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Job losses, lack of cash and soaring prices are creating a new class of hungry in Afghanistan, WFP has warned today. For the first time, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities, which have been ravaged by drought twice in the past three years.

Targeting 1.15 million people for Phase II of its operation, WFP has so far assisted 500,000 people with food and nutrition support. Of the total assisted people, 40,000 have been reached through cash distributions. To date, WFP has injected over US$500,000 into the local economy, further strengthening and reinvigorating the markets.

A total of 30,000 families, or 150,000 people, in 11 upazilas spanning five districts—Khulna, Satkhira, Barguna, Patuakhali, and Bhola—received US$43 (BDT 5,000) each earlier today.

The attacks began on the evening of 28 December and looting continued into the morning of 30 December. More than 5,000 metric tons of food appear to have been taken, with hundreds of looters also dismantling warehouse structures. “WFP is outraged by these senseless attacks and condemns the continued looting of assistance and the destruction of its assets in the strongest possible terms.

The Dominican Republic is an upper-middle-income country, ranking 82 out of 193 countries in the 2023-24 Human Development Index.  

WFP has been responding to growing food needs in Chad, but funding shortfalls mean that food assistance for refugees and internally displaced people will come to a complete halt this month if no additional funds are received.

“Home to more than 700 rivers, Bangladesh is increasingly seeing the impact of climate change. Erratic monsoon and downpours are causing severe floods,” said Richard Ragan, WFP Representative and Country Director in Bangladesh.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, a lower-middle-income country with a population of 88 million, is hosting one of the largest and most protracted refugee populations in the world. Government figures indicate that over 3.4 million refugee and refugee-like populations are in Iran, living alongside host communities for the past 40 years.

Haiti has reached a grim milestone, with half of its population facing acute hunger.  Among these, over 2 million people are facing “emergency” levels of food insecurity. 

Funding shortfalls had already forced WFP to cut rations for refugees to 50 percent in the Far North, Adamawa, East and North regions of Cameroon and to distribute incomplete food baskets since end 2023, missing some items such as pulses, vegetable oil and salt.