South Asia earthquake

A 7.6 earthquake struck Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province and Azad Jammu Kashmir region o­n 8 October 2005. Over 73 000 people died, 2.5 million people were left homeless and more than 150 000 were injured as a result of this disaster.

Situation reports

Pakistan earthquake logistics support system - report
Logistic Support System was setup and became operational in the WHO Islamabad warehouse in early November 2005. During the months November 2005 to February 2006 the system went through a number of changes and modifications to better meet the needs of the logisticians. - This is a report by Michael Greaves of the LLS system by Region in the earthquake affected area.
Full text [pdf 290kb]

UN launches o­ne-year early recovery plan for post-quake Pakistan
Aiming to help victims of the October 2005 earthquake that devastated Pakistan when they return to their homes, the United Nations launched 16 May 2006 a 12-month, $300 million early recovery plan to bridge the transition from relief to reconstruction
Reliefweb web site

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Indonesian Earthquake On May 27, 2006, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Indonesia near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta o­n the island of Java, killing over 6,000 people and injuring thousands more. CARE has conducted a thorough assessment of the needs o­n the ground and will be providing safe water for 70,000 families and distributing food and emergency supplies through local vendors.

Background
Yogyakarta is the ancient royal capital of Java and home to more than 3 million people. The earthquake shook the area outside the city, destroying homes and villages for miles around. The official death toll now stands at over 6,000. Exact numbers of people affected are difficult to estimate, but more than 40,000 survivors were injured and over 600,000 were left homeless in the aftermath of the disaster. Entire villages were leveled by the quake in many areas, and many survivors refuse to enter the remaining structures for fear of aftershocks and further collapse.

CARE's Work
CARE is expanding our emergency response in the earthquake-stricken area, providing survivors with much-needed access to clean water, food and emergency supplies. CARE has worked in Indonesia since 1967 and has over 1,400 staff members o­n the ground, extensive emergency experience and strong relationships with the Indonesian government and local partner organizations. Our response is addressing the most pressing needs of the survivors:

• Ensuring access to safe drinking water for affected communities: In coordination with our internationally-respected local partner, Dian Desa, we are distributing a water purification solution called Air Rahmat ("safe healthy water") to 70,000 survivors and establishing systems to monitor the spread of disease and respond to outbreaks. Clean water is absolutely essential in the early days of the disaster response to prevent a "second wave" of deaths from water-borne diseases such as diarrhea.
  
  
• Providing emergency supplies from CARE's existing in-country stocks: We're distributing tents, food, hygiene supplies and health kits for mobile clinics from our existing reserves in Indonesia.
  
  
• Ensuring access to food and personal hygiene materials: We are beginning a market-based food and emergency supply distribution program in the affected areas. The market-based approach, used in the tsunami response, will provide 20,000 people with monthly vouchers redeemable through local vendors for food and essential household items such as toothpaste, sanitary napkins for women and soap.

"CARE's program is using local resources, local staff and local solutions to provide swift and effective relief to survivors," says Johan Kieft, CARE's emergency team coordinator o­n the ground. "We're building o­n lessons learned during the tsunami, taking our successful programs from that emergency response and replicating them here."

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Caritas Aids Earthquake Victims in Rural Java, Plans Reconstruction

The Caritas Confederation continues to help the survivors of Saturday’s earthquake that struck the Indonesian city Yogyakarta and surrounding areas, bringing food,  blankets, clothes, tents , personal and kitchen sets and medical assistance to thousands of displaced people. Working closely with the local parishes, hospitals and volunteer teams of the Archdiocese of Semarang, Caritas member agencies are moving quickly in procurement and distribution of much-needed relief items.
 
Heavy rain at night has drenched those survivors with no shelter, and the rain has also made the humanitarian response more difficult as local, rural roads are difficult to travel for trucks bringing supplies to remote villages. Reports of new relief needs are also being made from rural districts. 
 
The Archbishop of Semarang, Monsignor Ignatius Surharyo, who visited the sub-district of Gantiwarna in Klaten with a Caritas assessment team o­n Monday morning, commented o­n the urgency of bringing assistance to the more remote sub-districts.

“Since the media coverage has focused o­n Bantul, the region of Klaten is neglected.” There, he said, “the situation is not better than Bantul.” Following the assessment, Caritas is delivering 500 tents to the area, fully equipped with kitchen and hygiene sets, by the end of this week. In the longer term, Caritas will be involved in trauma and psychological counselling as recovery and reconstruction plans are launched.

The seven Catholic hospitals in the area also responded quickly, sending personnel out to remote areas to help the injured, who might not otherwise make it to treatment centres. The teams report that medical items for fractures are in demand. 

Caritas partner agencies have also been particularly active in Kretek and Pundong districts in the region of Bantul, as well as Prambanan in the Jogjakarta district, providing blankets, hygiene kits, clothes, and household cooking items to 5,000 people. As more relief supplies reach Central Java by road, the programme in Bantul will reach an estimated 25,000 people. 
 
Caritas members are currently working  to coordinate a 6-week programme for relief response in the affected regions of Central Java and will prepare a longer term programme of 1-2 years for the restoration of livelihoods and construction  of transitional or semi-permanent shelters. The Government of Indonesia has announced that it will plan the reconstruction of permanent houses for the affected regions. At this early stage, Caritas says temporary housing assistance is of the utmost importance, as many families have received no shelter assistance and have had to endure several nights of rain in the wide open.

Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organisations present in over 200 countries and territories.

For more information, contact: 
Nancy McNally, media officer
Tel: +39 06 69879752
mcnally@caritas.va
www.caritas.org


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Mercy Corps is helping people rebuild their lives by rebuilding their livelihoods. These women who lost everything in the disaster are learning to earn a living by sewing trendy surfer shorts. Waves of water reduced most local businesses to rubble. Now, more than 50 restaurants and tea shops are operational thanks to essential supplies nicknamed "restaurant kits," while temporary tourist cabanas give visitors a place to stay until hotels can be rebuilt. And, Mercy Corps is helping impoverished fishermen stay afloat by providing materials to repair nets and boats. All are important steps to heal the decimated economy and restore hope. New homes are also being built for disaster survivors. »

Last year we met Dr. Catherine Hamlin, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee who has devoted nearly 50 years providing free reconstructive surgery to more than 25,000 African girls and women suffering from fistulas at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital that she opened with her late husband, Reginald. Fistulas are holes that develop in the tissue that separates the vagina from the bladder and/or rectum during labor because the mothers (often young teenagers) have small pelvises or a poorly positioned fetus. In the United States, this condition could be avoided by caesarean section, but in many developing countries, poverty prevents women from getting proper treatment. Untreated, the fistula causes a constant stream of urine, and sometimes feces, to drip, leaving a trail and odor wherever these young mothers go. In Ethiopia, thousands of young girls suffer from this devastating condition. After Dr. Hamlin's visit to the show, thousands of viewers were compelled to act. The Fistula Foundation, which supports Dr. Hamlin's hospital, received more than $3 million in donations. Oprah traveled 7,000 miles to Ethiopia to get a firsthand look at the hospital where a modern-day saint helps girls who are suffering the unimaginable. »

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The big picture

Click for a detailed map (PDF)

This map does not reflect a position by UNICEF o­n the legal status of any country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.

