Leaders Left Disappointed at End of UN Food Summit
A three-day United Nations food summit ended in Rome Wednesday without securing substantial new funds to combat world hunger, Voice of America News writes. Some African ministers left the summit saying world leaders are not doing enough to reduce soaring hunger levels on the continent.

Reuters—World leaders’ low turnout hits UN food summit
On a similar note about the U.N. food summit, Reuters writes that an absence of many world leaders undermined the summit from the start, and its final declaration showed little progress was made in the fight against hunger. U.N. officials put on a brave face throughout the November 16-18 Rome meeting, saying it had won broad support for the need to focus on longer-term agricultural development — rather than emergency aid — to help poor countries feed themselves. But the no-show by heavyweights from most of the world’s biggest economies lowered the summit’s profile, and did not help efforts to push malnutrition and food shortages to the top of the political agenda.

Reuters—Obama’s Democrats call for trade policy overhaul
A group of Democratic lawmakers urged President Obama on Wednesday to abandon the Doha round of global trade talks and start over with an agenda to protect labor rights and environmental standards. “We believe the Doha round should be declared dead,” Rep, Michael Michaud (D-ME), the chairman of a working group of U.S. lawmakers on trade issues, said at a news conference. The group is deeply skeptical of the free trade agenda that has dominated U.S. policy in recent years. Members say they are still waiting for Obama to keep campaign promises to reform U.S. trade policy to be more protective of American workers.

AllAfrica.com—Climate Change and the Population ‘Bomb’: A Debate Not to Shy Away From
The United Nations Population Fund released its “State of the World Population 2009″ report on Wednesday. It chose to take up a politically delicate topic, the relationship between climate change, population stabilization and the importance of gender. The fundamental question it seeks to address is: how much of a threat is the growth in population to the world and how much of this increase will lead to a spike in greenhouse gas emissions? As the report demonstrates, answers are not straightforward.

AFP—Eat local rice? Senegalese say no thanks
Similar to other poor but agriculturally-focused countries, the Senegalese government had what seemed a reasonable idea after last year’s food crisis: have the country grow and eat its own rice instead of sticking with the practice of importing tons from Asia. It was part of a larger plan to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. But the Senegalese, who serve rice with so many meals, said no thanks. Why? That’s where it gets sticky, writes the AFP. Explanations range from taste to social standing to the legacy of colonialism. Whatever the reason, the government is now figuring out how to promote locally grown rice and hopes to import none of the staple by 2012.

What We’re Reading 18/11/09

Nov 18th, 2009 6:35 PM EST
By Robyn Mitchell

BBC: Poor women ‘bear climate burden’
The United Nations Population Fund warns that women in developing countries will be the most vulnerable to climate change due to the fact that they do most of the agricultural work and are therefore are affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting on food, energy and water. The report also suggested family planning, reproductive healthcare and “gender relations” could influence how the world adapts to rising seas, worsening storms and severe droughts.

Reuters Africa: Africa agrees on secret climate damages demand
Reuters reports that African leaders have agreed on how much cash to demand from the rich world to compensate for the impact of climate change, but kept the figure secret ahead of next month’s Copenhagen talks. Exhaustive preparatory talks since 2007 have failed to solve splits between rich and poor countries or find extra funds to help developing nations to pay for expensive technology to ensure they do not over pollute as their economies grow. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Africa wanted a treaty to be agreed in Copenhagen but could accept a “binding political agreement” as a steppingstone to a treaty being agreed later.

Financial Times: The many roads to food security
The Financial Times argues that despite the UN food summit drawing to a halt “amid a plethora of platitudes about feeding the poor,” translating these discussions into action is what will prove difficult – not least because agriculture, with its concentrated groups of farmers and agribusinesses and diffuse groups of consumers, has proved “susceptible to producer group lobbying.” Argues the Times, “The food-security battle isn’t a question of one big heave: it is fought on hundreds of fronts. Most victories will be slow and technocratic rather than quick and spectacular, but will be all the more enduring for it.”

