WFP multi-media package highlights millions of people facing starvation in Afghanistan as winter sets in
KABUL – Without urgent funding to stave off a catastrophe, 3.2 million children in Afghanistan face severe hunger and the life-threatening consequences of malnutrition. Humanitarian needs have increased and around 23 million people need urgent food assistance. WFP’s funding requirement to meet these needs in 2022 is US$2.6 billion.
“The international community have very real concerns and at this time we need to separate the humanitarian imperative from the political discussions. The people of Afghanistan, the innocent people of Afghanistan, the children of Afghanistan who have had their lives upended through no fault of their own, cannot be condemned to hunger and starvation just because of the lottery of geopolitics and the lottery of birth,” said WFP’s Afghanistan Country Director Mary-Ellen McGroarty.
To maintain a focus on the plight of people in Afghanistan, WFP is offering new video footage and photographs from remote areas of the country including Faizabad and Mazar-i-Sharif. The images, which include shots from a health clinic in Aq Kupruk, show the impact of a prolonged drought, economic collapse and the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, coming on top of years of conflict. WFP staff will be available for interview about their work on the front line of this critically underfunded humanitarian crisis.
Download video material here
Download photos here
Please contact us if you would like to interview WFP Afghanistan Country Director Mary-Ellen McGroarty or WFP Communications Officer Shelley Thakral, Afghanistan. We can also provide interviews in German, Spanish, Italian, French and Japanese.
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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.
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