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Kenya to introduce better treatment for people living with HIV

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Kenya to introduce better treatment for people living with HIV

To accelerate access to better antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, the Government of Kenya and Unitaid on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 announced the introduction of a new first-line drug for people living with HIV, making Kenya the first African country to introduce the generic version of this new drug for routine use.

Lelio Marmora
Lelio Marmora, Executive Director, Unitaid

Dolutegravir (DTG) has been the drug of choice for the last two years for people living with HIV in high-income countries as it has very few side effects, is easier to take than currently used formulations (one small tablet taken daily), and patients are less likely to develop resistance. In 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended DTG as an alternative first-line regimen for adults and adolescents. But until recently, people living with HIV in countries like Kenya were not able to access DTG.

“We are delighted to partner with Unitaid on this innovative project that will no doubt improve the lives of Kenyans living with HIV, build healthcare worker experience, and generate the evidence needed to introduce DTG on a larger scale by early 2018,” said Dr Jackson Kioko, Director of Medical Services at Kenya’s Ministry of Health.

Kenya’s Ministry of Health will initially provide DTG to 27,000 people living with HIV who are unable to tolerate the side effects of efavirenz, the first-line HIV drug currently in use in Kenya. The new drug will be introduced in select health facilities across the country, with the aim of making the drug widely available nationwide later in the year. Numerous phase 3 clinical trials have shown DTG to be superior than all other first line treatments, and in 2016 Kenya included the drug into its antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment guidelines.

“New regimens including DTG offer great potential for better and less costly HIV treatment,” said Lelio Marmora, Unitaid Executive Director. “Through this catalytic work, we are significantly reducing the time it takes for people living with HIV in countries like Kenya to access the latest ARVs on the market. These are important developments as we move towards HIV treatment for all in need.”

More than 18 million people are on life-long HIV treatment worldwide, but an almost equal number do not have access to treatment yet. In Kenya, approximately 1.5 million people are living with HIV, and just over one million are currently on ARVs.

Unitaid is investing $67 million to address this pressing need in an effort to avoid delays of more than 10 years before new drugs can be introduced in low- and middle-income countries. This catalytic intervention also provides a key opportunity to test DTG’s use in routine treatment for the first time and prepare national distribution channels.

Nigeria and Uganda will also be introducing DTG later this year as part of the project, in all cases laying the groundwork for accelerating uptake of the three-in-one fixed dose combination that would be made available by 2018. The fixed dose combination, which would include tenofovir, lamivudine and DTG, is expected to significantly simplify treatment for people living with HIV.

“We would like to praise Kenya’s leadership in paving the way for adults and children living with HIV to access the most effective HIV treatments available on the global market today,” said Mr. Marmora. “Unitaid is pioneering the introduction of simpler, more affordable optimal HIV regimens and ensuring they are available sooner for those in need, so countries and partners like PEPFAR and the Global Fund can bring them to scale.”

By working with partners including WHO, the Global Fund, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Ministries of Health, civil society and others, Unitaid’s current partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is expected to save $1.6 billion in treatment costs through 2024 – enough to provide access to medicines for an additional 3.2 million people for five years.

“This is the first step in ensuring access to better quality and more effective ARV therapy that will greatly improve the quality of life of people living with HIV,” said Kenly Sikwese, Coordinator of the African Community Advisory Board (AFROCAB) and Alternate Unitaid Board Member for the Communities.

The project also supports the market introduction and uptake of adapted pediatric HIV drugs for children.

Hosted by the WHO in Geneva, Unitaid was established by the governments of Brazil, Chile, France, Norway and the United Kingdom. It invests in new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and malaria more quickly, affordably and effectively.

Adesina’s emergence as 2017 World Food Prize Laureate hailed

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Adesina’s emergence as 2017 World Food Prize Laureate hailed

Nigeria’s Chargé d’Affaires to the U.S., Hakeem Balogun, and a former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, have lauded the emergence of Dr. Akinwumi Adesina as the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate.

Akinwumi Adesina
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina

Balogun and Okonjo-Iweala told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent in the U.S. that Adesina’s selection for the prestigious prize was a great honour for Nigeria.

Adesina, who is the current President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), was Minister of Agriculture under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

He was named winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize, regarded as the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for Agriculture, at a ceremony on Monday at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington D.C.

Balogun described Adesina’s emergence as a great honour to Nigeria.

He said: “It is a manifestation of government’s efforts, past and present, at eradicating poverty and placing food on the tables of all Nigerians.

