APO News from Africa:
Strong Partnerships and Further Funding Key to Beating Back Famine:
On the eve of the London Somalia Conference, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called today for further scale-up of the humanitarian response in Somalia and strengthening of the partnership between the international community, the Federal Government of Somalia and humanitarian partners to avert famine.
Somalia is facing prolonged drought which has left 6.7 million people — more than half the population of the country – in need of humanitarian assistance. The situation continues to deteriorate and the possibility of famine in 2017 remains very real, despite an already massive scale-up of assistance since the beginning of the year. Over 680,000 people have been displaced due to drought in Somalia since November 2016, bringing the total number to 1.8 million. Major disease outbreaks are spreading, with over 36,000 cases of AWD/Cholera and 7,000 cases of suspected measles so far this year. Acute malnutrition is increasing in most parts of the country.
“Since my visit to Baidoa in March, authorities and humanitarian partners have worked together to make extraordinary strides to rapidly reach millions of vulnerable Somalis with water, food and critical health and nutrition services,” Mr. Guterres said. “Thanks to early generous funding provided by countries across the globe, we have managed to avert a famine so far. But the level of suffering is unimaginable and we fear the worst.”
The UN Secretary-General and Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed will present a revised humanitarian response plan to prevent famine in Somalia, to international partners at the London Somalia Conference tomorrow. The revised plan seeks US$ 1.5 billion to reach 5.5 million people with life-saving assistance in 2017. In response to the early alarm that Somalia is at risk of famine, donors have generously provided $ 672 million since the beginning of the year, leaving a gap of $ 875 million.
With the resources received thus far, there has been a massive scale-up of the response and millions of people at risk of starvation and disease are being reached with assistance and protection. Further funding is still required to reach millions of people in urgent need of assistance as the current rainy season is expected to produce below-normal rainfalls, necessitating a sustain response through December.
The London Somalia Conference is hosted by the United Kingdom and convenes international partners to accelerate progress on security sector reform, build on the international response to the ongoing drought and humanitarian crisis and agree the new international partnership needed to keep Somalia on course for increased peace and prosperity.
Distributed by APO on behalf of Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
Lutherans from around the world gather in Namibia:
Almost 800 participants, including 324 delegates, are gathering in Windhoek from 10-16 May for the Twelfth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the highest LWF decision-making body that meets every six years. World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit will address the plenary on 12 May.
With the theme “Liberated by God’s Grace” and sub-themes articulating that creation, salvation and human beings are “not for sale”, the assembly is jointly hosted by the three LWF member churches in the country under the umbrella body, the United Church Council – Namibia Evangelical Lutheran Churches (UCC-NELC).
Considered a historic occasion, the LWF Assembly will dedicate privileged space in the program for the commemorations of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. A special event on the 500 years of Reformation will take place on 14 May in the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek.
Eminent Congolese surgeon Dr Denis Mukwege will deliver the keynote speech on 11 May, focusing on the assembly theme. An active Christian layperson, he has been recognized with several prestigious international awards including the 2008 UN Human Rights Award, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2014, and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Toward an ecumenical spring
Reflecting on the assembly’s theme “Liberated by God’s Grace” at his formal address, LWF President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan encouraged members of the worldwide communion of churches “to capture Luther’s drive to reform, rebuild and remake the church in a spirit of repentance and faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ”, said Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL).
Turning to the processes of historic reconciliation in which the LWF has been engaged, he said the October 2016 joint Catholic-Lutheran commemoration of the Reformation at Lund and Malmö, Sweden, was profoundly significant for the ecumenical movement, and had charted the way forward from conflict to communion.
He expressed his hope that the sharing of prayer and mission manifested at the event alongside many other movements in the last decades of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue “will lead to further breakthroughs of an ecumenical spring.”
Reconciliation and healing of memories
The LWF president also made reference to a recent document by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), in which the Protestant church body confesses to Namibians and to God for unjustifiable German colonial crimes, and asks for forgiveness. He offered LWF’s support towards Namibia’s reconciliation process with Germany, and emphasized the need to acknowledge and honor memories of past injustices in order for healing to occur.
Distributed by APO on behalf of World Council of Churches (WCC).
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
On 8th May, 2017, the World Health Organization and Ministry of Health Libya jointly launched the summary report on findings of service availability and readiness assessment (SARA) survey at Corinthia Hotel, Tripoli.
The workshop was chaired by Dr Omer Basher Altaher, Minister of Health Libya, it was attended by Dr Essa Aleminee, Undersecretary of Health, Libya, Dr Syed Jaffar Hussain, WHO Representative and Head of Mission, Libya and DSRSG/RC/HC Maria do Valle Ribeiro. The event was attended by 95 participants from the Ministry of Health, Bureau of Social Affairs, Ministry of Education, Civil Registration Vital Statistics Department, Council of Economic Development, Libyan Board of Medical and Specialties and General Information Authority and other entities.
Results of SARA survey presented by Muhammad Ibrahim Daganee highlights that 17% of hospitals, 20.1% of primary health care facilities and 8.8% of other specific service facilities were closed. There is imbalance of health workers and shortages of medicines, equipment and diagnostic materials. Overall the service availability and readiness of the specific and specialized services were below the target however the target on workforce density, facility density and maternity bed density were well achieved.
Distributed by APO on behalf of United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
