News releases

The midpoint meeting between COP28 and COP29 emphasises climate-resilient agri-food systems as key to solving interconnected climate and food crises.

ROME – The latest food security assessment on Gaza confirms the concerns of the World Food Programme (WFP) about the ongoing levels of severe hunger across the Gaza Strip and shows the critical importance of sustained access to all areas of Gaza.

JOHANNESBURG – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of EUR 3 million from the European Union (EU) to support the continuation of nutritional support and services to the most vulnerable urban communities in Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Pretoria, 5 June 2024 - More than 30 million people across Southern Africa have been affected by a severe drought. Millions could be pushed into acute hunger unless support is urgently mobilized to scale before the next lean season, warn the United Nations (UN) and partners.

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.

LUSAKA/JOHANNESBURG/ROME – Millions of people are facing food insecurity due to El Niño-fueled drought and floods in Southern Africa, WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain warned during a visit to Zambia, at the epicenter of the crisis. Severe drought has wiped out harvests in a region where 70 percent of the population relies on agriculture to survive.

DHAKA - After a week-long mission in Bangladesh, visiting projects of the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Ambassador Jeffrey Prescott, the U.S. Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, called on the international community to continue its support to the Rohingya refugees and their Bangladeshi host communities for a crisis that shows no signs of abating.

NEW DELHI – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in India and the Embassy of Norway in India today kicked off a symposia on women’s challenges and contribution to India’s agrarian economy, especially from a climate resilience perspective, to support the Government of India’s ongoing significant efforts to empower women farmers.

Global Network Against Food Crises’ partners call for a transformative approach to break the cycle of acute hunger

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.

MANILA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain today called for strengthened partnerships in Asia and the Pacific, to increase climate resilience and financing for smallholder communities vulnerable to food insecurity. She was speaking at the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Asia and the Pacific Food Security Forum in the Philippines.

WINDHOEK – The Republic of Namibia has achieved high food self-sufficiency levels, thanks to sustained output from smallholder and large-scale farmers and WFP’s support for end-to-end food systems in Namibia. For the first time in fifteen years, the country has reached 45 percent self-sufficiency.

KABUL – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of EUR15 million (US$16.4 million) from Germany, through its Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), raising the total German contribution to more than EUR78 million (US$83.1 million) in 2023. The funding will go towards activities that strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities and WFP’s school feeding programme that helps keep girls and boys in primary schools.

PORT-AU-PRINCE – Amid a deepening security crisis, hunger has reached unprecedented levels in Haiti, a new assessment reveals. Nearly five million people - almost half of the country’s population – are now facing acute food insecurity and struggling to feed themselves, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released today.

The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have today launched an action plan to work together in fragile contexts — countries simultaneously affected by economic shocks, and extreme weather, in combination with little or no institutional and government capacity to help people cope. The UN agencies seek to leverage the strengths and expertise of each organization to enhance resilience in fragile environments and improve food security for those who need it most.

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.

Bishkek – The Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcome a generous contribution of US$ 3.5 million from the Government of Japan to foster self-reliance among the Kyrgyz Republic’s most vulnerable people by creating community assets and strengthening capacities through various projects.

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.

BOGOTA - The results of the latest food security assessment by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Colombia shows a 5 percent reduction in food insecurity, with 13 million people facing moderate or severe food insecurity - down from 15 million the previous year.

DAKAR – Amid persistently high humanitarian needs in West and Central Africa, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is calling on governments and partners to safeguard resilience-building programmes that help crisis-affected communities withstand shocks and meet their own food and nutrition needs. This will prevent a reversal of hard-won development gains in the region and help reduce humanitarian needs over time.

LUANG PRABANG – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in partnership with the Government of Japan today launched a project aimed at empowering coffee farmers in two districts of Lao PDR’s Luang Prabang Province. This initiative will bolster their coffee production and marketing efforts, while also improving access to and understanding of essential nutrition.

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.

KYIV – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), as part of a programme developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Policy and with funding from Germany, will distribute complementary cash assistance to 310,000 people living with disabilities across the country.

HARARE – Today, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a contribution of US$11.27 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) in Zimbabwe, ensuring that approximately 230,000 of the most vulnerable people in Mwenezi, Mangwe, Chivi, and Buhera districts will receive critical food assistance during the January to March 2024 lean season.