News releases

DAR ES SALAAM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a contribution of 36 metric tons of nutritious dates worth USD 88,437 from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) to support refugees living in north-west Tanzania.

29 July 2021,Washington DC/New York/ Rome - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have welcomed US$127 million in support, provided by the World Bank, for an interagency project to fight the spread of extreme hunger in Yemen. The project will provide rural families with opportunities to build sustainable household food security.

ADDIS ABABA – The first United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) passenger flight, which is managed by the United Nations World Food Programme, has touched down at Tigray’s Alula Aba Nega International Airport in Mekelle today.

DUSHANBE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Ministry of Education and Science of Tajikistan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today for the development of a sustainable National School Feeding Programme.

Brindisi, Italy – Following the recent G20 side event co-hosted by the Italian Government and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) focusing on the role of logistics in current and future health emergencies, WFP and the World Health Organization (WHO) are launching INITIATE2, a joint project to bring together emergency actors, research and academic institutions, and international and national partners to promote knowledge sharing and skills transfer for improved emergency response to health crises.

HARARE – The Government of Germany, through the German Federal Foreign Office, has contributed EUR 3 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Zimbabwe to support highly vulnerable communities 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.

BANGUI, 7 July 2021 – At least 80,000 children under the age of five are currently at risk of severe acute malnutrition across the Central African Republic (CAR) - a 29 per cent increase compared to projections for 2021 , UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) announced today. The UN agencies also warned that over 632,000 people - more than one in eight people – will fall into a catastrophic hunger situation between the first week of July and the end of the lean season without urgent action. Across the country, 40 per cent of children under five are already suffering from chronic malnutrition , a rate above the emergency threshold of 30 percent.

Lilongwe, Malawi – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a USD 9.5 million (about MK7.7 billion) contribution from the United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to provide emergency assistance to vulnerable households, support livelihoods of community members, and strengthen capacity of national and local institutions to better address food security, disaster risk management, and emergency responses in Malawi.

NAIROBI – Nearly 9 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), 4.7 million refugees and asylum-seekers, and hundreds of thousands of migrants in East and Horn of Africa are suffering some of the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from IOM, the International Organization for Migration, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

ROME – Alarming new data has today confirmed the magnitude of the hunger emergency gripping Tigray, where at least 4 million people face severe hunger and 350 000 of them are facing famine. The lack of information on people’s food security in western Tigray in the IPC analysis is also deeply worrying.

10 June 2021, Rome - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF call for urgent action to address the dramatic acute food insecurity in northern Ethiopia. The three agencies are particularly concerned about the situation in Tigray region where the risk of famine is imminent, unless food, livelihood assistance and other life-saving interventions continue to be scaled-up, unimpeded access is guaranteed, and hostilities cease.

MEKELE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has provided emergency food assistance to 1 million people since starting distributions in Northwestern and Southern zones of Tigray region in March.

KHARTOUM – The Ministry of Agriculture and Forests of Sudan, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations World Food Programme today called for greater investment in Sudan’s agriculture and humanitarian assistance, as a new food security assessment shows that a record number of Sudanese will face acute food insecurity in the coming lean season.

ROME- Economic empowerment of rural women as farmers, entrepreneurs and leaders contributes towards alleviating poverty, increasing food security and achieving gender equality. These findings, based on an evaluation of a six-year multi-agency global initiative implemented in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger, and Rwanda, were shared at a high-level event in Rome earlier this week.

LUXOR – The Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Egypt Christian Berger visited today Qena and Luxor governorates in Upper Egypt to witness the sustained impact of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) EU-funded project “Enhancing Access to Education and Fighting Child Labour”

OUAGADOUGOU — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of US$7 million from Japan to alleviate the suffering of vulnerable populations in a country hard-hit by the combined effects of insecurity, recurrent climate shocks, rising food prices, and the socio-economic impacts of the global pandemic (COVID-19).

Acute food insecurity on the rise as the Central African Republic reels from impacts of conflict and COVID-19

Bangui – Nearly half of the population – 47 percent – suffers from high and surging acute food insecurity in the Central African Republic as the country reels from the impacts of ongoing conflict and COVID-19, and braces for another harsh May-August lean season, warn the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

Pressing need to upscale both food aid and agricultural livelihoods assistance to head off a worst-case scenario

ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR: With each day that passes, more lives are at stake as hunger tightens its grip in southern Madagascar. This is the stark warning from two United Nations agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), as they seek to draw international attention to a humanitarian crisis that risks being invisible.

TUNIS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) are launching a study to discover how best to adjust national policies for the economic and social empowerment of rural women and girls, especially in times of crisis such as the pandemic COVID-19.

Kabul, Afghanistan – One-in-three Afghans are acutely food insecure, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment report released by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its partners.

ROME – The visit to Central America by WFP Executive Director, David Beasley renews WFP’s commitment to working with vulnerable communities, offering them sustainable livelihoods and food security in their villages, giving them reasons to stay at home and reducing migration. During his visit Beasley met families affected by climate change coupled with job losses and rising inequality, a fallout of COVID-19.

CAIRO – The United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) Chief of Staff, Gresham Barrett, this week visited joint Government and WFP programmes in the city of Luxor, looking at projects promoting women’s economic empowerment, rural development and education.

HARARE: Hunger in Zimbabwe’s urban areas has increased over the past year with 2.4 million people now struggling to meet their basic food needs, according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) report coordinated by the Food and Nutrition Council.

DUSHANBE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Tajikistan today inaugurated a bakery in Pani district, the eighth such bakery WFP has helped build with funding from Russia. A steady supply of bread made in these bakeries will be used in school meals for 11,000 primary schoolchildren across 300 schools in the country, helping to make sure that children are healthy, ready to learn, and stay in school.

Rome – Hunger and famine will persist and there will be unequal recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic unless more women in rural and urban areas hold leadership positions with increased decision-making power, say the heads of the three United Nations’ food agencies ahead of their joint International Women’s Day event on 8 March.