News releases

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.

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.

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.

Somalia is facing famine conditions as a perfect storm of poor rain, skyrocketing food prices and huge funding shortfalls leaves almost 40% of Somalis on the brink.|

Mogadishu - Millions of Somalis are at risk of sliding into famine as the impact of a prolonged drought continues to destroy lives and livelihoods, and growing needs outpace available resources for humanitarian assistance, United Nations agencies warned today

JUBA - Food insecurity is likely to rise by seven percent across South Sudan in the coming months, compared to last year, according to a new United Nations report on food security. UN organizations are renewing the call for more humanitarian and livelihoods assistance to stave off looming hunger and enhance resilience.

CAIRO – As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins, the soaring cost of food staples in import-dependent Middle Eastern and North African countries is creating ever greater challenges for millions of families already struggling to keep hunger at bay, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today.

LVIV – One month into the conflict in Ukraine, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food assistance to one million people in the country and has built systems able to deliver food at scale to communities in need. Trucks, trains and mini vans are today delivering food supplies to the most vulnerable people across the country and more convoys are expected in coming days.

Columbia, SC – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley has called on corporations, wealthy individuals, and the public to contribute more to steady a world rocked by war in Europe.

Khartoum – The combined effects of conflict, economic crisis, and poor harvests are significantly affecting people’s access to food and will likely double the number of people facing acute hunger in Sudan to more than 18 million people by September 2022, warns the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

SANA’A, ADEN, ROME, NEW YORK, - Yemen’s already dire hunger crisis is teetering on the edge of outright catastrophe, with 17.4 million people now in need of food assistance and a growing portion of the population coping with emergency levels of hunger, UN agencies have warned.

COX’S BAZAR – The almost one million Rohingya refugees and their host community in Cox’s Bazar remain vulnerable and need continued support – almost five years since they were forced to flee their homes for safety, according to the latest Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment conducted by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners.

DAKAR/ NAIROBI/ JOHANNESBURG – The socioeconomic situation of the urban poor in Sub-Saharan Africa has worsened following the COVID-19 pandemic, with millions of people facing acute food insecurity and malnutrition – a new report shows.

RZESZOW, Poland – As the emergency operation in Ukraine moved into high gear today, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) expressed deep concern about the waning ability of families in embattled areas to find food and also warned that the crisis could have consequences well beyond Ukraine’s borders.

ROME - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a project to improve the diet of school-aged children, with support from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).

ADDIS ABABA –  A new food security assessment, released today by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), shows that almost 40 percent of Tigrayans are suffering an extreme lack of food, after 15 months of conflict. Meanwhile, across all three conflict-affected regions of the north more than 9 million people are in need of humanitarian food assistance, the highest number yet.

Abuja, Nigeria – Extreme poverty in Western Africa increased by nearly 3 percent last year, according to a new report on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 published today by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

NEW DELHI: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Odisha have joined hands to improve the food security of small and marginal farmers in India by strengthening their resilience to climate change.

MANILA – Three weeks after Super Typhoon Odette (known internationally as Rai) devastated a huge swathe of the Philippines, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that nutrition and food security are at risk in communities in hard-hit areas unless immediate food needs are met over the next six months.

NDJAMENA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food assistance to about 100,000 newly-arrived Cameroonian refugees in Chad who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance after being forced to flee their homes due to inter-communal conflicts in north-eastern Cameroon.

BAGHDAD – As an immediate response to the flash floods that hit northern Iraq last week, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its partner World Vision International (WVI) have provided 235 flood-affected Syrian refugee families in Qushtapa camp in Erbil with emergency ready-to-eat food assistance.

DAKAR – The number of acutely food insecure people in West and Central Africa has now risen to a record high of 28 million people and trends point toward a further deterioration if support to stem the spread of hunger is not ramped up, two UN agencies - the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP - warned today.

London - As a humanitarian crisis unfolds in Afghanistan: almost 23 million people facing severe hunger, a global cinema advertising campaign featuring leading names from the film, advertising and humanitarian worlds, and aimed at stirring UK cinema audiences into action to tackle global hunger, includes the people of Afghanistan in their campaign to fight hunger. SAWA, the Global Cinema Advertising Association, in association with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the world’s leading humanitarian organization fighting hunger worldwide, created the “Feed Our Future” campaign to highlight the potential that is lost every time a child dies of hunger.