The Government of the Philippines is making significant progress in the implementation of the Convention o­n the Rights of the Child. The legislative framework of the Convention is largely in place, and its implementation is strengthened by a civil society that is highly protective of human rights; the Local Government Code, which devolved the delivery of basic services except public education to local government units (LGUs); and increasing human priority expenditures.

The monitoring of 33 indicators of basic family needs, particularly of children and women, is in process in all of the country's 41,936 villages (barangays). The favourable environment for children and women is due mainly to policy reforms, political stability, improved peace and order, economic growth and a free media. The Government is cognizant of the economic slowdown affecting the region and is taking steps to minimize its economic and social costs.

The Government of the Philippines-UNICEF cooperation has focused o­n an integrated hierarchy of activities focusing o­n what can be done at home, community, basic health service and referral levels to fulfil the health and nutrition rights of children and women in an effective, efficient and sustainable manner. This requires greater integration of health, nutrition and intersectoral interventions, strengthened local capacity, and enhanced health system/community interaction.

Significant progress has been made over the past decade to develop mechanisms to rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate children in especially difficult circumstances. The time is now ripe to combine and integrate these efforts into more coherent and systematic approaches to prevent and protect children from exploitative labour, sexual abuse, drug abuse and other violations of their rights. The country has established Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiatives, micronutrient supplementation, access to safe water, literacy and school participation. Polio eradication and the elimination of neonatal tetanus have nearly been achieved. The Government's globalization policy has made the economy more internationally competitive, but it has also exposed children to such negative influences as family separation, dangerous drugs and urban poverty.

UNICEF priorities

UNICEF’s specific objectives are to:

• Strengthen the capacity of national and local governments to provide an environment to ensure child rights and manage basic services.
• Enhance the full participation of civil society to support family efforts to raise, nurture and protect their children.
• Reduce infant, under-five and maternal mortality rates and malnutrition.
• Improve the quality of education and increase cohort survival rates. 
• Reduce the number of children who are sexually exploited, exposed to hazardous labour and substance abuse, or are in conflict with the law.

UNICEF works in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP) in women's, youth and child health; WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in nutrition; the International Labour Organization (ILO) in child labour; and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in governance, water and environmental sanitation, and gender and development. UNICEF will also work closely with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and several other bilateral donors to test and bring to scale an elementary education package and an early child development package which integrates health, nutrition and education services.

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Help Nigerien Mothers Like Fatima

Fatima lives with her husband and their six children in Sanam, a remote village in Niger that's accessed o­nly by barely passable dirt road.

Fatima and her daughter Karima have benefited from Mercy Corps' feeding program in their village of Sanam, Niger. Photo: Maria Finch/Mercy Corps

Her husband is a primary school teacher who also tends the family's millet fields with the help of the children. The millet he raises is the primary food source for the entire family. Unfortunately, drought and pestilence have left their last couple of harvests in a shambles, plunging them into a dire food crisis and deep into debt.

Because of this crisis, Fatima's youngest daughter, Karima, became chronically sick and kept losing weight. Fatima was unable to provide enough high-quality, nutritious food to help her regain her strength and thrive.

Fortunately, Mercy Corps began working with the Health Center in Sanam to provide UNIMIX - a corn and soy mixture with essential vitamins and minerals - to malnourished children. Karima qualified to participate in the program and began receiving daily rations of UNIMIX, which satisfied most of her caloric needs.

Since beginning our response to the food crisis in August 2005, Mercy Corps has treated over 8,000 moderately and severely malnourished children in feeding centers positioned throughout Niger's barren Filingue Department. In addition, we've trained 26 health workers and 54 community volunteers to manage feeding centers and local health clinics. These workers represent the best hope to deliver aid during the current and future food crises.

After four weeks, Karima was well enough to graduate from the program. Fatima is very grateful to Mercy Corps and asked that the program continue because she knows there are others who need help.

Please donate today to deliver uninterrupted aid to malnourished children in o­ne of the world's poorest countries.

Help 300 Women Stay Cancer-Free

Today you could help save the life of a young mother in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, o­ne of that country's poorest regions. Your donation will provide timely medical treatment to help local women remain cancer-free.

Tomasa Chub and o­ne of her three children, who live in the tiny village of Nimlajacoc, are among the beneficiaries of Mercy Corps programs. Photo: Kim Johnston/Mercy Corps

One of Mercy Corps' most critical programs in this area of Guatemala is the Tucuru Health Care Project. This program reaches out to poor families - especially mothers and children - from the Q'eqchi and Poq'omchi tribes that live in isolated villages around the town of Tucuru. Our Municipal Health Center in Tucuru and satellite clinics in villages are reaching out to these marginalized ethnic groups, who have traditionally received little or no medical care.

In the last three years, our health programs have reduced maternal and infant mortality in the Tucuru area by more than 60%.

Today, we need your help in addressing a new, urgent issue. We recently conducted pap smears for over 900 women in the area around Tucuru. Of these women, around 300 were diagnosed with medical conditions that require follow-up treatment.

In most cases, these conditions will lead to cancer within 3-5 years if left untreated. Unfortunately, the medicines necessary for treatment aren't readily available in Guatemala and the government doesn't have the resources to treat even o­ne of these women.

We need your help to purchase the medicines required to ensure continuing health for these at-risk mothers. A complete treatment cycle for each woman o­nly costs between $65 and $135. That amount of money could literally save a life.

Your donation will be matched by a generous family foundation that shares your concern for poor Guatemalan families. Together, we can make sure that all of these women receive the timely, professional medical treatment they need to remain cancer-free.

Please consider a gift to cover the cost of a treatment for o­ne woman. By doing so, you'll help ensure the health of a beloved wife and mother in o­ne of Guatemala's poorest regions.

Please click here to contribute to this special fund. Thank you for your support.

Restoring Dignity

Nearly a decade ago, Pam Eser was an unsatisfied investment banker o­n vacation in Vietnam.

Mercy Corps helped Cut Zuni, a businesswoman who'd lost her shop and inventory to the tsunami, procure a loan to rebuild and reopen. She now employs seven women from her community. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

"I didn't feel like my career was very fulfilling," she says now. She knew the money industry, but wanted to do something to help people who don't have much money.

During that trip to Vietnam, Eser found the solution to her dilemma when she met a woman who worked in the fast-growing, innovative field of "microfinance." A relatively new factor in the world of international development, microfinance initiatives provide small-scale loans, grants and other services to entrepreneurs in the developing world.

"It matched my skill set," says Eser. "I started doing some research. Eight and a half years later, here I am."

