News releases

PORT-AU-PRINCE – Violence caused by armed groups, economic slowdown and climate-related effects continue to drive high levels of hunger in Haiti, according to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report issued last week. Despite a reduction in the number of people facing acute food insecurity across the country, 44 percent of Haitians continue to find themselves in either Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of hunger.

VIENTIANE - Demonstrated impact of the Agriculture for Nutrition project, led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in cooperation with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has today led to the launch of phase two of the project.

BRASILIA – Around 200 participants from more than 20 countries, including government ministers, representatives from international financial institutions and the United Nations are set to gather in Brasilia on 29-31 August to reinforce commitments and chart out pathways to strengthen human capital in the region so that every person is able to reach their full potential.

SANAA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced today that it is facing a deeper funding crisis for its Yemen operations from the end of September onward. This will force WFP to make difficult decisions about further cuts to our food assistance programs across the country in the coming months.   All of WFP’s major programs will be affected – General Food Assistance (GFA), Nutrition, School Feeding and Resilience Activities – totalling 17.7 million interventions in the first half of 2023.    

Leaders from FAO, IFAD and WFP warn of a deepening crisis in South Sudan without immediate action and investment in resilience.

Juba – The cost of inaction in addressing South Sudan’s complex food, climate, and insecurity crises will be felt in the loss of lives, livelihoods and futures for millions of people across the young nation, the heads of three United Nations agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned today as they wrapped up a three-day visit to the country.

Baghdad, Iraq – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Iraq welcomed a generous €5 million contribution from the European Union (EU) to provide cash assistance to internally displaced and crisis-affected Iraqis missing one or more essential civil documents until they are integrated within the national social safety net.

Lusaka – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in partnership with the Government of the Republic Zambia have launched a five-year plan targeting nearly 650,000 people. The plan seeks to eliminate hunger, improve nutrition, and strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities to food shocks.

ADRE, CHAD – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is rapidly scaling up its response on the Chad-Sudan border to support a surge of people fleeing from Sudan. Thousands of people are crossing each day from Sudan’s Darfur region into the small border town of Adré in Chad, with many arriving injured and with harrowing stories of the violence they have escaped.

BRIDGETOWN – A recent food security and livelihoods survey conducted by the World Food Programme and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the Caribbean region revealed that 3.7 million people, or 52 percent of the population of the English-speaking Caribbean, remain food insecure. This is a 10 percent decrease when compared to an August 2022 survey, however, it underscored growing financial hardship and challenges due to the rising cost of living in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The programme aims to prevent Ukraine from requiring food assistance in the long term

Kyiv/Rome – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a joint programme in collaboration with mine action partner Fondation Suisse de Déminage (FSD) to support smallholder farmers and rural families most affected by the war.

DAKAR – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)’s efforts to build resilience to climate-related and human-made shocks and stressors have been shown to boost food security, while also strengthening social cohesion and improving the prospects for peace in Burkina Faso and Niger - a new study reveals.

DAMASCUS – An unprecedented funding crisis in Syria is forcing the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to cut assistance to 2.5 million of the 5.5 million people who rely on the agency for their basic food needs. The announcement comes as the European Union gears up to host the seventh Brussels Conference on “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region” on Wednesday.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is accelerating efforts to roll out enhanced safeguards and controls that will ensure humanitarian food assistance reaches targeted, vulnerable people across Ethiopia. This follows a joint statement by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and USAID announcing their commitment to addressing deeply concerning revelations of food aid diversion.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) strongly condemns the looting of one of the agency’s logistics hubs in south-central Sudan. The attack on WFP’s warehouses in El Obeid puts food assistance for 4.4 million conflict-affected people at risk.

UN agencies warn that record hunger levels in the DRC require livelihood support and long-term investment. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) call for more support to improve livelihoods while responding to emergencies.

May 29, 2023: Accra/Johannesburg/Kinshasa – An estimated 6.7 million people are experiencing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in North and South Kivu and Ituri, representing a 10 percent increase from last year.

Burkina Faso, Haiti, Mali and the Sudan have been elevated to the highest alert level to join Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

An estimated 17 percent of the population is in moderate acute food insecurity in Sri Lanka, especially in the Northern, Eastern and Central Provinces, indicating an improvement compared to 2022.

COLOMBO: Food security in Sri Lanka is improving across all provinces, according to the Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) report jointly carried out in February/March 2023 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The report estimates 3.9 million people or 17 percent of the population is in moderate acute food insecurity which is nearly a 40 percent decrease from June/July last year. Nearly 10,000 people are severely acute food-insecure, down from 66,000 people last year.

May 25 2023, ADEN – The food security situation in Yemen’s districts under the control of the Government of Yemen (GoY) slightly improved during the first five months of this year, while acute malnutrition increased, compared to the same period in 2022. However, the outlook for the period between now until the end of 2023 indicates the need for more programme investments, as the modest improvements may be eroded, UN agencies have warned.

ROME – The World Food Programme (WFP) is rolling out comprehensive, systemic measures to prevent further misuse of life-saving aid in response to the discovery of widespread diversion of humanitarian food assistance in Ethiopia last month. WFP paused food distributions in the Tigray region after finding evidence of significant food aid sales in local markets. WFP immediately began an investigation and is enhancing safeguards and controls to ensure that necessary assistance reaches the most vulnerable women, men, and children.

Venice – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Civic Data Design Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will inaugurate “Distance Unknown”, a data-based exhibition on hunger and migration, at Palazzo Bembo (European Cultural Centre) in Venice with a walk-through on 21 May 2023 at 1100 CET to coincide with the opening of the Biennale Architettura 2023.

Economic shocks grew as driver of food crises; war in Ukraine contributed to acute food and nutrition insecurity.

ROME – The World Food Programme (WFP) is deeply concerned by the recent reports of significant diversion of humanitarian food assistance in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region. WFP takes this issue extremely seriously and will not tolerate any interference in its distribution of critical food aid to the most vulnerable women, men and children.

LILONGWE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of US$1.5 million from USAID on behalf of the American people to provide life-saving food assistance to over 142,000 people and provision of air services in southern Malawi.

N'DJAMENA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warned today that WFP will be forced to make additional cuts to already dwindling food assistance to refugees in April and may face a complete suspension of assistance in May 2023 - without immediate and sustained funding.