“Dr Adesina is another show of the numerous Nigerians that are shining examples and who are excelling in their various professions all over the world.

“You will recall that Dr Adesina, while serving as Minister of Agriculture, was known as the ‘Farmer’s Minister’.”

The Nigerian envoy said Adesina’s policies while serving as Minister expanded Nigeria’s food production and attracted over $5 billion in private sector investments in agriculture.

Balogun said: “His (Adesina’s) food policies resulted in close to, if not more than, 20 million metric tonnes.

“For us in the Embassy of Nigeria, we are glad that this is a Nigerian to showcase. I congratulate Dr Akinwumi Adesina.”

On her part, Okonjo-Iweala, who served alongside Adesina, hailed the achievement of her former colleague.

She said: “A proud day for Nigeria; President Akin Adesina, President of the AfDB, is announced as the recipient of the 2017 World Food Prize.”

According to Okonjo-Iweala, Adesina’s feat as the new Laureate is an example and a testimony that about 99 per cent of our citizens are law-abiding and good natured.

Adesina is the 46th person and the sixth African to win the World Food Prize.

NAN reports that he midwifed the Agricultural Transformation Agenda under which the E-Wallet system of distribution of agricultural inputs, the first of its kind, was introduced.

For the first time in the history of agriculture in Nigeria, farmers received alerts on their phones to collect their allocation of inputs.

He will be presented with the prize money and Laureate sculpture at a ceremony at the Iowa State Capitol on October 19, 2017.

The event in Washington, D.C. was presided over by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, and attended by some U.S. Congressmen, Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps.

Qatar is 150th Party to Paris Agreement

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Qatar is 150th Party to Paris Agreement

The State of Qatar on Friday, June 23, 2017 deposited its instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar

The peninsular Arab nation has thus become the 150th country to endorse the global treaty, after Moldova, which ratified the climate accord on Tuesday, June 20, 2017.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Qatar’s ratification of the pact will enter into force in a month’s time on Sunday, July 23, 2017.

The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention (UNFCCC) and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.

Weather presenters launch ‘Climate Without Borders’

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Weather presenters launch ‘Climate Without Borders’

An international group of weather presenters on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 formally launched an organisation called “Climate Without Borders” in Brussels, Belgium. The new body is designed to connect, equip and empower other weather presenters around the world to accurately report and inform audiences about climate science and climate action.

Weather presenters
Weather presenters with officials of the UNFCCC, WMO and IPCC at the launch in Brussels

The new group is supported by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“Weather forecasters can deliver information, complex data, evidence and facts about climate change in an accessible way. And they are amongst the most trusted communicators on climate change. They therefore have significant potential to influence the public opinion about climate action,” said Climate Without Borders founder Jill Peeters, who works as weather presenter for the Belgian TV channel VTM.

No fewer than 25 weather presenters who collectively reach around 375 million people on traditional news and social media gathered for the launch of the new group in Brussels, which was also attended by the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Patricia Espinosa. She called on the weather presenters to be strong voices in the critical era of the implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

She said: “I applaud the launch of this exciting new initiative. People need to understand how climate change affects them – they need to know the difference between limiting the global average temperature rise to less than two degrees Celsius, which is the central goal agreed in Paris in 2015, and runaway warming of four, five or six degrees Celsius.

“And they have to understand how they can be part of keeping warming to the safer level outlined in the Paris Agreement. Weather presenters have a major potential to reach people and help build up this understanding.”

Ms. Espinosa also encouraged the weather presenters to report on how countries are fulfilling their national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement, the so-called “Nationally Determined Contributions” or “NDCs”.

The new group intends to encourage weather presenters around the world to not only talk about the growing number of extreme weather events as impacts of climate change, but also about the many economic opportunities that arise from rapidly implementing the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

This includes increased research, innovation and clean energy entrepreneurship. For example, notes Espinosa, weather presenters can set out the solar and wind energy generation potential for their respective countries and regions on any given day as part of their forecasts.

“This is already happening in countries such a Belgium and Portugal.”

The idea for Climate Without Borders was born after the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015, at which the Paris Agreement was clinched. Over the last two years, more than 130 weather presenters from 110 countries, from all five continents of the world have been exchanging information in a closed online group.

The new network intends to create a public-facing weather and climate digital platform to exchange information on weather, extreme events, climate change, policy and action. It also aims to set up a wide variety of local and national educational, cultural and art projects in cooperation with schools, institutions, governments and the private sector.

