World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

As the media and the humanitarian community focus on the spreading drought in the Horn of Africa, WFP is deeply concerned that more attention is needed to highlight the persistent problems faced by the world’s refugees – most of them in Africa.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WFP have said that while Sudan is likely to reap a reasonably good harvest in 2005-2006, almost seven million people will still require food aid over the coming year.

WFP Executive Director, James Morris, arrives in Khartoum to visit the agency’s largest emergency operation, which was hit recently by a severe shortage of funds to feed some 6.1 million people across Sudan this year.

On the traditional day of fasting for millions of Christians around the world, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, will take time to meet people in southern Sudan who depend on the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to keep hunger at bay and help rebuild their lives after decades of civil war.

With a contribution of a 4 million euros from the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) for Pakistan, the European Commission (EC) provides its largest contribution since 1992 – some 214 million euros - to WFP operations around the globe in its effort to save lives and feed the hungry poor.

The Executive Director of WFP, James Morris, describes 2005 as the most challenging year the humanitarian aid world has faced since World War II, but also warns that the New Year will undoubtedly bring further emergencies and even greater demands on donors.

N\'Djamena - WFP warns that unless donations are rapidly forthcoming, nearly 200,000 refugees who have fled into Chad from the Darfur conflict in neighbouring Sudan risk going hungry in the months ahead.

WFP joins forces with leading advertising agency Leagas Delaney to build public empathy in Europe for the more than 850 million people who still go hungry.

As the world focuses on a series of massive natural disasters and the spread of avian influenza, hunger in Africa has quietly climbed to an all-time high, threatening to destabilize much of the continent, warns James T. Morris, Executive Director of WFP.

The influx of food and other humanitarian assistance to Darfur has almost havled malnutrition rates since last year -- but the aid must continue to flow if lives are to be saved.