News releases

ANTIGUA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today called for urgent global support for small island nations disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis, including many now bracing for what is expected to be an intense and destructive Atlantic hurricane season. The announcement came as the 4th International Small Island Developing States (SIDS) conference concluded today in the Caribbean twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

DAKAR – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) - with the support of the School Meals Coalition and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) - have concluded a three-day regional technical conference on Homegrown School Meals in West Africa.

KAMPALA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of US$11 million from USAID, on behalf of the American people. This additional funding brings USAID’s total support for refugees in Uganda to nearly $83 million since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2023. The funding provides life-saving unconditional monthly general food assistance to over 1.3 million refugees across 13 settlements in Uganda.

SANAA - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Yemen has received a new $4.85 million grant from Saudi Arabia through KSrelief to address moderate acute malnutrition among children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

DAKAR – Nearly 55 million people in West and Central Africa will struggle to feed themselves in the June-August 2024 lean season, according to the March 2024 Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis released by the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS).

YAOUNDE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are today warning that vital food assistance to refugees in Cameroon’s Far North, Adamawa, East and North regions is at risk of grinding to a halt due to funding shortfalls.

ROME – Famine is imminent in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and the entire population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, according to the new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released today.

Rome, 07 March 2024 - Investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment is not only more urgent than ever but also an incredibly smart investment to generate economic growth, food security, income opportunities and better lives, particularly in rural areas where most of the world’s poorest live. That will be the message tomorrow on International Women’s Day from leaders at the Rome-based United Nations agriculture and food agencies event - Invest in Women: accelerate progress.

KINSHASA – Ahead of International Women’s Day, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) chief Cindy McCain issued an appeal to the international community for urgent resources and support to respond to the deepening hunger crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where women are bearing a disproportionate burden of this humanitarian emergency.

JUBA – Sudan’s war has shattered millions of lives and created the world’s largest displacement crisis. Now this catastrophe also risks becoming the world’s largest hunger crisis, unless fighting stops, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain warns today as she concludes a visit to South Sudan, where she met families fleeing violence and an escalating hunger emergency in Sudan.

KAMPALA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Uganda welcomes a generous contribution of 2,000 metric tons of rice worth JPY 300 million (USD 2.2 million) from the Government of Japan. The contribution will enable WFP to provide hot meals to 50,000 newly arriving refugees in 2024/2025.

MASERU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a €600,000 contribution from the Principality of Monaco for the period of 2023-2026, to help provide meals to school children and training for smallholder farmers as part of the national home-grown school feeding activities in the Kingdom of Lesotho.

NEW YORK/GENEVA/ROME – In the less than five months that followed the brutal 7 October attacks and the ensuing escalation, tens of thousands of Palestinians – mostly women and children – have been killed and injured in the Gaza Strip. More than three quarters of the population have been forced from their homes, many multiple times, and face severe shortages of food, water, sanitation and healthcare – the basic necessities to survive.

The situation is especially serious in the north, where one in six children under the age of two is acutely malnourished


GENEVA/NEW YORK/ROME, 19 February 2024 – A steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza strip poses grave threats to their health, according to a comprehensive new analysis released by the Global Nutrition Cluster.

ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has activated more robust delivery mechanisms to its operations in Ethiopia since late 2023, a significant step in assuring the delivery of critical food assistance to the hungriest populations affected by drought, flooding, and conflict. WFP is now working at pace to deliver food assistance to up to 3 million in Ethiopia in the coming weeks.

BAGHDAD – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with the Directorate of Agriculture in Ninawa Governorate and the University of Mosul, is implementing a multi-year initiative to transform farming practices in Ninawa governorate to boost food security and sustainability among small-holder farmers.

PORT SUDAN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) urgently calls on Sudan’s warring parties to provide immediate guarantees for the safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian food assistance to conflict-hit parts of Sudan, especially across conflict lines where hungry displaced civilians are trapped and cut-off from life-saving humanitarian assistance.

NEW YORK/GENEVA/ROME, 30 January 2024 – The allegations of involvement of several UNRWA staff in the heinous attacks on Israel on 7 October are horrifying. As the Secretary-General has said, any UN employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable.

DAKAR – Despite considerable efforts by governments and partners, food insecurity continues to worsen in West and Central Africa with the number of hungry people set to reach a staggering 49.5 million people between June and August 2024 – a four percent increase compared to 2023, according to a regional food security analysis released today.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is activating its revamped approach to operations in Ethiopia, a major step which will start to reach 3.2 million people with food assistance for the first time since June 2023. WFP food aid was suspended nationwide following reports of large-scale diversions earlier this year.

NEW YORK/GENEVA/ROME, 16 November 2023 – As humanitarian leaders, our position is clear: We will not participate in the establishment of any ”safe zone” in Gaza that is set up without the agreement of all the parties, and unless fundamental conditions are in place to ensure safety and other essential needs are met and a mechanism is in place to supervise its implementation.

MOGADISHU – Climate extremes will keep hunger in Somalia at record highs, warned the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today, as deadly floods sweep the country, devastating deeply food-insecure communities who are still battling to recover from the country’s longest recorded drought.

CAIRO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, Cindy McCain issued an urgent plea from the Rafah border crossing for safe, expanded humanitarian access to Gaza as humanitarian needs skyrocket and critical food supplies reach dangerously low levels.

“We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire”

NEW YORK/GENEVA/ROME 21 October 2023 – “A first, but limited, shipment of life-saving humanitarian supplies from the United Nations and the Egyptian Red Crescent entered Gaza today on 20 trucks, passing through the Rafah Crossing.