The Disasters Emergency Committee has launched a major appeal to help the 16 million people facing hunger across east Africa. Ben Quinn visited the self-declared state of Somaliland, reporting on the 6 million people in urgent need of food assistance in Somalia: in the towns and villages he visited there was little sign of help arriving. In South Sudan, where famine has been declared, Simona Foltyn found aid delivery under threat from armed fighters.



At the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, Liz Ford reported that President Trump’s reintroduction of the global gag rule places the US side-by-side with some of the world’s worst women’s rights abusers. Activists warn that the gag rule will harm tens of thousands of vulnerable women.

Elsewhere on the site

Trump travel ban devastating for Somali refugees cleared for new life in US



Patel to defend aid budget as famine crisis spreads



Fear stalks migrants huddled on Hungary’s border

Syrian children pushed to the brink after worst atrocities since war began



‘A gift to human traffickers’: report warns of dangers of Trump immigration policy

Famine-hit South Sudan rebuked for move to raise fees for aid workers



Farmers sue World Bank lending arm over alleged violence in Honduras

H&M supply factory in Myanmar damaged in violent labour protest

In depth

Cancer rates are soaring in Africa, yet Tanzania’s radiotherapy hub stands idle



Yemen at ‘point of no return’ as conflict leaves almost 7 million close to famine



Whatsapp proves harbinger of hope for Somali families on the brink of famine

Raped, beaten, exploited: the 21st century slavery propping up Sicilian farming

Dating app helps Indian people with disabilities find their perfect partner

The Ethiopian boomtown that welcomes water firms but leaves locals thirst

International Women’s Day: Pakistan’s ‘invisible’ female workers celebrate new legal status

Clean water finally flows to transform lives of tea pickers in Bangladesh

Opinion

Kevin Watkins: Famine warning signs were clear so why are 20 million lives now at risk?

Multimedia

International Women’s Day: how can you support the global strike? – video

Drought brings savage halt to nomadic way of life in Somalia – in pictures

What you said:

On Kevin Watkins’ opinion piece about famine, Marjallche wrote:

Maybe it would be necessary to switch from short-time activism to the underlying problems. For one, it is an arid region with limited agricultural options. Yet the population soars thanks to medical aid. It appears to me that without education and women’s rights to family planning, the overcrowding will lead to a situation where none but the best harvests will feed the people, and the fights for land and influence will perpetuate.

Top tweet

Hard-to-read story about the rapes suffered by Romanian women working in Siciliy's fields, by buddy @lorenzo_tondo https://t.co/zI8K1JK1Wu — Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) March 12, 2017

Highlight from the blogosphere

Clare Cummings writes for the Overseas Development Institute on how best to tackle the root causes of migration, based on research with Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia.



And finally

Poverty matters will return in two weeks with another roundup of the latest news and comment. In the meantime, keep up to date on the Global development website. On Twitter, follow @gdndevelopment and the team – @LizFordGuardian, @BenQuinn75 and @karenmcveigh1 – and join Global development on Facebook.