Food fears for homeless islanders

Finding enough food to keep malnutrition at bay is a struggle for thousands people made homeless by fighting on the southern island of Mindanao says the World Food Programme (WFP). The alert comes in spite of moves last week towards possible peace talks between the government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which would be brokered by Malaysia. That announcement rekindled hope that many of those forced from their homes by the decades-old conflict between government forces and the 12,000-strong MILF, would soon be able to return.

More than 250,000 people on Mindano are still homeless because of the conflict and are living in about 100 refugee camps or with host families. Most of them - 91 percent – are living in central Maguindanao Province. But even if the conflict calms down and more people are can safely return home, many have lost everything, including their homes, property and livelihoods, and will still need aid."If people have been out of their homes for over a year, it's not as though you just return, turn on the light and resume your life," Stephen Anderson, country representative for the United Nations food agency, told the UN news service. Highlighting the importance of early help to rehabilitate these people and get them back on their feet when they return home, Mr Anderson said "This protracted period of displacement has put immense pressure on people's livelihoods. It certainly has had a food security impact," he said, noting the difficult time they will have in rebuilding their lives.

The longstanding conflict has severely affected the health and nutrition of the people of Mindanao, where child and maternal mortality rates are 30 per cent and 80 per cent higher than levels across the rest of the Philippine islands. One-third of all Mindano’s children under are stunted, according to the WFP. They are also behind in terms of schooling with only 33 percent of children completing primary school, compared with 67 percent in the rest of the country. And 40 per cent of parents told the WFP that the lack of food was preventing them from sending their children to school.At the height of the troubles in August/September 2008, the WFP helped about 89,000 families on the island, or more than 530,000 people.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children