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RWF has distributed over 3.2 million dollars in humanitarian aid over the last eight years. Thank you for your generosity! Here are some of RWF's completed and ongoing projects: Since AIDS first emerged over 30 years ago, over 25 million people around the world have died, 5 million of them children. Everyday 7000 more people contract HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Presently more than 34 million people are infected with HIV. Since 2005, RWF has funded HIV prevention and case management services in South Africa, focused on helping save the next generation of young Africans. Thousands of young people have been helped by RWF’s efforts. Currently RWF supports a innovative program called Injongo Yethu (Uplifting Those In Need). It helps orphans and children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in rural South Africa. Through this program, each child, according to individual need, receives a variety of services including: clinical nutrition interventions, food and/or food parcels, shelter interventions, child protection interventions (birth registration identification and inheritance support), general healthcare services such as immunizations, HIV prevention education and related interventions, psychosocial care, general and vocational education, and antiretroviral treatment. It costs about $100 per year to help a child. RWF is partnered with Africare in South Africa. HIV/AIDS FACTS Every year there are 2.7 million newly infected people and 2 million deaths due to AIDS. There is hope, in developed high-income nations where health care, education and HIV medications are available, these statistics have in fact been decreasing. Massive early intervention campaigns targeting at-risk populations have been successful in substantially reducing transmission rates, although recent information suggests risk behaviors may be increasing in some communities. Effective medication therapies, although not a cure, have also substantially contributed to the reduction of HIV transmission and have improved the quality of life and survival rates of those living with AIDS. For much of the world it has been a different story. Many countries have not been as successful in curb HIV transmission rates and in fact some developing low-income nations face ever-increasing infection rates. In sub-Saharan countries the rate of acquiring HIV remains high. In fact, of the 34 million people living with HIV, more than 70 percent live in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus far 17 million Africans have died of AIDS, 3.7 million of them children and an additional 12 million children have been orphaned. On the continent of Africa an estimated 1 in 10 adults is HIV positive; and in some countries the rate jumps to nearly 1 in 4. Although anti-retroviral medications have proved to be highly effective in reducing transmission rates of HIV and have dramatically improved the quality of life for many, these medications are still out of reach for many people living with HIV. The toll for much of Africa has been devastating. Aside from the emotional impact, stigmatization and family tragedy which often accompany HIV infection, AIDS has profoundly impacted the economic, political and cultural structures of many countries. The majority of those infected with HIV are young adults. Traditionally this middle generation has been responsible for the care of the elderly and nurturing of the young along with charting the future course of their nations' development. With disability and death taking large numbers of this essential generation, the stability of entire societies is at risk. Families often lose their breadwinner, children lose their parents, family structures further unravel. Children must often care for their own dying parents and are then left on their own as support traditionally available from the extended family no longer exists. These children are at particular risk for malnutrition, illness, abuse and exploitation. With infrastructures crumbling around them, these children rarely have access to basic educational, social or medical services putting them further at risk to becoming the next generation to succumb to AIDS. Today, 40,000 people will die from causes related to hunger. Nearly a billion will not get enough to eat today and countless others will suffer from diseases related to malnutrition. It is hard for those of us living in the midst of such abundance to imagine such suffering. Since 2004 RWF has been funding aid projects in Haiti. In addition to funding projects focused on earthquake and hurricane recovery efforts, RWF is committed to fight poverty and malnutrition in Haiti. RWF is a primary funder of the Haiti Urban Garden Project in Gonaives. The project helps city dwellers establish and nurture kitchen vegetables gardens. Technical training is provided to the urban farmers on planting techniques and compost preparation. Located in backyards, on rooftops and even front porches, these gardens yield fresh vegetables and fruits and surplus income for project participants. As a result, participating families have better diets, greater income resulting from the sale of vegetables and an improved environmental situation through more robust sanitation efforts. Several hundred families have benefited from this program. RWF has also funded hunger projects in the United States including providing 1 million pounds of food aid after Hurricane Katrina. RWF is partnered with CARE in Haiti and Feeding American in the United States. HUNGER FACTS When most of us think of hunger, images of famine and starvation come to mind. This is only a part of the problem. Global hunger encompasses famine and malnutrition, the major component of hunger. Famine or starvation, the extreme and general scarcity of food can occur as the result of crop failure or destruction brought on by such causes as drought, flooding or pestilence. For example, severe flooding caused the 1970 Bangladeshi famine that took countless lives. However, the causes of famine are frequently more closely linked to violence, militarism and war such as the continuing strife in Afghanistan, Angola, Burma, Iraq, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere. During armed conflict, food production and marketing are disrupted. Food is seized or blockaded, planting and crop cycles are interrupted, supplies and equipment are destroyed. Starvation itself is being used more and more as a weapon, harming innocent civilians. Even during so-called peacetime, military spending takes priority over food production and social welfare. Poverty, however, is by far the foremost cause of hunger. Though the world produces more than enough food to feed everyone, hundreds of millions lack the purchasing power to afford adequate nutrition. Poverty's powerlessness deprives the poor of access to the political structure necessary to break the vicious cycle in which they are trapped. Malnutrition, the chronic absence of essential proteins, micronutrients, fatty acids, and adequate caloric intake, affects 800 million people worldwide each day. It is directly linked to infant and childhood mortality, stunted growth, reduced intelligence and increased risk of infection. It is estimated that 250 million children suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition. Nutritionally depleting diseases also play a major role in malnutrition worldwide, claiming the lives of five million children each year. Women and the elderly are also particularly vulnerable to malnutrition. Chronic hunger has multigenerational effects contributing to a spiral of human suffering. It is a thief that robs people of physical and mental