Reuters India: International health alliance says pushes vaccine costs down
A U.N.-backed health alliance reported Wednesday that the price of a vaccine that helps infants fend off a variety of deadly diseases has been forced down, thanks to a coordinated buying policy to meet the growing demand from developing countries. The five-in-one vaccine is given routinely to children in developed nations but price has kept them out of the reach of some poorer nations. However, higher demand has pushed purchasing costs down.”This price drop is no accident, but…the result of a strategy to leverage the purchasing power of hundreds of millions of people,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Saad Houry said in statement.

What We’re Reading 12/11/09

Nov 12th, 2009 10:33 AM EST
By Robyn Mitchell

AFP: Obama in 11th-hour climate bid with China, India
The AFP reports that as the Copenhagen climate summit nears, US President Barack Obama will try to salvage hopes for a deal as he meets this month with the leaders of China and India. The world’s three most populous nations have all vowed action on climate change but are deeply at odds over the shape of a Copenhagen deal, which was “meant to be a new global treaty but now looks set to offer a framework at best.” Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is optimistic about the president’s upcoming meetings, emphasizing that “If we all exert maximum effort and embrace the right blend of pragmatism and principle, I believe we can secure a strong outcome at Copenhagen.”

The Los Angeles Times: Fixing foreign aid (Editorial)
In light of President Obama’s announcement of his nominee to the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the L.A. Times editorializes about the need to reform the aid industry in the United States and their desire for the President to follow through on his promises to do so. According to the Times, our second most important means of self-defense after the military is foreign aid. “The president has a staggering to-do list, but the USAID nomination should have been made months ago, and the defects of the current system are widely known and well documented. Let’s get on with fixing it.”

Reuters India: Food summit waters down hunger, aid targets-draft
A declaration to be made at next week’s world food summit in Rome will not mention a target to eradicate hunger by 2025 nor a commitment to spend $44 billion a year in agricultural aid, according to a final draft seen by Reuters. The two targets were among the most divisive issues at the centre of pre-summit negotiations, according to diplomats. Reuters reports that world leaders and top government officials at the Nov.16-18 summit will simply reaffirm their commitment to the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of hungry people by 2015 — a target that is unlikely to be reached.

Vanguard (Nigeria): Africa: Govts Partner Alliance for Green Revolution on Food Security
Vanguard reports that a groundbreaking partnership that will link African governments’ commitment to agricultural development with concrete programs in seeds, soil health, policy, and markets was launched in Abuja, Nigeria this week between The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The two organizations will work directly with national governments and partners across the agricultural value chain in a comprehensive effort to increase the productivity of small holder farmers growing Africa’s staple food crops, with a particular focus on developing high potential breadbasket areas of African countries.

Reuters: Is Africa Selling Out Its Farmers?
Reuters explores recent efforts by the Ethiopian government to entice foreigners to invest in the nation’s underperforming agriculture sector. Many small Ethiopian farmers do not share their leaders’ enthusiasm for the policy, eyeing the outsiders “with a suspicion that has crept across Africa as millions of hectares have been placed, with varying degrees of transparency, in foreign hands.” The vice president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa contends that African countries should invest in their own farmers, remarking that what is needed “is a small-holder, farmer-based revolution. African land should not be up for garage sale.”

Reuters: Poor nutrition stunts growth of 200 mln children-UN
The U.N. children’s foundation UNICEF reported Wednesday that nearly 200 million children in developing countries suffer from stunted growth and health problems due to poor nutrition in their early years. Despite an overall decline in the rate of the problem, 195 million children in developing countries under 5 years old have stunted growth due to poor nutrition during the critical period between their conception and second birthdays, UNICEF said. According to the new report, when the problem is widespread, it undermines those countries’ ability to improve their economies and eradicate poverty.

What We’re Reading 10/11/09

Nov 10th, 2009 6:19 PM EST
By Robyn Mitchell

Financial Times: Global hunger forces itself to the top of political agenda
The Financial Times reports that the food crisis of the past few years has elevated the issue to the highest level of government. The move to involve the “whole of the government” signals how food security has become a global political preoccupation as the number of chronically hungry people tops one billion and agricultural commodity prices soar. According to Secretary of State Clinton, “Food security is not just about food. But it is all about security – economic security, environmental security, even national security.”

