News releases

JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently appealing to donors to provide early funding for next year’s operations in South Sudan so the food agency can preposition food to prevent spiralling operational costs and hunger through 2025.

WASHINGTON, DC – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes four awards totaling US $110 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support critical school meals programmes across Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Laos, and Rwanda. The funding will benefit nearly half a million children and their communities in more than 1,600 pre-primary and primary schools across the four countries.

LUXEMBOURG - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a new strategic partnership with the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

JERUSALEM – The risk of famine will persist throughout Gaza this winter unless fighting stops and more humanitarian aid reaches families, according to a new food security assessment by experts from 16 UN agencies and NGOs. Twelve months of fighting have decimated livelihoods, drastically reduced food production and severely restricted both commercial and humanitarian supply lines, the report said.

FAO rallies global community behind the 2024 theme: Right to Foods for a better life and a better future - Leave No One Behind

16 October, Rome - The global ceremony marking World Food Day 2024  took place here today, with participants underlining the need for universal access to enough diverse, nutritious, affordable, and safe foods. The event came amid growing global tensions and conflicts and climate shocks, which are among factors contributing to the challenge of hundreds of millions of people worldwide facing hunger and billions being unable to afford a healthy diet.

JERUSALEM - The UN World Food Programme today warned that escalating violence in northern Gaza is having a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families, noting that the main crossings into the north have been closed and no food aid has entered since 1 October. 

Yerevan, ARMENIA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a contribution of €3.5 million from the European Union (EU) to meet the urgent food needs of refugees in Armenia who fled the conflict that began last year. The EU initially allocated €2.5 million for refugees' immediate needs, later adding €1 million as the situation worsened with 84% of the refugee population in need of food assistance in December 2023 according to a joint UN and government assessment.

NEW YORK/GENEVA/ROME/WASHINGTON – As world leaders gather in New York for the 79th United Nations General Assembly, and as the threat of a wider regional escalation looms, we renew our demand for an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

ABUJA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$ 1 million contribution by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to severely food-insecure people in northwest Nigeria.

PORT SUDAN – The UN World Food Programme is working around the clock to deliver food assistance to communities across Sudan facing acute hunger. The food agency’s priority is providing vital aid across 14 areas in Sudan to people who are either facing famine or at risk of slipping into famine after 500 days of relentless conflict.

ROME – The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today it is pausing the movement of its employees in Gaza until further notice after a WFP team came under fire on the evening of 27 August, a few metres from an Israeli check point at the Wadi Gaza bridge.

CAIRO – The Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation and the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) are inviting start-ups with climate innovation solutions that are operational in Egypt to apply for a grant to support affordable, inclusive and high-impact innovations that enhance climate adaptation and food security.

1 in 11 people worldwide faced hunger in 2023, 1 in 5 in Africa

Rio de Janeiro – Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published today by five United Nations specialized agencies.

MUNICH: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced a call for applications for its Climate Adaptation Innovation Accelerator Programme, supported by the Adaptation Fund. The US $10 million initiative, part of the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA) partnership, will run for the next five years and invites applications from ventures with climate innovation solutions that are operational in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, or those that can be scaled in these countries, to apply for a grant by 4 August 2024. The grants, up to US$ 200,000 each, will support locally driven ventures that are affordable, inclusive and tailored to specific regional challenges.

Vientiane – Germany through its Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has signed an agreement with Lao PDR’s Ministry of Education and Sports to support the country's largest social safety net, the school meals programme. This initiative, in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) aims to reduce rural poverty by supporting local agriculture in supplying food to schools. This support is part of the Accelerating School Meals project, a contribution of EUR 22 million from BMZ to WFP for a five-year (2023 – 2028) period to Lao PDR, Sierra Leone and the School Feeding Trust Fund.

DAR ES SALAAM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a contribution of 120 metric tons of nutritious dates from the Government of the State of Qatar to complement WFP’s food assistance to nearly 200,000 Congolese and Burundian refugees in north-western Tanzania.

HAVANA – Mongolia has contributed US$ 1 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Cuba to support the food security and nutrition of pregnant women and vulnerable people registered for the Social Assistance programme in the provinces of Villa Clara and Cienfuegos.

New data reveals that over 750,000 people are experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity with 25.6 million people in crisis levels of hunger

ROME – The latest food security assessment on Gaza confirms the concerns of the World Food Programme (WFP) about the ongoing levels of severe hunger across the Gaza Strip and shows the critical importance of sustained access to all areas of Gaza.

JOHANNESBURG – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of EUR 3 million from the European Union (EU) to support the continuation of nutritional support and services to the most vulnerable urban communities in Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Latest Hunger Hotspots report urges immediate action to prevent famine and warns of La Niña-linked climate extremes

ROME – Acute food insecurity is set to increase in magnitude and severity in 18 hunger “Hotspots”, a new United Nations early warning report has revealed today. The report spotlights the urgent need of assistance to prevent famine in Gaza and the Sudan, and further deterioration in the devastating hunger crises in Haiti, Mali, and South Sudan. It also warns of the lingering impact of El Niño and the looming threat of La Niña that risks bringing further climate extremes that could upend lives and livelihoods.

Pretoria, 5 June 2024 - More than 30 million people across Southern Africa have been affected by a severe drought. Millions could be pushed into acute hunger unless support is urgently mobilized to scale before the next lean season, warn the United Nations (UN) and partners.

GENEVA/NEW YORK/ROME: Three United Nations agencies today issued a stark warning that all indications point to a significant deterioration of the nutrition situation for children and mothers in war-torn Sudan. The lives of Sudan’s children are at stake and urgent action is needed to protect an entire generation from malnutrition, disease and death.

DAKAR – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) - with the support of the School Meals Coalition and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) - have concluded a three-day regional technical conference on Homegrown School Meals in West Africa.

LUSAKA/JOHANNESBURG/ROME – Millions of people are facing food insecurity due to El Niño-fueled drought and floods in Southern Africa, WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain warned during a visit to Zambia, at the epicenter of the crisis. Severe drought has wiped out harvests in a region where 70 percent of the population relies on agriculture to survive.