News releases

DAKAR – The number of hungry people in West and Central Africa is projected to reach an all-time high of 48 million people (including 9 million children) next year if urgent and long-lasting solutions to address this crisis are not delivered soon. The latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis shows that over 35 million people (including 6.7 million children) in the region - approximately 8 percent of the assessed population - are currently unable to meet their basic food and nutrition needs.

NOUAKCHOTT – Today, BMZ, UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP ended a five-day visit to Mauritania that included Ministerial-level discussions and a field trip to Hodh Chargui. It is the first time that the four agencies have undertaken such a visit, which provided deep insights into the results that can be achieved when humanitarian, development and peace actors collaborate in mitigating shocks and building resilience in communities affected by forced displacement and climatic shocks.

ROME - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the multi-platinum certified global star Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, a U.N. World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador, today announced that since launching their XO Humanitarian Fund in March 2022, US$5 million has been raised and pledged to provide food and support to millions of people experiencing hunger across the globe. The Weeknd presented a cheque to WFP USA during a private event at his After Hours Til Dawn Stadium Tour concert in Los Angeles.

ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered over 2,400 metric tons of food, medical, nutrition and other lifesaving supplies to Ethiopia’s Tigray region following the signing of a peace agreement earlier this month and the reopening of all four road corridors. However, deliveries of assistance within Tigray are not matching the needs and WFP and its cooperating partners urgently need access to all parts of the region to deliver food and nutrition assistance to 2.3 million vulnerable people.

NADI – A chartered flight bound for Tuvalu left Fiji today carrying 500kg of medical supplies as well as health experts to support the country’s response to its first wave of community transmission of COVID-19. The flight was chartered by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) through its Pacific Humanitarian Air Service.

Addis Ababa, 21 November 2022 - The European Union (EU), through its partnership with UNICEF and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), has granted €33 million (1.8 billion Ethiopian Birr) to restore education services and implement school feeding programmes so children living in conflict-affected areas in Ethiopia can get back to learning.

DUSHANBE – The Government of Tajikistan, the milling industry and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today held a national roundtable on the implementation of the national food fortification law and the next steps to further expand wheat flour fortification in the country.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH – The United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Bank signed an agreement today to scale up disaster risk protection financed by Germany and the United Kingdom for vulnerable communities and nations faced with catastrophic climate extremes like storms and drought. As world leaders confront the global climate crisis at the annual UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), this initiative underscores the importance of investment in climate action to protect vulnerable communities when disasters strike.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH – The Partnership for Central America (PCA), the World Bank (WB), and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched today the “Disaster Risk Insurance and Finance in Central America Consortium” (DRIFCA) to identify and support climate-related agricultural insurance solutions for up to 2 million smallholder farmers in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to increase their food security and financial resilience. The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided support for regional feasibility studies to be undertaken by the World Bank.

KYIV – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its local partners have started distributing food assistance to 100,000 people in and around Kherson city in areas that had not been reached since March despite multiple attempts from WFP and other humanitarian agencies to secure access.

CAIRO – Arab film star Hend Sabry lent her voice to a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) campaign highlighting the impact of the climate crisis on the most vulnerable communities in the Middle East and North Africa as world leaders convene in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh that hosts the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27).

ROME – As world leaders gather at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is calling on the international community to invest in building the resilience of vulnerable communities living on the frontlines of the climate crisis in Pakistan and other climate hotspots.

YAOUNDÉ – At the end of a week-long visit to Cameroon, Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan - Senior Special Adviser to the World Food Programme (WFP) on Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition - noted that enhanced and collective actions are urgently needed to eliminate the barriers to gender equality and to make Cameroon a more equitable place for girls and boys, women and men.

The proportion of people facing severe acute food insecurity is at the highest level ever, surpassing levels seen even during the conflicts in 2013 and 2016.

DAR ES SALAAM – The Government and the people of the Republic of Korea have contributed US$ 6 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to boost smallholder farming and enhance food and nutrition security among refugees and hosting communities in Kigoma for the next four years.

ROME/GENEVA - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) - in partnership with Translators Without Borders (TWB) – today launched PSEA at the Frontline, a global campaign to further empower frontline humanitarian workers and partners in the fight against sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). Through a comprehensive package of communication and outreach materials in 22 languages, the campaign is designed to equip those who work closely with communities around the world with knowledge and awareness to recognize, report, and ultimately help prevent SEA from occurring against people receiving assistance or seeking protection.

ROME – As world leaders gather at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt next month, WFP highlights the urgent need for climate adaptation solutions to stem the tide of growing hunger. The unfolding global food crisis cannot be stopped until we support communities and nations to manage the risks associated with a changing climate.

MOGADISHU – The United Nations World Food Programme is delivering life-saving food and nutrition assistance to record numbers of people in Somalia, with over 4 million people a month receiving urgent humanitarian support to prevent famine in the face of the region’s worst drought in over 40 years.

DAKAR – Above-average rainfall and devastating flooding across West and Central Africa has affected five million people in 19 countries across the region, claiming hundreds of lives, upending livelihoods, displacing tens of thousands from their homes and decimating over a million hectares of cropland - in a region already in the grips of an unprecedented hunger crisis. This climate-related disaster is one of the deadliest the region has seen in years and is likely to deepen the already worrisome hunger situation for millions.

Pope Francis, United Nations Secretary-General and Italy’s President join other leaders in urging renewed efforts to tackle hunger and malnutrition

Rome - World Food Day 2022 celebrations were held in Rome today under the rallying cry "leave no one behind," amid a deteriorating global food security crisis and all-time high numbers of people at risk of experiencing serious levels of hunger in Asia and Africa.

ROME – The world is at risk of yet another year of record hunger as the global food crisis continues to drive yet more people into worsening levels of acute food insecurity, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in a call for urgent action to address the root causes of today’s crisis ahead of World Food Day, on 16 October.

Copenhagen – The Novo Nordisk Foundation and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have sealed a partnership to further advance WFP’s homegrown school feeding and smallholder farmer support programmes in Rwanda and Uganda. The Novo Nordisk Foundation has committed a US$4.1 million grant to improve health, nutrition, food security and incomes for marginalized and vulnerable smallholder farming communities. The objective is to build the resilience and functionality of food systems in the most food insecure regions of both countries.

BAGHDAD – On the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) call for action to address food loss and adopt sustainable food waste management in Iraq.

PRAIA – A week after schools reopened in Cabo Verde, the Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Regional Integration, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), today, signed an agreement to meet the food and nutrition needs of nearly 90,000 school children through the national school feeding programme.

Rising conflict, climate extremes, and economic instability aggravated by the lingering impacts of COVID-19 and the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine are among the key drivers

ROME – The number of people facing acute food insecurity worldwide is expected to continue to rise precipitously, as the food crisis tightens its grip on 19 ‘hunger hotspots’ – driven by rising conflict, weather extremes, and economic instability aggravated by the pandemic and the ripple effects of the crisis in Ukraine, a joint UN report released today has found.