Reuters: Conditions in place for new food crisis, FAO warns
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that poor nations battered by record food prices last year need international help to raise agricultural output given conditions are still ripe for another food crisis. In an interview ahead of a global summit on food security in Rome next week, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said more aid was needed to curb the rising number of hungry people in the world, which topped 1 billion for the first time this year. Diouf told Reuters on Monday that “There is a lack of priority in fighting hunger and poverty at the highest political level, not only in developed countries but in developing countries.”

Politico – Veterans join front lines of climate fight
Politico reports that veterans groups have unexpectedly become a key weapon for environmentalists in their bid to win over swing votes on California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer’s climate change bill. With groups such as VoteVets.org making the argument that climate change has huge ramifications for the military, “scores of retired admirals and generals are lending their stars to the boards of energy security organizations in ways that could expand the political base for new climate change policies.”

Reuters: WTO’s Lamy says U.S. slowing Doha talks: report
The World Trade Organization’s Director General, Pascal Lamy, said that after a year spent putting in place the new U.S. administration, next year’s U.S. mid-term elections could prove a further problem in finalizing the Doha talks. He further emphasized that the time does not seem adequate for completing the WTO round given time required for international talks on disarmament and climate change. Remarked Lamy, “International trade, that up to now has avoided a wave of protectionism that could have come with the economic cycle, has not succeeded in detaching itself from the American political cycle.”

Los Angeles Times: Until women are healthy, societies will suffer
The L.A. Times blogs about a new report from the World Health Organization, which lays out the hurdles women face in getting the healthcare they need at various stages of life. In a statement about the report, the WHO director-general emphasized that “The obstacles that stand in the way of better health for women are not primarily technical or medical in nature. They are social and political, and the two go together. We will not see significant progress as long as women are regarded as second-class citizens in so many parts of the world.”

What We’re Reading 9/11/09

Nov 9th, 2009 6:50 PM EST
By Robyn Mitchell

The Wall Street Journal: The Berlin Wall of Aid: When Will It Fall? (Op-Ed)
In light of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall today, co-author of “The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty,” Glenn Hubbard, questions why top-down economic development in Africa – or the “Berlin Wall of Aid” as he calls it – has not fallen despite what the author believes is its “record of failure.” Hubbard highlights the success of the historic Marshall Plan and calls for a shift in the aid system, maintaining that increased aid from NGOs and microfinance has helped millions of poor people start and run micro-businesses across the world. Writes Hubbard, “the time has come for the Berlin Wall of aid to fall. Sub-Saharan Africa is as poor today as it was 50 years ago despite increases in foreign aid.”

New York Times: China Pledges $10 Billion to Africa
The Prime Minister of China, Wen Jiabao, pledged to grant African countries $10 billion in low-interest development loans over the next three years, to establish a $1 billion loan program for small and medium-size businesses, and to forgive the remaining debt on certain interest-free loans that China previously granted less-developed African nations. Mr. Wen also promised to form a partnership to address climate change in Africa, including the building of 100 clean-energy projects across the continent as well as sponsor an array of other programs in health, education, culture and agriculture.

Los Angeles Times: High hopes for a malaria vaccine
A massive malaria vaccine trial is underway in Africa, with 5,000 children already enrolled. If results are favorable, marketing approval could be sought as soon as 2012, making it the first commercial vaccine available for the disease. According to the L.A. Times, the first-generation vaccine is unlikely to reduce infections by more than 50%, but researchers believe that even that level of efficacy could make inroads against the disease and lay the foundation for the development of more-effective vaccines. The goal is to have a vaccine by 2025 that is 80% effective and that lasts for at least four years.

The Guardian: Gordon Brown is right: rich western banks should pay for the developing world to go green (Op-Ed)
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown argued this weekend that the proceeds from a global tax on banking transactions could be the key to breaking the deadlock on Copenhagen climate talks in December. The Guardian provides support for Brown’s arguments, stating that without a willingness by the west to bankroll greener economic strategies in the developing world there will be no climate change deal. The paper further emphasized that the negotiations expected in Copenhagen next month “are starting to echo the global trade liberalization talks, which began in Doha eight years ago this week and are still going nowhere.”

