2nd September 2026

A study commissioned by Pesticide Action Network, found there to be an estimated 402-433 million cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm workers across the world every year. These numbers indicate that just under half of all farmers are being poisoned every year. The greatest estimated number of poisonings was in southern Asia, followed by south-east Asia and east Africa. In Burkina Faso in west Africa, nearly 84% of farmers and farm workers were reported to have experienced poisoning. The study did not consider the impact of pesticide exposure on the estimated 84 million children working in agriculture. Dr Sheila Willis, the head of international programmes at Pesticide Action Network UK, said: “Now that the scale of suffering has been revealed, farmers must be supported to access safer alternatives to protect their health and that of their families.” 

You can read the full report here. 

Loving God, forgive us that we are so careless and neglect the health of those who grow our food.  Forgive us that we care little for biodiversity across the world. May this report be given prominence and taken seriously by governments across the world and by all engaged in agriculture. May farming practices change and be appropriately monitored so that farmers' health need not suffer as a consequence of their doing their work.  We also ask your care and protection of all children engaged in agriculture. May the global agricultural market, wholesalers, and national supermarkets, play their role in ensuring safe and healthy supply chains. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Around the world, armed conflict, violence, disasters and migration separate families every day, leaving many without any word on whether a loved one is alive or dead leaving relatives with unresolved grief for decades. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has worked on this issue for more than 160 years. Its Central Tracing Agency (CTA), established under the Geneva Conventions, searches for missing people, restores contact between separated families and helps ensure the dead are treated with dignity. Last year, the ICRC and its partners registered 178,329 new tracing requests and clarified the fate of 28,693 people. The Family Links Network facilitated over 1.4 million phone and video calls between separated relatives, and ICRC-supported teams recovered 631 sets of human remains, working to identify them and return them to families. The ICRC's also reminds parties to conflict of their legal obligation to prevent disappearances and to account for those who go missing.  It supports states in building national mechanisms to search for the missing, and trains forensic specialists to manage human remains with dignity. In addition the ICRC works at a diplomatic level to keep this issue on the international agenda. 

Loving God,

We praise you with all our hearts and souls;

we praise you with songs for your faithfulness,

we praise you with thanksgiving

for your great power and love.

Lord, we praise you with our lips,

and with our lives.

Our very existence is a gift from you;

for you have made us in your image

and breathed life into us.

We thank you for your constant companionship,

for your strength when we are weary,

for your guidance when we have choices to make

and for your help in carrying the burdens we bear.

All glory, honour and praise be yours,

almighty, and eternal Lord.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.