From her home base in Sweden, Eser directs Mercy Corps' microfinance programs around the world. From kick-starting grassroots tourism businesses in Lebanon to helping rural Chinese farmers buy pigs, Mercy Corps' small-scale economic programs help make communities financially stronger.

Eser explained some of microfinance's ins and outs in a telephone interview.

Q: For starters, Pam, just what is microfinance?

Pam Eser: Essentially, providing financial services in a sustainable manner to those who don't have access to them - everything that you and I, in developed countries, have access to. Those could be loans, they could be savings or mortgage services. There are lots of products and programs, and lots of purposes.

Maybe someone is looking to expand a business, or start a business. Maybe a community lacks a way to save. People may have to rely o­n buying animals to save, or jewelry - methods that aren't very flexible or secure. So microfinance has grown into a large industry, with the purpose to provide a wide range of financial services that meet the needs of poor families.

Is this a new thing?

You could say that moneylending has been going o­n since the beginning of time. But in a modern sense, microfinance really began in the 1970s in Bangladesh and Latin America.

Mercy Corps' programs started in 1997 in Kazahkstan and Bosnia - those were our first attempts to set up structures that would continue to function after we pulled out. An important aspect of microfinance is sustainability - you're trying to develop institutions that can continue to operate without external support, be it human resources or grant funding.

How "micro" is micro?

Well, of course it depends o­n the country. In Bosnia, you're in Europe and costs are higher. So naturally the loans have to be bigger, so borrowers can do something productive.

In Latin America or Bangladesh, you sometimes see loans of $30 to $50, with repayment periods of just a few weeks to a few months. Some of our programs issue loans up to a few thousand dollars. In any case, we're generally talking about amounts that seem small, but which can make big differences in poor, developing communities.

How so?

In post-conflict scenarios like Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as in disaster-afflicted areas like Indonesia and Sri Lanka, our target populations lost housing, savings, assets, businesses, jobs - everything. Access to loans allows them to rebuild small businesses, which in turn spurs the rebuilding of infrastructure and society at large. In China, if you help a family buy a pig to raise and sell, they can double their income in two loan cycles. The investment in dollars is very small but the relative payoff is huge.

Humanitarian concerns aside, how is this good business for the lender?

Microfinance is sustainable and long term. The lender covers costs and makes a profit, which can then be plowed back into the organization, to reach more clients, increase loan sizes for clients whose businesses are growing and diversify into other services as demand grows.

Across the board, we're working o­n deepening the infrastructure that's available in developing areas, and also o­n showing the existing infrastructure - the banks and other institutions that are already there - that poorer people can be reached and reached profitably.

When I apply for a credit card, the company issuing the card can look at my credit history and figure out if I'm worth the risk. How does it work for people who have never had dealings with a financial institution?

If a program is operating in an area where clients wouldn't have any history with taking credit from someone other than moneylenders or family and friends, the most likely thing for the program to do would be to offer what we call solidarity group loans. Five to seven people who know each other together and promise to repay each other's loans. They guarantee each other, allowing an institution to make a loan without ‘hard' collateral.

If o­ne member of the group can't make a payment - for example, due to funeral expenses that month - the others make it for him or her. Then that person pays the group back when they can. Using this methodology, you can make lots of small loans, but you don't have to monitor each and every o­ne of them.

We're used to thinking of aid in terms of food or maybe education. Why is this as important?

Without these services, you really can't expand your income potential. Imagine life in a U.S. city if no o­ne could ever get a small business loan, or if no o­ne could save safely or get insurance.

Also, another aspect of this is, if I'm going to give you seeds or give you food or give you clothes, that's somewhat paternalistic. I'm deciding what you need. o­n the other hand, if I give you cash, you can decide what you need. Maybe you want to buy food that day, or maybe you can use the money to grow whatever business you're in.

People don't want hand-outs. With a hand-out, you're a beneficiary. With a loan, you get dignity, and the respect that comes when someone is willing to make an investment in you, to trust that you will repay.

How Cakes and Crackers Saved a Village

Lampisang, Aceh Besar is a lovely village of traditional Indonesian wooden houses built o­n stilts. When the Indian Ocean tsunami hit in late December 2004, the waves reached the village with sufficient force to bear most of the villagers' possessions away. Everyone managed to flee into the surrounding hills before the deadly surge came, and so Lampisang was lucky not to lose any lives.

Wati, a baker from the Acehnese village of Lampisang, puts freshly-baked Bolu Boi cakes into a bag. Photo: Shirine Bakhat/Mercy Corps

Times have never been easy in this community of farmers, but, with many men still out of work in the aftermath of the tsunami, it is often the women who generate the income needed to keep their families going. They often do so by making cakes, cassava crackers and other baked goods.

The women in Lampisang work together and help each other. Cakes and cassava crackers are made from home, and the women get together in groups to work.

"It is much better when we work together," said Ibu Ana, o­ne of the community's bakers. "We can talk, and laugh."

Ibu Ana is just o­ne of the dedicated women taking part in Mercy Corps' Livelihoods program in Aceh. Backing women's livelihoods is especially important, because it bolsters family income and earnings are often used to pay for children's education. The money the women earn also provides them with a measure of control and independence in their lives.

Mercy Corps' support goes beyond simply providing the funds that local women need to restart their businesses. The organization also looks at the whole market chain the business is part of and provides assistance that reaches from negotiating with supply vendors to supporting distribution.

Women from villages like Lampisang form a group and submit a proposal to Mercy Corps for a grant that enables them to buy the equipment and material they need to restart their home businesses. As part of the Livelihoods program, all members of the group commit themselves to investing membership fees into a revolving fund that will be used as a savings group. In Lampisang, 11 cake makers, 11 cassava cracker makers and 41 members of a sewing circle form the group.

Women Bring Home the Bakin'

Wati, age 23, is another of the cake makers in the village. Together with her mother Kartini and grandmother, she specializes in Bolu Boi cakes. The cakes are made from a simple mixture of flour, water, sugar, eggs and vanilla, baked in small traditional forms over a smoky coconut husk fire. They are a favorite all over Aceh, and at weddings it is a local tradition for the bride's family to present a Bolu Boi cake in the form of a fish to the groom's family.

Wati's dark kitchen is a hive of activity, and her mother Kartini doesn't even want to stand still for a family photo - the cakes might burn. o­n a good day they can sell up to a 100 bags, with a bag containing 10 cookie-sized cakes for 3,500 IDR (40 cents). The peak season for cake sales is during the month of Ramadan, when they can sell up to 500 bags per day from the little shop in front of their house. The income made by selling Bolu Boi cakes supports Wati, her parents, grandparents and siblings - a family of 8 in all.

Ibu Ana makes cassava cakes by shredding raw cassava into pulp. The pulp is then rolled out into thin circles o­n a sheet of plastic and boiled. The next step in the preparation is to dry the crackers for a day or two in the sun o­n traditional palm leaf mats. The sun-dried crackers are then sold to road side cafes and o­n the market, and still need to be fried before they can be eaten.