New Vision (Uganda): Donor Aid in Africa Should Increasingly Go to Women (Op-Ed)
New Vision editorializes that with government bureaucracies fast losing credibility in aid management, donor organizations should engage channels to make their funding more effective, arguing that working directly with women is the most effective way to ensure success. The paper cites evidence from the World Bank, which shows that women borrowers generate additional income through their enterprise and are more likely than men to direct it to household expenses especially those that benefit children. The paper further maintains that “by empowering grassroots women through training, they are investing in tangible, enduring and beneficiary empowerment, self-actualization and future self-reliance – from the bottom of the pyramid.”

Financial Times: G20 yet to deliver on early promise
In light of the recent G20 finance ministers meeting held over the weekend in Scotland, the Financial Times weighs in on whether “the premier forum for our international economic co-operation” is delivering on past promises, particularly those laid out in the latest meeting in Pittsburgh. The paper highlights the little progress that G20 leaders have made in determining the flows of money from rich to poor countries that will be needed in a global climate deal to help the developing world reduce carbon emission. However, despite this, the paper reports that the G20 still believes that it has a chance of success in securing a more balanced global recovery where other initiatives have failed.

What We’re Reading 5/11/09

Nov 5th, 2009 12:44 PM EST
By Steve Wilson

Reuters—Africa aid can boost global economy: World Bank
Development aid to Africa can boost domestic demand on the continent and help wean the global economy from over-reliance on personal consumption in the United States, a senior World Bank official said on Thursday. “We need to look at a multi-polar world, because the dependence on U.S. consumption will have to shift,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director at the Bank said. “There are other countries that can provide consumption. When you look at Africa, it has around a billion consumers. When you invest in Africa you provide trade and services to these people.”

Los Angeles Times—Massive malaria vaccine trial has begun in Africa
A massive Phase 3 trial of a malaria vaccine is now underway in Africa, with 5,000 children enrolled already out of a target population of 16,000. If results are favorable, marketing approval could be sought as early as 2012, making it the first commercial vaccine available for the disease, researchers said Tuesday in announcing the trial at the 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan-African Malaria Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Guardian—Rich countries call on African bloc to keep climate talks on track
Rich countries piled pressure on Africa not to derail climate talks after the poorest countries in the world shocked the UN by walking out of the official negotiations in Barcelona, demanding that their concerns be met. The African bloc complained that rich nations’ carbon cuts were far too small to avoid catastrophic climate change, and refused to participate until more was done. The move forced the UN to abandon several sessions and reschedule others to give rich countries more time to debate emissions cuts.

Reuters—U.S. wary on Doha deal, World Bank says go for it
The United States will not agree to a deal in world trade talks unless other countries make better offers to open their markets, two U.S. trade nominees said yesterday. But a forthcoming study from the World Bank argued that proposals now on the table in the Doha round—which would make it easier for developing countries to trade—would bring huge gains to the world economy and World Trade Organization members should stop quibbling over further concessions.

Deutsche Press Agency—Don’t back-track now on AIDS, Doctors Without Borders warns Western donors
Cutting funding for HIV/AIDS treatment would condemn millions of poor people to death, international medical NGO Doctors Without Borders said Thursday, amid signs they said of Western governments starting to back-track on their commitments. Two major funders of AIDS treatment in poor countries – the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) – are considering scaling back or freeze their funding levels, Doctors Without Borders said in Johannesburg.

What We’re Reading 4/11/09

Nov 4th, 2009 12:43 PM EST
By Robyn Mitchell

The Guardian: African nations make a stand at UN climate talks
African countries have said they are prepared to provoke a major UN crisis if the US and other rich countries do not start to urgently commit themselves to deeper and faster greenhouse gas emission cuts. The move by developing countries reflects “their deep and growing frustration over the slow progress that industrialized countries are making towards agreeing cuts.” According to the Guardian, this week’s UN negotiations in Barcelona are shedding light on the growing split between rich and poor countries, which threatens to blow the talks fatally off course.

