U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-Up 437
28 June - 4 July 2008


CONTENTS:

BURUNDI: Fatal chicken disease a blow to food security
DRC: Monkey pox kills 22 in Equateur province
UGANDA: Hepatitis E risk "on the rise"
KENYA: Crops, pasture demolished by worms in north
GLOBAL: NGOs call for more funds, investment in agriculture


ALSO SEE:

DRC: Humanitarians pick up the pieces as insecurity persists in North 
Kivu [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79013 ]

KENYA: Nicholas Nyanumba: "We voted but our leaders are not helping us" 
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79056 ]

SUDAN: Ahmed: "I was convinced I was going to die" 
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79028 ]



BURUNDI: Fatal chicken disease a blow to food security

Food security in Burundi's Kayanza province is under threat because of 
an untreatable disease that has killed more than 1,000 chickens in one 
commune, a health official said.

"The disease has also been reported in other parts of the country but 
total numbers of dead chickens are not [yet] available," the director of 
the Animal Health Department in the Ministry of Agriculture and 
Stockbreeding, Pierre Bukuru, said.

The disease was affecting the economic lives of people raising chickens 
or trading in meat and eggs.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79076]


DRC: Monkey pox kills 22 in Equateur province

An outbreak of monkey pox in Democratic Republic of Congo's Equateur 
province has killed 22 of the 470 people infected since the start of 
2008, according to medical officials.

"The epidemic began in the Tshuapa health zone and has reached almost 
all parts of the province," said August Makaya, the chief epidemiologist 
in Equateur. "Cases of monkey pox have been registered all over Tshuapa 
health zone but also in Befale and Mopono health zones and more recently 
in Ingende health zone, near Mbandaka [the main town in the province]," 
he said.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79032]


UGANDA: Hepatitis E risk "on the rise"

More people are at risk of contracting the Hepatitis E virus in the 
northern Uganda district of Kitgum, according to a surveillance health 
report prepared by the United Nations World Health Organization and 
Ministry of Health.

At least 67 people had died with another 4,129 people infected as of 29 
June; most of the affected were children and women.

[Full report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79080]


KENYA: Crops, pasture demolished by worms in north

Almost 70 percent of crops planted in several districts of northern 
Kenya this year, as well as grazing pasture, have been damaged by 
armyworms, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) and local sources said.

"Armyworm infestation has wiped out pasture in a wide area of the 
affected districts [and] worsened the current shortage caused by 
drought," KRCS regional manager Abdinoor Mohamed said.

"Food insecurity has increased as a result, and made worse the situation 
for poor families who cannot afford food at current high prices," said 
Nurow Godana, the Arid Lands project's special programme officer in 
Isiolo.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79079]


GLOBAL: NGOs call for more funds, investment in agriculture

The humanitarian community is to urge the G8 leaders to fully fund 
immediate emergency aid and to invest in longer-term agricultural 
development in poorer nations to tackle the global food crisis.

"The G8 nations shoulder much of the responsibility for current global 
conditions and should commit to the achievable goal of ending hunger as 
a fundamental step towards alleviating human suffering, increasing 
international security and fostering economic [growth]," Devrig Velly, 
senior food security adviser for the NGO Action Against Hunger, said.

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79047]



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International              web: www.cidi.org
.  Disaster Information          listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
.                              guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central/East Africa         www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/ceafrica