News releases

BAGHDAD – In 2021, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received a total of a CAD 5.5 million contribution from the Government of Canada, including CAD 1 million from a regional project between Canada and WFP. This donation has helped WFP provide food assistance to 255,000 displaced Iraqi families and 72,000 Syrian refugees living in camps as well as emergency livelihood restoration activities throughout 2021.

SANA’A/YOKOHAMA – The United Nations World Food Programme has welcomed a US$ 10 million contribution from the Government of Japan to provide life-saving food assistance in Yemen, where people are pushed to the brink due to a prolonged conflict, an economic crisis, and the fallout of the war in Ukraine.

ABIDJAN – With today’s start of the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the World Food Programme is making available to the media, experts on resilience and food systems who can comment on the linkages between desertification and hunger, as well as on large scale solutions and greening the Sahel.

Humanitarian assistance averted a catastrophe in the harsh winter months – but hunger continues across the country at unprecedented levels.

KABUL – 19.7 million people, almost half of Afghanistan’s population, are facing acute hunger according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis conducted in January and February 2022 by Food Security and Agriculture Cluster partners, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and many NGOs.

CAIRO – The war in Ukraine has dealt a fresh hammer blow to Syria’s ability to feed itself just as the country struggles to deal with levels of hunger that are up by half since 2019, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today on the eve of the annual donor pledging conference held in Brussels.

LVIV – The United Nations World Food Programme welcomes a contribution of EUR 25 million from the European Union to provide humanitarian food assistance to people affected by the conflict in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. This funding contributes to the provision of multipurpose cash as well as immediate food relief to families in conflict-affected areas in Ukraine, and to displaced people from Ukraine in Moldovan transit sites and receptions centres.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme is today calling for the re-opening of the ports in the Odesa area of southern Ukraine so that food being produced in the war-torn country can flow freely to the rest of the world, before the current global hunger crisis spins out of control.

LVIV – The UN World Food Programme yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine to scale up cash transfers to half a million people across Ukraine.

Suva/Apia – A planeload of medical equipment and supplies touched down in Apia on Monday to bolster Samoa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goods were provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Ministry of Health of Samoa and transported by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) through its Pacific Humanitarian Air Service, with funding support from the European Union (EU).

The international community calls for a shift towards better prevention, anticipation, and targeting to address the root causes of food crises

ROME – The number of people facing acute food insecurity and requiring urgent life-saving food assistance and livelihood support continues to grow at an alarming rate. This makes it more urgent than ever to tackle the root causes of food crises rather than just responding after they occur. This is a key takeaway from an annual report launched today by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) - an international alliance of the United Nations, the European Union, governmental and non-governmental agencies working to tackle food crises together.

ANTANANARIVO – The United Nations World Food Programme today welcomed a EUR 1.5 million contribution from France to help treat and prevent acute malnutrition among young children in southern Madagascar, which is reeling from three consecutive years of devastating drought.

Jakarta, 28 April 2022 – The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), in partnership with the Governments of Indonesia and Bangladesh, hosted a virtual knowledge and experience exchange as part of South-South and Triangular Cooperation on 20th April 2022. Government officials from both countries shared best practices to promote and champion youth participation in building disaster-resilient communities.

Banjul – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched, today, cash transfers to assist internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees, and host families in Foni Kansala (West Coast region), as the conflict in the Senegalese Casamance region has led to cross-border displacement.

BRIDGETOWN – An estimated 2.8 million people or nearly 40 percent of the population in the English-speaking Caribbean is food insecure, 1 million more than in April 2020, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

The Republic of Korea’s first Michelin star chef joins global advocacy efforts to fight global hunger

SEOUL - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced that Tony Yoo, celebrity chef specializing in modern Korean dining and owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant, has been appointed WFP Chef Advocate.

SANA’A / SEOUL - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a US$1 million contribution from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea to provide humanitarian assistance in Yemen.

Baghdad, Iraq — The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and reaffirm their commitment to strengthening collaboration and joint initiatives on gender equality and women empowerment in Iraq.

FREETOWN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reached 540,000 people in Sierra Leone with lifesaving and resilience building assistance last year, helping them meet their basic food and nutritional needs amidst rising levels of hunger, partly due to the economic fallout from COVID-19.

Kigali – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of US$5.5 million from the United States (through USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance) to provide cash transfers to refugees living in all five camps in Rwanda. This funding is in addition to an earlier contribution of US$4 million.

BAGHDAD – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) together supported 104,500 people from vulnerable communities in Iraq to rebuild their livelihoods after conflict and adapt to climate change, alongside advancing the digitalization of the Public Distribution System for food rations (PDS).

NAIROBI – Desperately needed rains across the Horn of Africa have so far failed to materialise, almost a month into the current rainy season, and if these conditions continue, along with stagnant and even decreasing humanitarian aid, the number of hungry people due to drought could spiral from the currently estimated 14 million to 20 million through 2022, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.

SANA’A – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of EUR 45 million from the European Union (EU) to address the hunger crisis in Yemen. With these resources, WFP will continue to provide emergency assistance and nutrition support in response to an alarming rise in food insecurity affecting millions of Yemenis.

CAIRO – Arab film star, Hend Sabry has visited a climate change adaptation programme run by the Government of Egypt and the World Food Programme (WFP) in her capacity as Goodwill Ambassador for the UN agency.

CARACAS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) marks today the first anniversary of the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to establish its presence in the country.

KYIV – The United Nations World Food Programme today called for unimpeded access to families trapped in conflict areas and encircled cities in Ukraine, saying lack of access was the biggest obstacle to its life-saving operations in the war-torn country.