The Guardian: US puts climate debate on hold for five weeks despite plea by Merkel
In the latest obstacle on the road to the UN summit in Copenhagen next month, the US Congress ruled out passing a climate change law before 2010. The delay caused a last-minute push by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, who have repeatedly said US legislation is crucial to a deal on global warming. According to the Guardian, Merkel used a historic address to a joint session of Congress today to urge America to act on climate change, stating that success at Copenhagen rested on the willingness of all countries to accept binding reductions in carbon emissions.

The Christian Science Monitor: Is fight against hunger a matter of security?
Kanayo Nwanze, the new head of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development is bringing increased attention to hunger and food insecurity as an international security issue, a dimension that is raising new interest in tackling the matter. Rural hunger and food security are increasingly cropping up in venues ranging from the US Congress to G8 summits. According to Nwanze, it is the emergence of food as an international security issue that raises the odds that “the international community will help developing countries come up with sustainable answers to food production challenges.”

Reuters: Only 15 pct of G8 food aid pledge is new-sources
Reuters reports that only $3 billion of the $20 billion promised by a G8 summit over the next three years to boost agriculture in poor countries appears to be new money. According to one diplomat, “In the $20 billion figure people have included all sorts of things, double counting stuff, putting in loans and grants: the real new money is $3 billion at best.” Despite the announcement of increased investment at the G8 meeting in Italy last summer, anti-poverty campaigners warned that the pledges announced by rich countries were proving elusive.

Reuters: Brazil, others squeeze China in scramble for Africa
Though China has now eclipsed the United States as Africa’s biggest trading partner, they are by no means the only country involved in what Reuters is calling the “21st century scramble for Africa.” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has visited the continent six times in his four years in office and the country has increased its trade with Africa from $3.1 billion in 2000 to $26.3 billion last year. However, according to Reuters, it is not only Brazil and China that are muscling in on Africa. “The two other members of the so-called BRICs grouping — India and Russia — are also setting up stall in a region that for generations European powers regarded as their own back yard.”

Daily Nation: Kenya: Locally-Growing Moringa Tree Key in Fight Against Malaria
A malaria treatment derived from a locally-growing Kenyan shrub is one of only a few herbal cures being presented at an international conference in Nairobi this week. The tree is competing alongside malaria medicines developed by some of the world’s best scientists with the backing of global pharmaceutical giants. In a presentation at the Pan- African Malaria Conference, the tree extract, in combination with other herbs, has been seen to cure even drug-resistant malaria and has been endorsed after trials by the World Health Organization, according to a researcher at the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology in Nigeria.

What We’re Reading 29/10/09

Oct 30th, 2009 10:00 AM EST
By Robyn Mitchell

The Guardian: Climate change will devastate Africa, top UK scientist warns
One of the world’s most influential scientists, Professor Sir Gordon Conway, argues in a new scientific paper that Africa is already warming faster than the global average and that people living there can expect more intense droughts, floods and storm surges. In addition to less drinking water and food shortages, Conway predicts that diseases such as malaria will spread and the poorest will be hit the hardest as farmland is damaged in the coming century. Conway did, however, hold out some hope that east Africa and the Horn of Africa, presently experiencing its worst drought and food shortages in 20 years, will become wetter.

The New York Times: Harnessing World Cup to Change Children’s Lives
FIFA has combined with the global NGO streetfootballworld to create Football for Hope, a festival which will take place in the second half of the month-long World Cup, which starts in June 2010. Some 32 organizations from around the world — the same number of nations as in the World Cup — have been chosen to take part, “based not on their football prowess but on the success of projects to address social issues like homelessness in London, landmines in Cambodia, gang violence in Colombia and South Africa’s scourge of AIDS.”

The Globe and Mail: Food summit should plant a seed for change (Editorial)
Columnist Eric Reguly editorializes that the UN food summit in November must not be solely a talking shop, but rather it should “break from the politically correct agenda of trying to please all the UN donor countries and suggests some out-of-the-box strategies.” Reguly quotes Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), who hopes that wealthy countries will be pushed into making good on the commitments they made last summer, at the G8 summit in Italy, to spend $20-billion on food development.

