Making WASH work in Burkina Faso’s cities

OUAGADOUGOU, 17 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Earlier this year Denis Ouedraogo, a tailor living in the Tampouy neighbourhood just north of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, connected his mud-walled home to the water network for the first time. “Even without electricity, having enough water can make you happy,” he said. full report

The making of the Hyogo2 disaster prevention framework

JOHANNESBURG, 17 May 2013 (IRIN Global) - A month after the Indian Ocean tsunami struck in December 2004, affecting millions, 168 countries signed on to a 10-year plan to make the world safer from natural hazards. Yet the plan, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015, focused primarily on “what to do to prevent disasters, but not enough on how to implement it,” says Neil McFarlane, chief coordinator and head of all regional programmes at the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). full report

Marshalling smartphones, gravediggers to fight dengue in Pakistan

LAHORE, 10 May 2013 (IRIN Asia) - On the frontline in the fight against dengue fever in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city, the authorities have a sharp eye for spare car tyres. full report

Zimbabwe short on climate change funds

HARARE, 7 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Inadequate funding and limited resources are frustrating Zimbabwe’s efforts to develop plans to deal with the impact of climate change, says a government progress report. full report

The long road home to South Sudan

RENK, UPPER NILE STATE, 6 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - George Malual Deng, 24, has spent two years stuck in a transit site waiting to return to his home in South Sudan’s Jonglei state. He is among 20,000 people who have made a home of sorts in the river port of Renk, waiting for a barge to take them further south. full report

A unified approach to climate change and hunger

JOHANNESBURG, 24 April 2013 (IRIN Global) - Studies out of Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Niger show that children born during natural hazards, like droughts or floods, are more likely to be malnourished. Yet as the climate changes, it is poor countries - already struggling with hunger and food insecurity - that are increasingly likely to face these natural hazards. full report

Iraq 10 years on: the humanitarian impact

BAGHDAD/DUBAI, 23 April 2013 (IRIN Middle East) - Ten years after the toppling of Iraq’s former leader Saddam Hussein, human development statistics – flawed as they are – paint a complex portrait of a country that has seen improvement over the last decade, but is still largely struggling. full report

Are the taps flowing?

BAGHDAD/DUBAI, 22 April 2013 (IRIN Middle East) - While access to clean water has improved over the last decade, more than one quarter of Iraqis still have less than two hours of access to water from the general network every day. full report

Humanitarian overview

BAGHDAD/DUBAI, 22 April 2013 (IRIN Middle East) - Ten years after the toppling of Iraq’s former leader Saddam Hussein, human development statistics – flawed as they are – paint a complex portrait of a country that has seen improvement over the last decade, but is still largely struggling. full report