Ibu Ana makes up to 400 cassava crackers per day, which totals 40,000 IDR or about $4. With this income she is supporting her husband - who lost his job as a driver since his previous company hasn't reopened business yet - and her two school-aged children. Her husband is now helping her with the cracker business, and they use the income to pay for food and the children's tuition fees. Ibu Ana even has managed to save a little money - a fact that makes her very proud.

In Lampisang, cakes and crackers are making a difference in family's lives - o­ne that goes far beyond a tasty snack.

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Bringing Relief to Children

It's situation critical in northern Pakistan, as wintry weather descends o­n families without adequate cold-weather shelter in the mountainous regions rocked by October's 7.6-magnitude earthquake.

Mercy Corps CEO Neal Keny-Guyer visits with children in the earthquake region. Photo: Mercy Corps/Cassandra Nelson

More than 1,100 Pakistanis are employed building winter shelters for homeless families as part of Mercy Corps' cash-for-work program to build 6,000 new shelters - which will accommodate up to 50,000 people - in the next several weeks.

In addition, the agency is helping open, furnish and supply makeshift tent schools in the Konsh and Siran valleys, where 2,500 schools were leveled or irreparably damaged. Recreational equipment such as badminton nets and cricket sets are also being distributed to schools to promote children's emotional recovery.

Your generous donation is critical to help Mercy Corps' provide immediate, lifesaving relief for vulnerable Pakistani families in need.

Mercy Corps' expanded relief efforts come as aid workers continue to race against time to deliver supplies to earthquake survivors before winter sets in. Already, sleet and hail is complicating aid deliveries. So far, the agency's relief workers have distributed more than 2,500 tents in the Konsh and Siran valleys, home to about 200,000 people living in isolated villages. Daily distributions of blankets, sleeping bags, jerry cans and other supplies continue.

With simply not enough tents in the world to meet the immense shelter needs for Pakistan earthquake survivors, a new tack was needed. Mercy Corps' cash-for-work program pays local people to clear debris for building sites and salvage building materials such as wood and corrugated steel roofing to construct cold-weather shelters. The program began in the village of Saed Abad, near the town of Hillkot, and will expand to about a dozen communities in the next several weeks.

Wintertime shelters are desperately needed to avert a feared "second wave of deaths" in a disaster that has already claimed a confirmed 87,000 lives.

Six tented medical facilities run by Mercy Corps doctors have treated more than 15,000 patients. Two clinics are open 24 hours a day. The leading ailment at all but o­ne of the facilities is acute respiratory tract infections, which suggest exposure to the elements as temperatures continue to drop. Clinicians also report treating a high incidence of diarrhea - a sign of unsafe food and drinking water - and scabies, an indicator of poor sanitation in flattened villages.

Mercy Corps teams are working quickly to establish potable water systems and workable sanitation solutions in camps and villages. Water systems in Dhader and Battal are complete. At eight other villages, sachets of water purifying powder - each the size of a fast-food ketchup packet - have been handed out as a temporary solution, with jerry cans distributed in another nine. Latrine materials - including concrete slabs specially designed to be light enough to carry to some of the higher-elevation regions - are being purchased and distributed.

The earthquake was the largest in decades to hit the disputed Himalayan region administered by both Pakistan and India. Numerous seismic aftershocks, bad weather and rough terrain continue to complicate relief efforts across the affected region.

The agency has also sent a water-and-sanitation assessment team to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to explore the possibility of working there.

Your donation will make possible both Mercy Corps' immediate response to health, education and shelter concerns and its work towards Pakistan's future recovery.

Spreading the Word

Tuzan Village, Grand Gedeh County, Liberia - o­n the stoop of a gray mud house near the center of this lush farming village, Jessica Quarles pulls aside adolescent boys and young women, o­ne by o­ne, to get their thoughts o­n the biggest public-health risk to their generation.

Jessica Quarles, Mercy Corps' HIV/AIDS program officer, poses next to a young girl she befriended in Monrovia. Photo: Dan Sadowsky/Mercy Corps

What do you know about AIDS? How do you think it's spread? What do your friends say about HIV/AIDS? Who do you trust to tell you correct information?

Quarles, Mercy Corps' Portland-based HIV/AIDS program officer, is trying to gauge the effectiveness of the agency's current curriculum and measure local receptiveness to a future program that will meld HIV/AIDS education and soccer.

The o­ne-on-one interviews also give Quarles an opportunity to spread the messages she wants every Liberian to know: Yes, AIDS is a terminal illness. But it's preventable. And it's possible to live well for several years with HIV.

Together, those messages constitute a nearly 180-degree turn from the more common, fear-based message "AIDS kills." That two-word phrase makes Quarles cringe. It stigmatizes and isolates those who are living with HIV, she says, and creates a powerful disincentive for learning about the disease and acting o­n that knowledge, whether it's comforting an infected friend or practicing safe sex.

"We know from decades of experience that fear-based messages don't work, particularly with adolescents," says Quarles, who earned a master's in public health at Columbia University and for three years ran an award-winning AIDS program for rural youth in Lesotho.

To her, the ideal AIDS awareness program should acknowledge the consequences of the disease, forcefully debunk its many myths and strike a hopeful tone. Above all, she says, it should present unbiased facts. "If you allow young people to make choices based o­n impartial information, they tend to choose healthier options."

Extending our reach

Today, Mercy Corps HIV/AIDS programs reach more than 265,000 people: AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe, tea workers in India, indigenous farmers in Guatemala and Honduras, HIV-infected city dwellers in Uzbekistan and, most recently, former child soldiers and other young people in Liberia.

One of the poorest countries in Africa, Liberia still reels from a quarter-century of tyranny, anarchy and civil war. Its capital, Monrovia, lacks water and electricity. Its economy revolves largely o­n subsistence farming; most of the population can't read or write.

Accurate statistics are nearly impossible to come by in Liberia, but UNICEF estimates that 8.2 percent of the population has HIV, just a point above the average rate for sub-Saharan Africa. But in a September report, the agency warned that current social and economic post-conflict conditions "favor the rapid spread" of the disease.

That spread, in Liberia and other developing countries where Mercy Corps works, threatens to derail efforts to improve food security, fight poverty and stimulate economic growth. That's why the agency hired Quarles last January to be its first HIV/AIDS officer, and stepped up its efforts to integrate HIV/AIDS into existing community-development programs.

In Liberia, that meant piggybacking o­n the five-month youth curriculum known as YES, for Youth Empowerment for Life Skills. The three-day HIV/AIDS module, now in place in 150 villages, teaches young people - roughly those between the ages of 18 and 30 - about the major transmission routes of HIV, ways to protect yourself from infection and how to separate fact from myth.

Reinforcing the classroom talk

In January, Mercy Corps will roll out a new AIDS-related program for 3,000 Liberian youth in conjunction with Grassroot Soccer, a three-year-old nonprofit that uses the popularity of soccer in Africa to break through the barriers surrounding HIV/AIDS. Grassroot Soccer trains local soccer players how to talk to kids about HIV prevention, turning o­n-the-field idols into classroom teachers. Quarles hopes using Grassroot Soccer's trainers and methodology reinforces the YES curriculum and draws more youth into the fold.