Over the next years, Climate Without Borders will organise regional “boot camps” to help more weather presenters to raise climate awareness and promote the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon society. Leading weather presenters plan to attend the UN Climate Change Conferences in Bonn, Germany in November of this year (COP23) and the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland in 2018 (COP24).

GCF boosts Vanuatu’s capacity to access climate finance

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GCF boosts Vanuatu’s capacity to access climate finance

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has disbursed $296,000 to Vanuatu to increase this vulnerable island country’s capacity to access climate finance.

Charlot Salwai
Charlot Salwai, Prime Minister of Vanuatu

The transfer of these funds is part of GCF’s readiness support, which assists developing countries ensure the climate finance they receive matches their own development needs.

GCF is working with its delivery partner the Global Green Growth Institute, a Korean-based international organisation, to assist Vanuatu set up procedures to more easily access GCF finance.

The Small Island Developing State is one of the most vulnerable countries to disasters which can be exacerbated by climate change, including cyclones, storm surges, landslides, floods and droughts.

The Government of Vanuatu has stated it is moving to integrate climate change and disaster risk reduction more closely in its efforts to progress national development.

At the end of last year, GCF approved a $23 million funding proposal to expand the use of Climate Information Services (CIS) in Vanuatu to help achieve this aim.

Monsanto weed-killer Roundup causes cancer, says California

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Monsanto weed-killer Roundup causes cancer, says California

The herbicide glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup, will be classified by California as a carcinogen, “known to the state to cause cancer.” The state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment reported the news on Monday, June 26, 2017 although it will officially take effect July 7.

Roundup weed killer
A farm is treated with a weed-killer

Monsanto sued the state earlier this year to prevent the listing, but lost. However, the St. Louis-based company is appealing the ruling, which forces Monsanto, and any other company using glyphosate, to issue a warning label on packaging. The state environmental office told Reuters that Monsanto has not been granted a stay so the listing will go ahead next month despite the appeal.

“This is not the final step in the process, and it has no bearing on the merits of the case,” said Scott Partridge, Monsanto’s vice president of global strategy, in an email. “We will continue to aggressively challenge this improper decision.” He added that the listing is “unwarranted on the basis of science and the law.”

In March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – part of the World Health Organisation (WHO) – classified glyphosate as a “probable carcinogen.” That ruling has been controversial, to say the least, and is the basis for California’s actions.

A Reuters investigation published earlier this month has raised question about the classification, however. That piece shows that Aaron Blair, the head of the IARC’s glyphosate research group, had access to data from a large study (which hadn’t yet been published) suggesting that the weed killer likely wasn’t linked to cancer. That study notwithstanding, numerous papers published as of March 2015 (and since) do seem to suggest a link a link between glyphosate and certain cancers, and IARC has said it’s sticking with its classification.

California is required under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known as Proposition 65, to publish a regularly updated list of chemicals thought to cause cancer or birth defects.

“California’s decision makes it the national leader in protecting people from cancer-causing pesticides,” said Nathan Donley, a former cancer researcher and senior scientist at the Centre for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, in an emailed statement. “The U.S. EPA now needs to step up and acknowledge that the world’s most transparent and science-based assessment has linked glyphosate to cancer.

By Douglas Main, Newsweek

Dakora replaces Kuku, as sciences academy inaugurates new council

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Dakora replaces Kuku, as sciences academy inaugurates new council

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 inaugurated a new Governing Council (GC) led by prominent scientist, Prof Felix Dapare Dakora, became President of the Academy for a three-year term running from 2017-2020.

Prof Felix Dapare Dakora
Prof Felix Dapare Dakora, President, African Academy of Sciences (AAS)

The 15-member GC, which comprises seven new members, four re-elected members, a member elected to a new post, the immediate past president, a retained member, and the Executive Director who is an ex-officio member, will serve a three-year term running from 2017-2020.

Prof Dakora, A Ghanaian, replaces Prof Aderemi Kuku, a Nigeria-born mathematician who was President from 2014 to 2017.

The new President is a Professor of plant and soil biotechnology at South Africa’s Tshwane University of Technology; a recipient of the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences and the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award; and a Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

“This new leadership will steer the Academy to even greater heights in its mission of developing science, technology and innovation in Africa,” said AAS Interim Executive Director, Dr Thomas Kariuki.  “We will work with them to elevate the Academy and to contribute to Africa’s development.”

The Governing Council meets twice a year and are tasked with policy oversight, formulating and reviewing the programmes of the Academy within the framework and priorities set by the AAS General Assembly of Fellows. The GC receives and approves the annual reports and audited financial accounts of the Academy; and identifies, approves and inducts new members into the fellowship of the Academy.

