News releases

DHAKA – Today, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Australian High Commission jointly handed over personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

WINDHOEK – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes the Japanese Government contribution of US$ 700,000 (equivalent to NAD 11.2 Million) that will enable WFP to provide food assistance to some 30,000 vulnerable people in Namibia.

TRIPOLI/TUNIS – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the World Food Programme, WFP, are joining forces in Libya in a project that will aim to reach up to 10,000 food insecure refugees and asylum seekers with emergency food aid this year.

We are increasingly alarmed about the situation in Yemen.

COVID-19 is spreading rapidly across the country already experiencing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, driven by an unabated conflict. But we are ready to stay and deliver life-saving assistance to those who need it.

The World Food Programme in Niger welcomes an additional €24 million contribution from Germany to scale-up resilience building at a time when Niger is facing the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 health pandemic on food security and nutrition of vulnerable rural and urban families.

Vientiane – Rice and lentils donated by the United States arrived in Laos this week and was received by the U.S. Ambassador to Lao PDR, Dr. Peter M. Haymond today at WFP’s Vientiane warehouse.

NAIROBI – The dire socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic may more than double the number of hungry people in East Africa and the Horn over the next three months, a report from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has found.

BAGHDAD – The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are stepping up their collaboration to help meet the essential needs of vulnerable people in Iraq. WFP has worked with UNHCR and partners to identify an additional 35,000 Syrian refugees and 10,000 people displaced by conflict who will be included in WFP food assistance programmes to help them cope with the impact of COVID-19.

The UN’s Humanitarian Chief, Mark Lowcock, has called for swift and determined action to avoid the most destabilizing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as he releases a $6.7 billion appeal and an updated global plan to fight coronavirus in fragile countries.

NEW YORK/PARIS/ROME, 30 April 2020 – UNESCO, UNICEF, WFP and World Bank today issued new guidelines on the safe reopening of schools amidst ongoing closures affecting nearly 1.3 billion students worldwide.

ALGIERS – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency; United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and five NGO partners urgently need US$ 15 million to respond to the public health needs and immediate humanitarian consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria.

Transcript as delivered of remarks by David Beasley, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director to today’s virtual session of the UN Security Council on the Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Protecting Civilians Affected by Conflict-Induced Hunger

NEW YORK – Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but I’d like to lay out for you very clearly what the world is facing at this very moment. At the same time while dealing with a COVID-19 pandemic, we are also on the brink of a hunger pandemic.

ROME/GENEVA – The first United Nations “Solidarity Flight” is scheduled to leave Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today - from there, the aircraft will transport the vital medical cargo to all countries in Africa, where supplies are desperately needed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Rome – The closure of schools around the world due to COVID-19 risks having a major impact on the health and nutrition of school children.

HARARE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomes a contribution of $3 million CAD from the Canadian Government to life-saving humanitarian operations in Zimbabwe. The funding supports WFP’s rapid scale-up of emergency food assistance to reach almost 55,000 people in Matobo district.

FAO, IFAD and WFP mark International Women’s Day

Rome – The three United Nations’ Rome-based agencies dedicated to food and agriculture called today for bolder action to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls in the agricultural sector and beyond.

DAMASCUS/CAIRO/AMMAN/NEW YORK/ROME – It is now more urgent than ever to end the violence in Syria and to improve access across the country, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley said today. Wrapping up a two-day visit to the country, the two agency chiefs also stressed the need to provide families with basic services and to improve their economic conditions.

Joint statement by QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Mark Lowcock, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; and David Beasley, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

Juba – Some 6.5 million people in South Sudan – more than half of the population - could be in acute food insecurity at the height of this hunger season (May-July), three United Nations agencies warned today.

BAGHDAD – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its implementing partners in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) have relaunched the school feeding programme, following the successful 2018 pilot in West Mosul.

CAIRO/BEIRUT – On the occasion of UN Education Day, the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in the Arab States and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have said that protracted crises in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have put 15 million children out of school, undermining the development potential of countries in the region.

COLOMBO – The Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network (SUN BN), led by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), today brought together thirty leading Sri Lankan businesses to pledge their support for three important agendas: improving workplace health and nutrition efforts; producing healthy food; and promoting healthy food consumption.

ISLAMABAD – The World Food Programme (WFP) Special Advisor on mother and child health and nutrition, Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan, concluded her four day visit to Pakistan, where she saw first-hand how WFP is supporting the Government of Pakistan in addressing barriers to good health and nutrition for the country’s children.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will begin destroying global stocks of a blended food product, identified as a source of sickness among people who consumed it in Uganda earlier this year.

ROME – The World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of €3 million from the European Union (EU), which will strengthen global efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition by supporting the Committee on World Food Security.