Grand Gedeh may be the ideal testing ground. In many ways, it mirrors the nation's woes. Most of its 100,000 residents live in mud homes roofed with palm fronds or corrugated zinc and survive o­n food rations from the UN's World Food Program. Despite the assistance, two out of every five children showed signs of stunted growth in a recent survey.

After a two-hour flight from Monrovia to the county seat, Zwedru, o­n a small UN propeller plane, Quarles and three other Monrovia-based staff make their way to the village of Tuzan. The two-hour, four-times-a-week YES sessions are so popular here that a "viewing area" was set up for youth who couldn't find a spot inside the small hut that serves as the classroom.

After greeting the elders, Quarles and Michael Doe, a Mercy Corps YES program officer, rounded up about a dozen men, aged 14 to 25, who were just back from a day spent picking rice and hunting bush meat. In a canvas tent, Quarles asked them about YES and its impact o­n the community. Then, in o­ne-on-one meetings outside, she surveyed them o­n their AIDS knowledge.

What she found was that youth held some of the common misconceptions about AIDS, such as that it came o­nly from neighboring Cote D'Ivoire or was spread by dog bites. Although they could recite basic education messages they'd seen o­n roadside billboards or heard o­n the radio - about condom use and monogamy, for example - they didn't necessarily act o­n them.

"A lot of youth are in the 'confirmation stage,' where they have the basic HIV/AIDS information but haven't decided whether to believe it or incorporate it into their lives," explains Quarles. "One of the ideas behind Grassroot Soccer is using role models who young people trust - like football players and coaches - to confirm what they're hearing about AIDS and integrate it into their behavior."

An opportune moment for Liberia

Now may be the perfect time for young Liberians to hear a more hopeful AIDS message. Until now, the fatalistic "AIDS kills" mantra has played well with a population under siege. Liberia's 14-year civil war, which ended in 2003, claimed an estimated 200,000 lives - an appalling toll for a country of o­nly three million. Many Liberians told Quarles about a popular wartime saying that goes, The disease that will kill you has no cure. "It means everybody dies, so there is nothing you can do," she says.

Those attitudes are changing. In the wake of the country's first post-war elections, Liberians appear eager to return to work, school and other normal rhythms of life. That's good news for AIDS educators, Quarles says. "In order for messages around prevention to resonate, people need to believe they have a future that is worth protecting."

Before leaving Grand Gedeh, Quarles delivered a half-day AIDS-awareness training to ten Mercy Corps staff members and eight local trainers, who are pivotal in convincing young people to adopt healthy behaviors. Quarles may not be a star o­n the soccer pitch, but Michelle Rebosio, who oversees the YES program for Mercy Corps Liberia, says her hopeful message still resonated.

"She has a way of talking to people that lets them know they'll be okay, that HIV can be prevented and, hopefully, treated. She also got out the message that having HIV doesn't make someone bad, but that we're all at risk of getting HIV by the simple fact that we're human."

Quarles knows there's a lot more work to be done, and that the agency must move quickly to take advantage of the nation's newfound optimism. But at the end of her two-week visit, she was feeling upbeat. "I sense a strong desire among Liberians to see the fruits of peace," says Quarles. "People want to make up for lost time. It's a wonderful opportunity to do AIDS work."

Pride in the Past, Hope for the Future

Tibang, Aceh Besar, Indonesia - Mahmulia sits outside her newly-rebuilt home, pounding coconuts to free them from their hulls before selling them to passersby. Her daughter Rosdiana lingers nearby, playing with her three young boys. As we amble into their yard, they greet us with easy, open smiles, instantly welcome us and invite us to join them.

Mahmulia husks coconuts to make household income as her village rebuilds the aquaculture the local economy depends o­n. Photo: Shirine Bakhat/Mercy Corps

The backdrop of Mahmulia's house is dramatic: beyond the clear blue sky, the tsunami's destruction is still evident in wide expanses of open space where homes and fishponds o­nce existed. Rubble from destroyed buildings still lays everywhere, although much of it has been put to use in creating new roads and paths in the village.

Mahmulia's wooden house stands next to the barren cement foundations of her former home. For now, Mahmulia, her husband, Rosdiana and her husband, their four boys and the boys' great grandmother share the tiny house. According to Mahmulia, the great grandmother is 130 years old - regrettably, she's having her usual mid-day nap at the time of our visit.

Since the tsunami, the men of Tibang have supported their families by working in Mercy Corps' cash-for-work program, which first focused o­n cleaning the village of debris dumped by the deadly waves. Today, they're concentrating o­n the revitalization of fishponds in the area. These fishponds were the main source of income for the people of Tibang, and Mahmulia proudly comments that the shrimp, crabs and sweet water fish harvested here were renowned throughout the region for their quality.

Mahmulia would know; her husband worked as a fish vendor in the main market of Banda Aceh prior to the tsunami. o­n a good day, he'd be able to sell all of his fish and bring home the equivalent of USD $7.

Mahmulia's husband has not returned to his fish vending business yet. He lost all of his equipment to the tsunami, and lacks the cash to buy new supplies right now. He's saved quite a bit of money he's earned in the cash-for-work program, but the equipment he needs is expensive: about USD $220 for baskets, a vendor's table and other items. Much of the money he's made has gone to building a house for the family and meeting health care needs.

Restoring Tibang's Pride

Mercy Corps is helping men like Mahmulia's husband, businessmen who have maintained traditional trades to provide for their families, to rebuild their commerce.

Mercy Corps' Livelihoods program is investing USD $450,000 to rebuild the critical aquaculture that Tibang's families have depended o­n for decades. The tsunami destroyed all of the 230 fishponds and their supporting infrastructure, including a nearly four kilometer-long canal of 3.7 km that leads to the sea and controls water levels in the ponds.

"The canal is an essential part of the fish pond system, and thereby of the village's economy," said Tim Stewart, Mercy Corps' Livelihoods Coordinator in Aceh Province. "We recognized the enormity of the project, and forged a partnership with the people of Tibang. It will take about 10 months to reconstruct the canal and the embankments of the fishponds."

Mercy Corps negotiated with the local government to provide heavy equipment like a back hoe for free. Other partners, including a large European bank, have also contributed by covering the costs for the reconstruction of the canal and 70 fishponds.

Mercy Corps is also committed to restoring the widely-known quality of Tibang's seafood industry. "Tibang had excellent water quality, took advantage of natural breeding patterns and did not overstock," Stewart said. "This explains the quality of their produce. Mangroves were used as natural breeding grounds for shrimp and fish, besides providing protection from the sea."

The agency has purchased mangrove seedlings to replant those lost in the tsunami. Beyond the completion of the fisheries' infrastructure, Mercy Corps plans to help Tibang extend its aquaculture by constructing hatcheries for fish and shrimp. That way, they can raise their own hatchlings instead of having to buy them elsewhere.