Prof Dakora said: “I am honoured to have been elected as President and look forward to working with the Secretariat and Fellows to drive the agenda of the Academy and science in Africa forward. “It will take our collective efforts to ensure that science is harnessed to improve the lives of Africa’s people and contributes to socio-economic development.”

The GC members are prominent scientists who the the AAS says bring a wealth of experience to the organisation. They and are from Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, the Republic of the Congo, the Republic of South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

 

The Governing Council comprises:

New members

  • President: Felix Dapare Dakora (Plant and Soil Biotechnology Professor at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa)
  • Secretary General: Barthelemy Nyasse (Chemistry and Research Methodology Professor at the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon)
  • Vice President E. Africa: Elly Sabiiti (Crop Sciences Professor at the Makerere University, Uganda)
  • Regional Rep C. Africa: Juma Shabani (Professor of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, University of Burundi)
  • Regional Rep E. Africa: Theonest K. Mutabingwa (Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Hubert Kairuki Memorial University, Dar-es-Salaam)
  • Regional Rep N. Africa: Akissa Bahri (Professor at the National Agricultural Institute of Tunisia)
  • Regional Rep S. Africa: Colleen Masimirembwa (Founding President and Chief Scientific Officer African Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (AiBST) Wilkins Hospital, Zimbabwe)

 

Re-elected members

  • Vice President C. Africa: Vincent P.K Titanji (Vice Chancellor and CEO of the Cameroon Christian University, Cameroon)
  • Vice President N. Africa: Mahmoud Abdel-Aty (Head of the Mathematics Department at the Zewail City of Sciences and Technology, Egypt)
  • Vice President W. Africa: Robert Guiguemdé (President of the National Academy of Sciences of Burkina Faso)
  • Regional Rep W. Africa: Richard Awuah (Professor, plant pathology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana)

 

Elected to a new post

  • Vice President S.Africa: Boitumelo Kgarebe (Head of the Analytical Services Division at the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH), South Africa). Kgarebe was Regional Rep for Southern Africa in the outgoing GC.

 

Retained post

  • Treasurer: Dominic W. Makawiti (Biochemistry Professor at the University of Nairobi, Kenya). Makawiti was appointed to the GC as Acting Treasurer in 2016.
  • Aderemi Kuku (Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, National Mathematical Centre, Abuja, Nigeria) will sit in the Governing Council as immediate Past President.

The AAS is a pan African organisation headquartered in Kenya, which aims to drive sustainable development in Africa through science technology and innovation.

It has a tripartite mandate of:

  • Pursuing excellence by recognising scholars and achievers;
  • Providing advisory and think tank functions for shaping the continent’s strategies and policies; and,
  • Implementing key science, technology and innovation programmes that impact on developmental challenges through the new agenda setting and funding platform, the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA).

CEM8: Clean energy challenge demands global leadership

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CEM8: Clean energy challenge demands global leadership

Energy ministers and high-level representatives from 24 countries and the European Commission who met in Beijing, China from Tuesday, June 6 to Thursday, June 8, 2017 for the eighth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM8) meeting, reviewed the latest advances in clean energy technology and discuss how to advance the global clean energy transition.

CEM8
Energy ministers and representatives at the CEM8 in Beijing, China

“CEM is becoming a leading international cooperation platform for clean energy development and deployment responding to global challenges,” said Minister Wan Gang of China.

CEM members were joined by representatives from a number of prominent international organisations in the energy sphere, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC), World Energy Council, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL), and over 600 representatives from the private sector and industry.

The primary goal of the CEM8 meeting was to launch a new era of “shared global leadership” for the CEM. CEM members were called upon to pledge their participation and leadership of CEM activities. A stronger multilateral approach is at the heart of the CEM 2.0 vision launched at the sixth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM6) in Mexico in 2015. The Beijing, according to the organisers, meeting marks a new phase of activity for the CEM, characterised by increasingly shared global leadership in clean energy.

Ministers and heads of delegation took the opportunity to announce more ambitious goals for the CEM’s work in the area of electric vehicles (EV30@30), urban energy systems, buildings efficiency, and advanced power plant flexibility (APPF). These topics will be the focus of intensive, targeted activities over the coming year, it was gathered.

CEM members also explored new areas for the CEM to focus on in the future. These discussions were inspired by a wide range of side events which took place in the margins of the ministerial meeting. Suggestions varied according to the respective priorities of CEM members.

Ministers and heads of delegation also exchanged views with global business leaders, energy experts from industry, academia, and international organisations in four public-private roundtable discussions.

