News releases

KINSHASA – The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are calling for immediate action to protect children and families caught in the escalating violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where an increasing number of people, including children, have been wounded or killed near makeshift camps. Both agencies call on all parties to the conflict to prioritize the protection of civilians and allow humanitarian agencies to do their work.

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.

JUBA – At least 25 million people are struggling with soaring rates of hunger and malnutrition as the crisis in Sudan sends shockwaves around the region, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns today, with thousands of families being displaced and forced across borders into Chad and South Sudan each week.

NOUAKCHOTT – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) has generously contributed US$5 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to provide food and nutrition assistance to Malian refugees in Mauritania.

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.

KABUL – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan welcomes the latest contribution totaling GBP 28.7 million (US$36.5 million) from the Government of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, through its Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The funds will go toward supporting WFP’s emergency response for food-insecure families and treat malnourished young children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers across the country.

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.

NOUAKCHOTT – The Government of Japan's US$2 million (over 79 million ouguiyas) funds in 2023 allowed the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Mauritania to provide food assistance to more than 65,000 vulnerable Malian refugees in the Mbera camp.

DHAKA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is gearing up to restore its critical food assistance for the entire Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar. Starting 1 January 2024, WFP will increase the value of its monthly food voucher from US$8 to US$10 per person.

ROME – More than one in four households in Gaza currently face extreme hunger, and there is a risk of famine unless access to adequate food, clean water, health and sanitation services is restored, according to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released today. IPC is a multi-stakeholder platform that analyses data to determine the severity and magnitude of hunger crises, according to internationally-recognized scientific standards.

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.

NAIROBI – Devastating floods threaten to worsen food insecurity across eastern Africa as heavy rains lash a region that less than a year ago was in the grips of drought, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

BAGHDAD – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Iraq yesterday launched the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) project in Baghdad, a vital step in fighting climate change. LULC generates high-resolution satellite imagery crucial for understanding environmental challenges and guiding sustainable development.

SANA’A – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announces the pause of General Food Distributions (GFD) in areas of Yemen under the Sana'a Based Authorities' (SBA) control, driven by limited funding and the absence of an agreement with the authorities on a smaller programme that matches available resources to the neediest families. 

ROME – The World Food Programme (WFP) is at COP28 to call for urgent climate action to protect those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. The climate crisis is driving hunger across the world with a staggering 57 million people pushed into acute food insecurity by climate extremes last year alone. WFP will showcase solutions to protect those hardest hit by climate change, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected areas.

Dili, – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have signed an agreement to contribute to conducting Timor-Leste’s most extensive food security focused assessment to date, funded under the bank’s Economic Diagnostic Studies in Asia and the Pacific initiative.

Yerevan– The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a CHF 500,610 (approximately US $555,000) contribution from the Government of Switzerland to support thousands of families who have fled military hostilities in the Karabakh region and sought refuge in Armenia. The additional funds, which Switzerland has been providing since November 1, are intended to provide emergency humanitarian aid to those most in need.

VIENTIANE – The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare today announced an expansion of its activities to improve community and government capacities in disaster risk reduction in the north of the country. Nearly 16,000 people in four districts of Oudomxay and Phongsaly province will benefit from this cooperation implemented by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), under the leadership of the Ministry and with support from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.

PALO, LEYTE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today handed over logistics equipment, including a reach truck and a rice milling machine, to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Regional Warehouse at a ceremony in Palo, Leyte. This is part of WFP’s broader effort to enhance the region’s emergency preparedness capacities against climate shocks, after it was devasted by Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) ten years ago.

JUBA – Children in flood-affected parts of South Sudan are expected to face extreme levels of malnutrition in the first half of 2024 as the climate crisis tightens its grip on the country, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.

ROME – To make more progress in the fight against hunger, the world needs to make at-risk communities less vulnerable to climate shocks and other emergencies, the UN World Food Programme said today.

ROME – In a private audience at the Vatican, Pope Francis received the UN World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain to discuss the urgent need to tackle the food insecurity and humanitarian crises besetting the planet.

JUBA – A hunger emergency is looming on the border between South Sudan and Sudan as families fleeing fighting in Sudan continue to cross the border every day, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today. New data gathered by WFP shows that among the nearly 300,000 people who have arrived in South Sudan in the last five months, one in five children are malnourished and 90 percent of families say they are going multiple days without eating.

Nairobi, the Republic of Kenya, 29 September 2023 – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have signed an agreement to strengthen the capacity of developing and emerging economies to address the unprecedented challenge of the climate crisis.