Monthly Archives: March 2012

Fast facts on child health

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Rachael Dill Boyer in Causes

I’m at that phase in life when a lot of my friends are having babies. Within six weeks, I will have gone to three baby showers! I’m thinking about how many prenatal doctor appointments women have in the United States — and how many checkups and appointments most newborns have in their first year of life. But what if there was no doctor to visit? No hospital or nearby clinic? No family doctor or trained midwife? What would happen? Maternal and child mortality rates would go up....

FAQs about the West Africa food crisis

Posted on March 5, 2012 by James Addis in Disaster Relief

The deepening food crisis in West Africa has sparked fears of a major famine. Unless urgent action is taken, events in the region might easily mirror the kind of devastation seen recently in the Horn of Africa. With our ongoing coverage of this escalating emergency, you may have a variety of questions about what’s going on in West Africa. Here’s a quick guide to understanding the crisis and how World Vision is responding. * * * What went wrong? Poor rains have led to poor harvests. Crop yields have been nonexistent in some areas — and severely reduced in others. In addition, recent conflicts, the return of hundreds of migrant workers, and a flow of refugees from Mali into one...

Investing in the present — and future

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Laura Reinhardt in Child Sponsorship

Back from her recent trip to Romania to cover the brutal cold and snow that buried much of Eastern Europe, leaving many families struggling to survive, World Vision’s Laura Reinhardt shares a story of how World Vision sponsorship in a small community is helping to break the cycle of poverty and social stigma....

Hunger and drought creep across northern Africa

Posted on March 1, 2012 by World Vision social media team in Disaster Relief

In Africa, there is often a period of time between when a family’s stores from their last harvest runs out and when their new crop is ready to eat. These are known as the “hungry months.” Expensive, store-bought food is purchased and carefully rationed. Those who can’t buy food depend on neighbors, relatives, churches, and food distributions. And if there’s a drought, crops fail, or rains are late, those hungry months can turn into a hungry year. This is the case for communities in the Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Somalia), which is recovering from a historic drought and food crisis, and communities in West Africa (Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Chad, and Senegal), where drought is just settling in....

An open letter to the presidential candidates

Posted on March 1, 2012 by World Vision advocacy team in Advocacy

Dear presidential candidate, I consider myself a good citizen and a patriot. I take pride in my country and care about the well-being of my fellow Americans. I want America to prosper. I hope that the United States will be a global leader for good, far into the 21st century....