The Guardian: Why we need a world environment organization
German chancellor Angel Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy have called for the creation of a world environmental organization within the UN system “with real political clout.” In a letter to the UN secretary general they emphasized that we must overhaul environmental governance and use Copenhagen climate talks in December to progress the creation of a world environmental organization. According to the Guardian, “many ministers of environment have known for some time that solving environmental challenges and seizing opportunities will prove impossible without political clout and effective institutions.”

AllAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: Pros and Cons to Huge Chinese Investment
China has just closed a deal to build a road network stretching for 4,000 km and a railway system spanning 3,200 km in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a much needed development in a country the size of Western Europe and the second largest in Africa but with only 200 km of tarred road. However, according to AllAfrica.com, “concerns abound about a nine billion dollar Chinese investment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially around environmental consequences and transparency.” And, on the Chinese side, investors complain not only about the lack of security in the DRC but about their own government not providing enough support.

Plus News: AFRICA: Using DOTS for TB, HIV and other chronic diseases
Malawi’s successful use of a well-known tuberculosis treatment system to scale up antiretroviral treatment for HIV could improve chronic disease management in other African nations, experts say. The system, called directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) has been used to successfully deliver TB treatment in some of the world’s poorest countries.

What We’re Reading: Actions Speak Loudest

Oct 27th, 2009 12:16 PM EST
By Kimberly Cadena

For a special edition of our What We’re Reading series, Kimberly Cadena recommends Robert McKinnon’s Actions Speak Loudest.

Actions Speak Loudest is a compilation of essays written by 35 prominent citizens of the world and edited by Robert McKinnon. The book came to ONE’s attention because of Dr. Jeffrey Sach’s essay on the topic of “Common Humanity”. At the end of his essay, there are several suggestions of ways the reader can address the problems that affect our shared world, including by becoming a ONE member.

Other notable essayists included are Her Majesty Queen Noor (topic: Cross-Cultural Understanding), former President Jimmy Carter (Peace), Senator Tom Harkin (Disabilities), world-renowned athletes Mia Hamm (Setting Goals) and Donovan McNabb (Physical Inactivity).

Check the book out here.

And visit the author, Bob McKinnon’s website here.

What We’re Reading 22/10/09

Oct 22nd, 2009 3:50 PM EST
By Robyn Mitchell

The Guardian: Europe offers to cut emissions 95% by 2050 if deal reached at Copenhagen
Europe attempted to reassert its international leadership in the fight against global warming today, offering to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 95% by 2050 and by 30% by 2020 if a climate change pact is sealed in Copenhagen. According to The Guardian, Britain, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands supported this view, believing that Europe had more to gain from seizing the leadership in the run-up to Copenhagen. However, Germany and Italy were reluctant to name a figure publicly so early, believing this could weaken the European bargaining position.

New York Times: Experts Worry as Population and Hunger Grow
Scientists and development experts across the globe are racing to increase food production by 50 percent over the next two decades to feed the world’s growing population, yet many doubt their chances despite a broad consensus that enough land, water and expertise exist. Agronomists and development experts who gathered in Rome last week generally agreed that the resources and technical knowledge were available to increase food production, but are unsure whether the food can be grown in the developing world where the hungry can actually get it, at prices they can afford.

Reuters: USDA to play “modest” role in hunger plan-Shah
The U.S. Agriculture Department will play an “important but modest role” in the new U.S. plan to fight world hunger, but will take its lead from developing countries and the State Department, a senior USDA official said on Wednesday. The USDA plans to tap into its own network of scientists as well as researchers funded by grants to help developing countries on agricultural research and education. The Obama administration has said it will make food security a key plank in its foreign policy, and wants to spend $3.5 billion over three years on projects to help farmers boost food production.

Reuters: Global immunizations hit record but miss millions
Global efforts to immunize children against life-threatening diseases set a record high last year but failed to protect millions of youngsters in the world’s poorest countries, health officials said on Wednesday. A joint report by the World Health Organization, United Nations and World Bank provides a snapshot of an immunization boom that has tripled the global vaccine market to $17 billion in eight years and set off a renaissance of vaccine development aimed at AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and dengue fever.