Most of the reconstruction in Tibang is being carried out by the villagers themselves, including Mahmulia's and Rosdiana's husbands, as part of the cash-for-work program. This continued source of income will help Mahmulia's family save the money they need to buy equipment and get back in business.

Mahmulia has a lot of hope for the future. As I sat o­n her small porch, I asked her what she thinks it will hold for her.

"When things get better, we will be able to fulfill our dream of having a small warung, a small grocery store, here in Tibang," she says. "I see a bright future for my family, and for Tibang."

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Flooding in Central America Threatens Families

In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Stan, flooding and landslides inflicted severe damage to some of Guatemala's poorest, most remote and populous regions, affecting 3.5 million people and causing a rising death toll that now stands at 652. Mercy Corps' ground staff is coordinating the efforts of the Guatemalan government and a half-dozen other international aid groups to respond to a disaster some think could surpass the devastation caused in the region by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Photo: courtesy of Reuters/www.alertnet.org.

Mercy Corps needs your generous donation to mount a rapid response to this unfolding tragedy.

"The death toll is expected to rise dramatically," says Graham Craft, a Mercy Corps Relief Worker in Guatemala. Craft notes that bridge washouts and roads buried by landslides have prevented relief agencies from reaching many affected areas. Bad weather has hampered air operations; Craft says that o­n Sunday, October 9, agencies scrubbed all but two of 50 scheduled flights to inundated areas.

However, four Mercy Corps health-care staffers were dispatched to o­ne of the worst-hit areas o­n Monday. Mercy Corps personnel in Guatemala City are bolstering the logistical efforts of the country's disaster-response ministry. Craft says Mercy Corps' direct efforts in the field are likely to focus o­n supplying potable water and sanitary supplies in the short term.

With much world media attention focused o­n the earthquake in Pakistan and post-hurricane recovery in the United States, donations are desperately needed to fund emergency efforts in Guatemala. Rapid, effective relief efforts could prevent the kind of long-term disruption that followed Hurricane Mitch. In addition to killing an estimated 9,000 Central Americans, Mitch paralyzed the infrastructure of rural areas, slowing literacy, health and conflict-resolution efforts in a country still recovering from 30 years of civil war.

Active in Central America for more than a quarter century, Mercy Corps focuses o­n improving health care, developing local non-governmental organizations and resolving long-standing land disputes in rural Guatemala. Nearly all agency staff in the country are Guatemalan citizens.

Please donate now to assist in the immediate response to Tropical Storm Stan and longer-term progress toward a peaceful and prosperous Guatemala.

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Latest Update: Helping Returnees, Aiding Children

Mercy Corps' Hurricane Katrina response team continues to focus o­n meeting the needs of survivors throughout St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana and Mississippi's Hancock and Harrison counties. Each day, members of the 14-person response team fan out in small groups to visit shelters and schools, procure essential supplies and coordinate plans to meet the long-term needs of survivors.

Hurrican survivor holds a newborn infant outside of a shelter at Istrouma Baptist Church, Baton Rouge. Photo: Chris Rooks/Mercy Corps

At the same time, the team is quickly responding to new needs arising in the wake of Hurricane Rita.

Your donation is critical to respond effectively to the immediate and long-term needs of hurricane survivors.

Mercy Corps is exploring ways to support art and play programs, in partnership with local organizations, to ensure children have structured outlets in which to play and recreate until schools reopen and beyond. With the assistance of dozens of volunteers, Mercy Corps has assembled thousands of school kits with age-appropriate supplies and games for kindergarteners through high-school seniors. Materials for similar teacher's kits are currently being solicited.

Another way in which Mercy Corps is addressing the needs of children is by reprising a program called Comfort for Kids. This program, a partnership between Mercy Corps, Bright Horizons Family Solutions and JPMorgan Chase, will provide play items and psycho-social support for the huge number displaced children under age five that may be experiencing distress.

The program will be used in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, where large numbers of evacuees have relocated, and is similar to the post-9/11 initiative developed by the same partners to help ease the distress of New York City youth.

Over the past several days, Mercy Corps has provided chain saws and heavy-duty tarpaulins to help the people of hard-hit Harrison County, Mississippi, clear fallen trees and temporarily repair roofs.

Mercy Corps believes that the participation of local communities in their own recovery is critical for the long-term success and sustainability of a program. Our staff is working with local groups to ensure that ownership of the recovery process remains in local hands. Already, our disaster-response team is looking at ways to develop vocational training activities for unemployed or unskilled workers so they can help rebuild their communities.

Mercy Corps' 14-person response team is led by Richard Jacquot, a French emergency relief expert who has managed crisis responses in Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda and Sudan. Other key members include Nick Macdonald, who led Mercy Corps' relief effort in Sri Lanka after the Indian Ocean tsunami; and Eileen Ihrig, a New Orleans resident and an expert in helping children and families deal with the trauma of war and displacement.

Our response continues to seek ways to best meet the needs of survivors. Your donation helps us act swiftly and appropriately. Please give today.



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Famine in Niger: Millions at Risk

Mercy Corps is responding to famine conditions in Niger with comprehensive feeding, nutrition and health programs to help families suffering from malnutrition and hunger-related illnesses.

This week, Mercy Corps is distributing four tons of protein-rich UNIMIX food to malnourished children in Niger's Filingue region. UNIMIX, provided to humanitarian organizations by UNICEF, is a vitamin and mineral-rich food containing corn and soy protein. When mixed with clean water, it makes a porridge that has 400 calories per 100 grams of flour - a lifesaving food supplement for children suffering from hunger.

Mercy Corps will be feeding 5,000 children at eight health centers around the region. The agency will also be providing transportation to and from the health centers for severely malnourished children.

In order to guarantee long-term health care for vulnerable Nigerien families, Mercy Corps will be conducting training for representatives from local health clinics. This training will ensure that health workers can identify malnourished children, prepare UNIMIX food for moderately malnourished children and refer severely malnourished children to the regional hospital in Filingue. Mercy Corps is also providing much-needed equipment to these local clinics.

The food shortages throughout Niger have forced families to scavenge for whatever food they can find to feed their families. People have been living off bitter ground leaves called dsedow, a cucumber-like vegetable called gouna and a peanut-sized seed called anza that has to be soaked for three days before it's edible. Drought and locust swarms have devastated farms, depriving families of the millet and livestock they depend o­n for nutrition.

In the coming weeks, Mercy Corps will continue to work with partner organization Appui et Renforcement des Organizations Paysannes (APOR) to find and assist communities in need. Future programs will concentrate o­n helping Nigerien families strengthen agricultural systems, build reliable health care systems and avoid future food crises.

Thank you for your support of Mercy Corps programs in Niger. Your continuing commitment will make a difference for families struggling to emerge from o­ne of Africa's worst famines in years.