Looking ahead, CEM members reflected on emerging energy trends and the strategic implications of the ‘shared global leadership’ model. They recognised the opportunity to further streamline, enhance, and strengthen the work of the CEM with the support of the newly established, multilateral CEM Secretariat based at the IEA in Paris.

These will be important topics at upcoming CEM meetings, which will be jointly hosted by the European Commission, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in 2018 (ninth Clean Energy Ministerial/CEM9) and Canada in 2019 (tenth Clean Energy Ministerial/CEM10).

The CEM is said to be the only annual meeting of energy ministers dedicated to clean energy supported by year-round work streams which span energy supply, energy demand, energy systems, and cross-cutting issues.

CEM members currently account for approximately 90% of global energy investments and 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions who have prioritised clean energy advancement and participate on a voluntary basis to achieve this goal.

Mourinho lays father to rest

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Mourinho lays father to rest

Manchester United manager, José Mourinho, on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 buried his father, former Portugal goalkeeper José Manuel Mourinho Felix, who died at the age of 79.

José Mourinho
José Mourinho with undertakers during the burial

Mourinho was surrounded by fans and family members as he attended church service with his father’s coffin in his home town of Setubal in Portugal.
The coffin, which was draped in the flag of Felix childhood club, Setubal Victoria, saw José heartbroken.

It is believed that Felix passed away on Sunday, 45 years to the day of his first and only appearance for his country.

He coached his youngest child José during the now Manchester United boss’ early playing days, inspiring Mourinho Jnr to become one of the greatest football managers in history.

“My father was a good manager. He was in the Portugal Premier League eight or nine years, he was champion of the championship there four times, so he was a good manager in that generation,” José explained.

Felix Mourinho managed several clubs in his native Portugal, winning the Portuguese second division on four occasions in a career which saw him take charge at the clubs, including Rio Are, Belenenses and Victoria Setubal.

He made one appearance for his country as a goalkeeper, coming on as a substitute for the last few minutes of a game against Ireland on June 25, 1972.

Portuguese club, Victoria Setubal, who Mourinho Felix played for and managed during his career from 1968 to 1974, had confirmed the news in a statement, regretting the death of its former player, coach and director.

“We express our solidarity and deepest condolences to the bereaved family, friends, especially his wife and son, José Mourinho.”

By Felix Simire

FAO distributes seeds, fertiliser in planting season push

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FAO distributes seeds, fertiliser in planting season push

Seeds and fertiliser for more than one million people are being distributed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in north-eastern Nigeria for the planting season that began in June, 2017. It is part of efforts, led by the Federal Government, to restore livelihoods and combat critical levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in areas affected by Boko Haram violence.

Nourou Macki Tall
FAO Country Representative, Nourou Macki Tall

The emergency distributions come as Germany contributes €4 million ($4.5 million) to alleviate food insecurity in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states – the largest contribution FAO has received so far for the Nigeria operation. The funds will support FAO’s work to further improve agricultural production and safeguard the livestock assets of vulnerable people affected by the violence including displaced people, refugees and host communities.

“Investing in agricultural assistance today will provide food for tomorrow; and can ensure people have a source of food even when they are cut off from other forms of humanitarian aid,” said FAO Country Representative ad interim, Nourou Macki Tall.

 

Agricultural support is critical

The FAO operation is providing around 2,000 tons of cereal, pulse and vegetable seeds and 3 500 tons of fertilisers to vulnerable farmers in 46 Local Government Areas, reaching 1.1 million people. Those taking part have access to land, so sufficient agricultural support is critical to enable them to benefit from the coming rainy season.

“Eighty per cent of the people in the area are farmers, and need support to return back to their farms,” said Alhaji Maina Gana, chairman of the Fune Local Government Area in Yobe State.

The World Food Programme provides food rations to the beneficiaries of FAO’s kit to protect seeds from direct consumption. This ensures immediate hunger needs are addressed while also enabling a future harvest. FAO is also working with the Government and national and international non-government organisations.

 

High levels of food insecurity

Around 5.2 million people are struggling with high levels of food insecurity in the three states and require immediate and enhanced support.

The critical planting season intervention is possible thanks to the governments of Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States of America as well as the European Commission (ECHO) and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

For 2017, FAO is requesting $62 million under the Humanitarian Response Plan for Nigeria and the FAO Lake Chad Response Strategy. Additional support is urgently needed to reach the millions in need in the coming months, including to protect livestock assets, strengthen livelihoods, rehabilitate infrastructure and support food security coordination and analysis.

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