N’DJAMENA – The economy of Chad is losing some 575.8 billion CFA francs (US$1.2 billion) a year – or 9.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product – to the effects of child undernutrition, according to a new study launched today in the capital. The Cost of Hunger in Africa: the Social and Economic Impact...

In previously inaccessible areas in northeast Nigeria, 80% of shelters damaged and families unable to afford food ABUJA, NIGERIA – The global organization Mercy Corps is expanding its assistance to people in areas of northeast Nigeria previously occupied by Boko Haram and will reach more than 15,...

ROME, Oct 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hunger levels in developing countries have fallen 29 percent since 2000, but efforts to curb hunger must be accelerated in order to meet an international target to eradicate it by 2030, according to an annual index published on Tuesday. Hunger levels ar...

DAKAR, Senegal – 11 October 2016 – A major health campaign is underway in the Lake Chad Basin area to vaccinate over 41 million children against polio to contain the recent outbreak of the disease in north-east Nigeria. Populations fleeing conflict are on the move within the sub-region, raising ...

To find out more, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) spoke to Rob Holden, WHO Overall Incident Manager and Pascal Mkanda, regional polio coordinator for WHO’s Regional Office for Africa, who talk about working as ‘one WHO’, combining resources, playing off comparative advantages, a uniqu...

MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA — Seventeen-year-old Abdulkadir Abdullahi stands in his bedroom looking at his new school uniform — a white, long-sleeved shirt with a button-down collar and navy blue pants. On Monday, he'll put them on, along with a new pair of sparkling white tennis shoes. He'll stuff his new t...

Most civilians living in areas of northern Nigeria recaptured by the armed forces from Boko Haram since the start of the year still face serious protection problems and lack the most basic assistance, with women particularly at risk. These are the initial findings of UNHCR staff who have been co...

Some children are malnourished and many families have nowhere safe to sleep amid lack of basic supplies and services in areas recaptured from insurgents. MONGUNO, Nigeria – Tens of thousands of Nigerians liberated from Boko Haram face a desperate lack of food that has left some children severely ...

Nigeria’s health minister, Isaac Adewole, said on Friday that his government is determined to rid the country of polio again. New cases recently landed Nigeria back on the list of countries where the disease is endemic. Adewole met with Rotary leaders at Rotary International World Headquarters in...

Wild polio virus (WPV1) outbreak After more than two years without the detection of wild polio in Nigeria, the Government reported three laboratory confirmed wild poliovirus type one (WPV1) cases with onset between July and August 2016. All three cases were detected from Borno State, in childr...