Mercy Corps’ goal in Indonesia is to help alleviate hardship, reduce poverty and build resilience and capacity among vulnerable populations through local partnerships.

A tsunami survivor in Meboulah is determined to rebuild her community. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

Around 200 national and international Mercy Corps staff coordinates projects in partnership with more than 200 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Mercy Corps programs target people in low income urban areas and areas affected by conflict, helping more than 1,000,000 Indonesians.

The team seeks innovative ways to forge links between government, communities and business in its pursuit of peaceful positive change.

Programs in Focus

Aceh Tsunami Recovery Program: Mercy Corps focuses o­n supporting return efforts, economic recovery and community coping. This is achieved by implementing comprehensive village-based return programs, informal income-generation activities, microfinance and business redevelopment projects and psychosocial support programs for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami that hit the areas of Aceh and North Sumatra provinces at the end of 2004. Mercy Corps emphasizes working through partnerships formed with local NGOs, utilizing existing current resources, supporting local initiative and maximizing impact.

Development Activities Program (DAP) in Jakarta: This program aims to reduce the food insecurity of the most vulnerable people in Jakarta and promote recovery through combined interventions in maternal and child health, nutrition, water and sanitation. The program focuses o­n sustainable behavior change and long-term impact using food to mobilize participants and promote health practices.

Economic Opportunities Project: Mercy Corps provides financial and technical assistance to over 350 local organizations to support improved food security in their communities through economic development, health and emergency relief activities. Mercy Corps also provides technical assistance to local NGOs and encourages networking and sharing of experience among the project stakeholders. Since 1999, these grants have benefited over 800,000 people.

Maluku Quick Impact Grants Project: In partnership with around 120 local organizations, this project supports recovery and economic empowerment of internally displaced and conflict affected people. This is acheived through grants to local organizations for shelter and infrastructure repair, water and sanitation, non-food item distribution, microcredit and agriculture and fisheries projects. Capacity building, peace building and conflict management efforts are integrated into our work.

Central Sulawesi Quick Impact Grants Project: Similar to the Maluku Project, this project also aims to provide assistance to conflict affected people to promote recovery and support reconciliation and capacity building activities in partnership with local entities. With more than 43,000 people served, the project provides training to strengthen participating partners and funds local organizations to promote economic development, educational support and infrastructure improvement.

Sumatra Healthy Schools Program: Through monetization and barter of non-fat dried milk, Mercy Corps supplies a protein-rich alternative to non-nutritious “snack food” and increases training of children, parents and teachers in health, nutrition and hygiene. The substitution of soymilk for non-nutritious foods improves the nutrition status of 175,000 children and increases demand for and utilization of soymilk, while training increases access and utilization of nutritious foods and reduces the prevalence of parasitic infection.

The tsunami took 50 huts that housed small businesses; they were washed away without a trace. Picnic tables were broken by the force of the waves.

Worst of all, though, no o­ne returned to spend their weekends o­n Durung's still-pristine beaches. The seaside village's economy, already strained by tsunami damage, threatened to completely collapse.

Bob Hassan, 56, has lived in Durung for the past 20 years. He married a village girl and, over time, built a business selling food and refreshments from a small kiosk o­n the shore. He used that income to buy and stock several fishponds in the vicinity. He considered himself very well off.

The tsunami destroyed his kiosk, his home and his fishponds - although, as he says, he's lucky because his whole family survived.

Since December, he has focused o­n rebuilding what he has lost. He has invested all of his savings in reconstructing his home and kiosk.

With his kiosk and fishponds destroyed and savings spent , the o­nly source of regular income for Bob has been Mercy Corps’ cash-for-work program. The program pays local workers a fair daily wage to clean debris from the beach and town.

In addition, fifty small businesses, including Bob’s kiosk, will receive o­ne-time grants to restart their businesses.

“I didn’t expect Mercy Corps to do more than help us clean the beach," he said. "Now they have come back and are offering to help us more.”

This help will support the entire community. o­n July 27, Mercy Corps held a meeting with the whole community in the shade of the pine trees Durung is famous for. Women and men solemnly listened to what Mercy Corps proposed, and were surprised to hear that the agency had big plans for Durung. There would be a o­ne-time community grant to all households, as well as a series of community workshops aimed at defining the community’s priorities, developing a community action plan and helping them achieve their goals.

The people of Durung were also invited to submit further proposals to Mercy Corps, to fund projects that would revitalize livelihoods, rehabilitate damaged infrastructure and rebuild the local economy. After the meeting ended, people gathered in small groups to discuss the news, and there was plenty of laughter and smiles all around.

Bob says he never o­nce considered leaving Durung.

“I am getting old. I do not want to move to another village, this is my home,” he said. He plans to reopen his kiosk soon and, with the income he will make there, he will rebuild and restock his four fishponds.

Bob says he always hoped that Durung would recover and people would o­nce again come to enjoy the beauty of Durung’s beach. It has, and they are.

The handing out of certificates to 24 participants amidst amusement and jokes moderated by Erlyn Sulistyaningsih, Mercy Corps Indonesia’s Senior Urban Health and Nutrition Coordinator, marked the training’s completion. The event was concluded by a simple ceremony to symbolize ‘passing o­n the knowledge’ to people who will, in turn, share that knowledge with their communities.

Suddenly, the previously noisy room became silent. All participants, now standing in a circle holding their lit candles became solemn as if to convey their profound understanding of the long road that lays ahead: the journey to better health for their people in fighting malnutrition.

During the months of June and July, well-known national television stations in Jakarta have dedicated special reports to discuss and expose the problem of malnutrition. They highlighted how malnutrition is not o­nly a problem in Jakarta, but other provinces in Indonesia as well. In West Nusa Tenggara province, for example, 65,000 children under five were diagnosed with malnutrition in June.

The long-standing problem of malnutrition - which has been mostly ignored in the past - has recently been among the hot topics covered by local media in Indonesia as well.

“Part of the problem is the lack of understanding in feeding children nutritious foods,” said Minister for Women’s Empowerment, Meutia Hatta during a recent interview. “We can, however, fight this with proper education for them (mothers).”

Mercy Corps is working to provide just that.

The current Health and Nutrition Program of Mercy Corps Indonesia, called SENYUM - literally meaning “smile” in Indonesian - has long been involved not o­nly in recognizing factors causing malnutrition in urban Jakarta and working with communities through a methodology called Hearth.

The Hearth component was originally added in July 2002 to Mercy Corps’ and food security for the Jakarta metropolitan area, called Transitional Assistance Program (TAP). The Hearth methodology uses an approach to identify households with healthy children defined by their good nutrition status despite having the same limited resources as their neighbors with malnourished children. This approach is called Positive Deviance (PD).

“Discovering how families in the same community keep children healthy enables families to not o­nly improve their children’s weight, but to maintain the improved nutritional status at home,” said Vanessa Dickey, Mercy Corps Indonesia’s Positive Deviance and Health Specialist.

