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	Critical aid operations supporting millions of people affected by the conflict in Iraq are at risk by OCHA, UNHCR, United Nations News   10 August 2015   Iraq: UN agency forced to cut critical food aid amid funding shortfall   A severe funding shortfall in Iraq is pushing the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to cut the amount of aid it delivers to nearly one million displaced people in the war-torn country, the Organization has confirmed.   “Unfortunately, lack of funds and the rise in the number of displaced Iraqis forces us to reduce the size of the food rations we provide to tens of thousands of families living outside camps,” Jane Pearce, the WFP Representative and Country Director in Iraq, said in a press release issued earlier today.   The WFP said it had begun to prioritise available funds for internally displaced people, otherwise known as IDPs, in April once resourcing difficulties became evident. People previously receiving food vouchers had the voucher value reduced to $16 from $26 while the UN agency also halved the size of family food parcels it distributes monthly. Today, the food parcels cover 40 percent of a household’s daily needs instead of 80 per cent.   The overall reductions will now coerce many families to supplement their assistance with store-bought food products. However, according to the WFP’s vulnerability assessments, two in five internally displaced households (40 per cent) do not have enough food or money to shop.   The reduction in food assistance comes, in fact, at a critical time for those displaced by the conflict and amid funding shortfalls across the UN system.   According to the Organization, almost three million Iraqis have fled their homes and continue to move across the country, exacerbating a dwindling humanitarian system. Meanwhile, just last week, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) revealed it had been forced to suspend 84 per cent of frontline programmes in 10 governorates in Iraq in July due to insufficient funding, leaving almost three million people without access to urgently-needed healthcare services.   “We recognize families living outside camps are living in tough conditions, but we had to make this difficult decision to stretch our help for the most vulnerable until we receive more funds,” Ms. Pearce concluded.   http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=51598#.Vckfe7WpVow http://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/health-services-shut-down-funding-shortfall-cripples-humanitarian-operations-iraq   June 2015   Critical aid operations supporting millions of people affected by the conflict in Iraq are at risk of shutting down unless funds are made available immediately, senior United Nations warned today as they joined an international appeal for nearly $500 million to cover the immediate needs of 5.6 million Iraqis for the next six months.   “Humanitarian partners have been doing everything they can to help. But more than 50 per cent of the operation will be shut down or cut back if money is not received immediately,” Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the war-torn country said at an appeal launch at the European Parliament in Brussels.   The implications of this, Ms. Grande said, would be “catastrophic” in what is already one of the most complex and volatile crisis anywhere in the world. Humanitarian needs in Iraq are huge and growing. More than 8 million people require immediate life-saving support, a number that could reach 10 million by the end of 2015.   According to the United Nations, some 2.9 million people have been forced from their homes since January 2014. And with the conflict escalating, the UN and its non-governmental (NGO) partners have launched the Humanitarian Response Plan [HRP] asking donors for $498 million to cover the cost of providing shelter, food, water and other life-saving services over the coming six months.   The appeal aims to target 5.6 million people displaced or affected by the violence between Government forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).   Violence has already forced nearly three million people from their homes, leaving them scattered in more than 3,000 locations across the country. Human rights and rule of law are under constant assault. Mass executions, systematic rape and horrendous acts of violence are also rampant. The funding shortfall has already caused 77 frontline health clinics to close while food rations for over a million people have also been reduced.   Assistance Secretary-General, Kyung-Wha Kang delivering remarks at today’s meeting on behalf of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O’Brien, said that every one of the three million displaced people is an individual story – a child, a woman or a man.   “All segments of the Iraqi society – Yezidi, Christian, Shabak, Turkmen, Shia, Sunni and Kurd – have been affected by the violence,” he added.   “Families have had to move several times to stay one step ahead of the horrific violence sweeping across whole regions of the country. Others do not know where they can find safety, caught in a sectarian divide that is not their making,” he said.   Fighting has disrupted food supply, damaged or destroyed hospitals, and hundreds of schools are now being used as emergency shelters. Women and girls are being abducted and subjected to systematic sexual violence and enslavement. Some children have suffered the loss of their parents; others have been forced to fight or to flee for their lives.   “While we search for solutions to end the violence, we must do everything in our power to help them. The people of Iraq need our help, now,” he said.   Volker Turk, Assistance High Commissioner for Protection at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that Iraqis are “trapped by the ever-shifting maze of frontlines,” and in some places held virtually hostage by armed groups.   “The diminishing resources for survival in such situations are often accompanied by an increasing loss of hope,” Mr. Turk said. “The model of protection is truly anchored in community and provides a strong demonstration of people-to-people solidarity. It reminds us that there are opportunities in a crisis, including in displacement, where individuals may find ways to support one another around their shared experience.”   Investing in the humanitarian response, which is centred on protection and builds upon the capacities and resilience of affected communities, lays the groundwork for a peaceful future in Iraq, he added.   http://www.save-iraq.info/ Visit the related web page
	More than one in four US children exposed to violence involving weapons by Crimes Against Children Research Center USA   More than 17 million children — which works out to be more than one-fourth of the country’s population of kids — have been exposed to violence involving a potentially deadly weapon, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.   The study authors defined “exposure” as either being personally assaulted or witnessing someone else being assaulted by a weapon, ranging from guns to rocks to sticks. They also drilled down the data to focus on weapons with “high lethality risk,” finding that about two million children have been directly victimised with either a gun or a knife.   The findings point to an issue that researchers are increasingly framing as a serious health issue. Altogether, the number of children who have been exposed to weapon-related violence — which makes them more likely to experience both physical and mental harm — exceeds the number of children who have diabetes or cancer.   “Millions of children are being exposed to violence involving weapons, and many of them are victimised by guns and knives, with an elevated risk of trauma and serious injury,” Kimberly Mitchell, the study’s lead study author and a scientist at the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, said in a statement regarding the findings.   Mitchell’s research confirmed that children of colour and children from low-income families are the most likely to be exposed to weapon violence before they turn 18.   Previous studies have found that gun violence specifically is taking a serious toll on American children. About 10,000 kids are killed or injured by firearms each year in the United States, a grim statistic that has led major paediatricians’ groups to declare gun violence as a “public health threat.” The American Academy of Pediatrics now encourages doctors to play a role in advocating for gun violence prevention, comparing safety measures like gun storage to wearing seatbelts.   Weapons carry potential mental health consequences, too. Exposure to violence, particularly coupled with the stresses that result from growing up in poverty, puts kids more at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder.   Nonetheless, efforts to address gun violence from a public health standpoint have been met with considerable resistance. For decades, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have struggled to conduct studies on the topic, thanks to the NRA’s successful move to strip funding for gun violence research in the 1990s. Dr Vivek Murthy, the current US Surgeon General, was initially blocked from being confirmed because some NRA-backed politicians raised concerns about his public comments about gun control. And some states have even banned doctors from discussing gun safety with their patients.   While the issue still sparks political controversy, it’s hardly divisive among the medical community, which is in broad agreement that physicians have an important role to play in reducing deaths and injuries from weapons. Top medical groups — including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association — all agree that gun violence is a health issue.   Mitchell and her colleagues conclude that “further work on improving gun safety practices and taking steps to reduce children’s exposure to weapon-involved violence is warranted to reduce this problem,” pointing out their findings underscore the importance of paediatricians asking their patients about their experiences with violence.   http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/weapon-involvement.pdf http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/ http://www.bradycampaign.org/ http://www.demandaction.org/blog/2013-03-mayors-against-illegal-guns-leads-national-day-to-de http://www.vpc.org/ http://americansforresponsiblesolutions.org/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gunned-down/ Visit the related web page
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