health, education, economic security and the opportunity for a better life. HUNGER IN AMERICA When most people think of hunger they picture people struggling to survive in developing nations far from the shores of the United States. In a country that produces enough food to feed all of its people and much of the rest of the world, hunger seems unthinkable. Yet in the United States hunger is a reality for more than 23 million people. In the U.S., hunger primarily comes in the form of food insecurity, meaning that not enough food is available to consistently meet the basic needs of an individual or family. In 2000 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 12 percent of all American households were food insecure. That same year the USDA reports that nearly 1 in 5 children went hungry. America’s Second Harvest, the nations largest network of food banks, reports that 26 million Americans received food from food banks in 2002. Children are the largest segment of our population suffering the devastating effects of hunger. According to the USDA, 13 million children live in households that do not have an adequate supply of food. The elderly are also particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. The USDA reports that 1.4 million households with elderly members experience food insecurity. The consequences of hunger in America are staggering and far reaching. Children who do not receive adequate nourishment are impacted physically and intellectually. The insidious effects of hunger start early. Mothers who experience inadequate nutrition have higher infant mortality rates and give birth to babies with lower birth weights. These children suffer two to four times as many health problems as other children. During a child’s development the consequences of hunger, even minor malnutrition, can be devastating. Impaired physical growth, abnormal brain development, shorter attention spans, difficulty concentrating and more school absences can be just the beginning of a cycle of suffering and missed opportunities for these children. As these children grow up, this can lead to a lack of fulfillment of their potential, poor social integration, lower work productivity and poverty. The cost to individual lives and to U.S. society is enormous. Among the elderly the consequences of inadequate food supply are many. Chronic health problems, increased degenerative disease, poor digestion, higher rates of infection and extended hospital stays are just a few of the health problems linked to hunger among the elderly. Elder food insecurity can also lead to depression, mental deterioration and hastened mortality. An estimated 110 million landmines in 64 countries remain buried and waiting to explode. Since 2005, RWF has funded projects to clear minefields in Cambodia. Our projects help families in rural areas who are living on land that has been contaminated by landmines and are therefore in constant danger. The projects also assist people who have been harmed by landmines. In 2010 RWF formed a partnership with MAG America Inc. in Cambodia. Previously we were partnered with the Adopt-A-Minefield program in the United Nations Association of the USA until the UNA completed their mine clearance mission in Cambodia. LANDMINE FACTS Anti-personnel landmines were first used during World War I, products of the advent of modern warfare. Since that time their proliferation has been astonishing. In Cambodia, an estimated 10 million remain buried, in Egypt 23 million remain, in Croatia 10 million, in Afghanistan 10 million, in Angola 15 million. An additional 200 million landmines worldwide remain stockpiled waiting to deployed. Landmines kill or injure three people an hour, 72 a day, 2,200 a month, 26,000 a year, year after year. Eighty percent of victims are civilians, thousands of them children. The horrifying toll goes far beyond the cost of lost lives and medical expenses. Entire families, communities, even entire nations are devastated. If the victim of a landmine is a family's breadwinner, the future of the entire family is jeopardized. Aside from the devastating psychological impact, the family faces major economic consequences. How will the family feed itself? Will the family have to move? Will the children be able to attend school? In Cambodia there are presently over 35,000 amputees requiring ongoing health care and rehabilitation at a tremendous cost to the health care system. Their productivity and ability to contribute to the economic welfare of their families and nation are diminished. The presence of millions of landmines renders vast amounts of farmland unusable. Landmines often kill grazing livestock. The cycle of suffering continues as a result. Demining is an extremely time consuming and costly process. One landmine costs about three dollars to purchase and 300 to 1,000 dollars to deactivate. The cost of eradicating landmines from Cambodia today is three to 10 billion dollars. The economic burden to countries often already struggling economically is staggering. The humanitarian cost is both tragic and incalculable. Safe water for drinking and hygiene is a basic necessity of life that most of us take for granted; yet for much of the world a safe supply of water does not exist. RWF is working to increase access to safe drinking water in communities in Central America. Since 2005, RWF has funded water projects in rural Honduras and Guatemala. The projects entail the construction of mountain-spring fed gravity-flow systems that bring the water from the mountain source down to the village directly into homes setup with taps, latrines and drainage for wastewater. The projects also include education focused on hygiene, water management, improving construction skills and environmental sustainability. Currently we are raising funds for water projects in Capuca and San Bartolo, Honduras. We are partnered with Water.org in Honduras and Global Partners Running Waters in Guatemala. WATER FACTS Over 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe water and 2.4 billion do not have adequate sanitation facilities. Waterborne and sanitation-related diseases kill over 3 million people annually and disable countless millions, making the campaign for safe water and effective sanitation one of the leading health challenges of our time. Contaminated water, lack of wastewater treatment and raw sewage are major causes of disease in the developing world. It is estimated that 80 percent of all infectious disease is transmitted through water. The two principal routes of disease transmission are by drinking contaminated water and having insufficient quantities of safe water for washing and personal hygiene. Waterborne diseases can be bacterial, viral or parasitic. They include cholera, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, poliomyelitis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, hookworm, ascariasis, drancunculiasis (guinea worm) and disease related to arsenic contamination. The results of these diseases are devastating. There are 4 billion cases of diarrhea each year, resulting in over 2.2 million deaths, mostly of children age five and under. Trachoma has blinded over 6 million, and 200 million people are infected with schistosomasis with 20 million of those suffering from active disease. Intestinal worms infect nearly 10 percent of the population of the developing world, resulting in malnutrition, anemia and stunted growth. The areas most affected are Africa, Asia and Latin America. Africa has the lowest safe water coverage of any region in the world. Over 350 million Africans do not have access to a safe water supply, and 500 million lack access to basic sanitation facilities. |
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