Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Breaking a Conspiracy of Silence

I am writing to you in desperation because we have lost ten of our best qualified nurses and midwives to International NGOs who do not support us during the training but who snatch the best from us with salary offers that we cannot match. Somehow, we seem to have become victims of our success because our nurses are the best in the country. We train four times what our hospital needs but still cannot cover the demand for good and responsible nurses.


(New York Review of Books, Sue Halpern).


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Slump pushes world hunger to 40-year high

The increase in the number of hungry people is not a result of poor harvests but is due to high food prices – particularly in developing countries – lower incomes and lost jobs.

"The rising number of hungry people is intolerable," said FAO director-general, Jacques Diouf. "We have the economic and technical means to make hunger disappear, what is missing is a stronger political will to eradicate hunger forever."

U.K. Independent Newspaper