News releases

Islamabad – With the generous support from the European Union (EU), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has completed the Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) Surge pilot project in district Umerkot in Sindh province.

JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up support for people impacted by the third consecutive year of record floods that are battering South Sudan. The inundation is threatening to reverse gains made in food security as floodwaters swallow up large swaths of farmland and pastures, destroy crops, and drown precious livestock and entire villages.

CAIRO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a donation package totalling €7.5 million (approximately US$8.1 million) from the Government of Belgium to support the food agency’s response to rising food needs in Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.

Climate change experts from United Nations University (UNU) and World Food Programme (WFP) call for better integration of nature-based solutions in adaptation planning at COP26 in Glasgow.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned that the number of people teetering on the edge of famine (IPC4/Emergency or worse) in 43 countries has risen to 45 million, as acute hunger spikes around the world. This number has risen from 42 million earlier in the year and 27 million in 2019.

ALGIERS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a €5.4 million (US$6.4 million) grant from the European Union (EU) to cover basic food needs of Sahrawi refugees in Tindouf refugee camps in south-west Algeria.

VIENTIANE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has completed the handover of its school feeding programme to the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) of the Lao PDR, after almost 20 years of support to schoolgirls and boys in the country. School feeding in the remaining 915 WFP-supported schools across 8 provinces will now be incorporated into the National School Meals Programme.

ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and ARRA, the national agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs, appealed today for US$68 million to avoid food ration cuts for over 700,000 refugees in Ethiopia.

MANILA – The Government of Japan has announced they will donate rice worth JPY 350 million (approx. PHP 162 Million or USD 3.2 Million) to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Government. The donation will support farming and fishing households, including decommissioned combatants, indigenous people and their families facing food-insecure in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.

Maseru – The Government of Germany, through the German Federal Foreign Office, has contributed EUR 1.5 million for the years 2021-2023 to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Lesotho to support highly vulnerable people struggling to meet their basic food needs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This is part of a EUR 18 million contribution by Germany to Southern Africa for 2021-2023.

HARARE – The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Japan are pleased to announce the finalisation of a resilience building programme in the district of Mount Darwin.

LILONGWE – After drought and pests destroyed crops during the 2020-2021 farming season, nearly 65,000 farming households in Malawi have received cash payouts from an agricultural insurance programme of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). This is one of the largest crop index insurance payouts ever on the African continent, amounting to US$2.4 million.

BAGHDAD – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a US$1 million contribution from the Republic of Korea to support WFP’s food assistance for up to 327,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) and Syrian refugees until the end of the year, who are living in camps.

ANTANANARIVO – As climate talks get underway in Glasgow, families in Southern Madagascar, where climate is driving famine-like conditions, brace themselves for yet another harsh year ahead as the ongoing drought shows no signs of abating, signaling deteriorating hunger.

BRASÍLIA – The WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil is marking 10 years of operations with an online event on the role of South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the fight against hunger.

YANGON – The European Union has contributed EUR 4 million to help the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) respond to the rising humanitarian needs in Myanmar. Over 370,000 people in Chin, Kachin, Rakhine, and Shan states have received life-saving food and nutrition support since the beginning of 2021, thanks to the generous contribution.

ROME – Climate change is a leading cause of global hunger as relentless droughts render fertile land bare, devastating floods destroy crops and record-breaking storms reduce homes and infrastructure to rubble. In 2020, extreme climate drove 30 million people from their homes – more than the population of Australia and New Zealand combined.

Bamako: The Government of Japan has contributed approximately USD1.8 million (one billion XOF) to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) to improve food security and nutrition, while reinforcing resilience for vulnerable communities in Mali.

DUSHANBE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Tajikistan handed over 1,485 tons of fortified wheat flour and around 61 tons of vegetable oil to the Ministry of Education and Science of Tajikistan during a ceremony this week. The food will cover the needs of the national School Feeding Programme in the Districts of the Republican Subordination (DRS), Khatlon Region, and the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO).

BEIJING - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of the People’s Republic of China have recently signed an agreement to support WFP’s emergency food and nutrition operations in Timor-Leste.

ROME/KABUL – More than half the population of Afghanistan – a record 22.8 million people - will face acute food insecurity from November, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report issued today by the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster of Afghanistan, co-led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the UN World Food Programme.

Algiers – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warmly welcomed a contribution of € 400,000 (US$ 478,000) from the government of France (EU) to support Sahrawi refugee children in Algeria. This is the second year that France has made this substantial donation.

Innovative space technologies have enormous potential for anticipatory humanitarian action

Dubai – UAE: The need to better anticipate climate shocks and invest in early humanitarian action was spotlighted at a high-level meeting hosted by the Embassy of Sweden in the United Arab Emirates at Dubai Expo 2020. Participants called for public and private sectors to work together to put anticipatory action at the center of humanitarian policies and strategies.

JOHANNESBURG– The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Executive Secretary, His Excellency, Mr. Elias Magosi, welcomed to Botswana and SADC, the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director, Dr. Menghestab Haile on 20 October and congratulated him on his recent appointment.

DAKAR - As conflicts and rising food prices continue to weaken the food security situation in the Western and Central African region, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a euros 8.4 million contribution from France aiming to respond to the emergency food and nutrition needs of vulnerable populations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.