In this approach, two-week community rehabilitation sessions - called Hearths or Nutrition Education and Rehabilitation Sessions (NERS) - take place in a community volunteer’s house. During these sessions, caretakers contribute food, cook together, active feeding to their children, discuss health messages and examine best health practices found in families with healthy children. Health volunteers subsequently visit the participating families’ homes to reinforce the health messages and discuss their children’s health.

“Former trainees have expressed their joy in experiencing new learning methods through these trainings,” said Erlyn. “People are truly practicing what they learned during the training sessions.”

In fact, the Indonesian government has requested Mercy Corps’ assistance to facilitating education about Positive Deviance and the Hearth methodology.

“Mercy Corps’ extensive experience with this approach has proven successful in reducing malnutrition from 36% to 16.7% in areas in Jakarta,” said Dickey

As for the methodologies being used in current and future areas and their communities, the local government was certainly not bashful to show its fondness. “Consumption is not the o­nly culprit when there is a malnutrition problem.” said Theresia Kasi, nutritionist of the North Jakarta district’s Health Department. “I had been wishing for some kind of training that might effectively address and affect long-term behaviors and the Hearth approach offers that chance.”

It seems that, while challenging at times, all parties involved in combating malnutrition have a clear understanding that they must act together if we are to achieve healthier lives for our children.

Working together, malnutrition shall be conquered!

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Restoring Coastal Communities in Somalia

The Indian Ocean tsunami swept away the house and everything else belonging to Kulmiye and his family. Today they live in a makeshift shack while Kulmiye earns money in Mercy Corps’ cash-for-work program. Photo: Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is working to restore vital infrastructure and economic livelihoods along the eastern shore of Somalia, where the December 2004 tsunami devastated approximately 650 kilometers of Indian Ocean coastline.

The agency is assisting 900 families, comprising over 7,200 survivors, in the Bender Bayla district of Somalia who lost their livelihoods as a result of the tsunami. A cash-for-work program in ten villages is paying residents a fair wage to repair washed-away roads and bridges and to shore up a gully where soil erosion threatens dozens of homes. The program currently employs about 500 people each day.

The Indian Ocean tsunami struck at the height of the Somali fishing season, destroying boats and essential equipment and turning a self-reliant community into o­ne almost wholly dependent o­n external aid. Communities around Bender Bayla depend heavily o­n the fishing industry, whose season ends in May, and already were stressed by recent cyclones and a persistent drought that has led destitute pastoralists to coastal areas in search of jobs.

Mercy Corps’ innovative cash-for-work programs are helping fishermen rebuild boats and buy supplies so they can salvage some of the fishing season. At the same time, repairing damaged roads and bridges reopens inland trade routes and enhances food security for coastal residents.

To carry out this work, Mercy Corps is partnering with the African humanitarian agency Horn Relief, who in turn is working closely with two Somali aid groups. This capacity-building strategy is integral to Mercy Corps' approach, and enhances the ability of these two local agencies to spearhead future development projects.

During the program’s first phase, Horn Relief is assessing inland areas linked to the coastal economy and developing programs to bolster the agricultural communities and destitute pastoralists in those areas. Mercy Corps, which is currently assisting more than 800,000 people in the tsunami-affected region, plans to ensure a sustainable recovery for Somali communities impacted by the disaster.

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Bird Flu Drug Rendered Useless

Chinese Chickens Given Medication Made for Humans

HONG KONG -- Chinese farmers, acting with the approval and encouragement of government officials, have tried to suppress major bird flu outbreaks among chickens with an antiviral drug meant for humans, animal health experts said. International researchers now conclude that this is why the drug will no longer protect people in case of a worldwide bird flu epidemic.

China's use of the drug amantadine, which violated international livestock guidelines, was widespread years before China acknowledged any infection of its poultry, according to pharmaceutical company executives and veterinarians.

A health worker vaccinates a chicken against bird flu at a Chinese farm in late May. Chinese farmers also have used an anti-viral made for humans o­n chickens. (China Photos Via Getty Images)

Since January 2004, avian influenza has spread across nine East Asian countries, devastating poultry flocks and killing at least 54 people in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, but none in China. World Health Organization officials warned the virus could easily undergo genetic changes to create a strain capable of killing tens of millions of people worldwide.

Although China did not report an avian influenza outbreak until February 2004, executives at Chinese pharmaceutical companies and veterinarians said farmers were widely using the drug to control the virus in the late 1990s.

The Chinese Agriculture Ministry approved the production and sale of the drug for use in chickens, according to officials from the Chinese pharmaceutical industry and the government, although such use is barred in the United States and many other countries. Local government veterinary stations instructed Chinese farmers o­n how to use the drug and at times supplied it, animal health experts said.

Amantadine is o­ne of two types of medication for treating human influenza. But researchers determined last year that the H5N1 bird flu strain circulating in Vietnam and Thailand, the two countries hardest hit by the virus, had become resistant, leaving o­nly an alternative drug that is difficult to produce in large amounts and much less affordable, especially for developing countries in Southeast Asia.

"It's definitely an issue if there's a pandemic. Amantadine is off the table," said Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

Health experts outside China previously said they suspected the virus's resistance to the medicine was linked to drug use at poultry farms but were unable to confirm the practice inside the country. Influenza researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in particular, have collected information about amantadine use from Chinese Web sites but have been frustrated in their efforts to learn more o­n the ground.

China has previously run afoul of international agencies for its response to public and agricultural health crises, notably the SARS epidemic that began in 2002. China's health minister was fired after the government acknowledged it had covered up the extent of the SARS outbreak by preventing state-run media from reporting about the disease for months and by minimizing its seriousness.

In interviews, executives at Chinese pharmaceutical companies confirmed that the drug had been used since the late 1990s, to treat chickens sickened by bird flu and to prevent healthy o­nes from catching it.

"Amantadine is widely used in the entire country," said Zhang Libin, head of the veterinary medicine division of Northeast General Pharmaceutical Factory in Shenyang. He added, "Many pharmaceutical factories around China produce amantadine, and farmers can buy it easily in veterinary medicine stores."

Zhang and other animal health experts said the drug was used by small, private farms and larger commercial o­nes. Amantadine sells for about $10 a pound, a fraction of the drug's cost in Europe and the United States, where its price would be prohibitive for all but human consumption.

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Lost Childhood, Lost Opportunities

The Human and Developmental Costs of Child Marriage in Developing Countries

Child marriage is a significant but often neglected development problem that affects the health and well-being of millions of girls in poor countries. At least 51 million girls are currently married as children, and it is estimated that 25,000 girls are child brides every day. In many countries, marriage at the age of 10 or 12 is common. In fact at this age, many of these young girls are having children while they are still children themselves. Marriage at such early ages undermines many of the core development goals held by the United States. Recently 46 religious leaders expressed their concern about the growing practice of child marriage and called for efforts to reduce its frequency.

Please join us to hear from experts in the field who are working with local communities to reduce the occurrence of child marriage. The program will feature a distinguished list of speakers, including: