World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

The Central African Republic (CAR) is "close to being a failed state" and threatens to spread chaos in the heart of the continent, UN officials have warned. (..) Valerie Amos, the UN's humanitarian chief, called on the security council to take swift action to restore security and end the suffering of millions. (..) The turmoil has affected the 4.6 million-strong population in its entirety, Amos added. About 1.6 million people are in dire need of food, protection, healthcare, water, shelter and other assistance. (..) Nearly 60,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring states, two-thirds of them in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The World Food Programme has stepped up its efforts to bring aid to the people of the Central African Republic. The aid agency says it is currently helping over 200,000 people caught in a humanitarian crisis caused by political instability, lawlessness and marauding rebels from neighbouring countries. The landlocked former French colony has been plunged into chaos since the Seleka rebels seized power four months ago. Outside the capital Bangui much of the country is ruled by warlords. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the United Nations Security Council to act.

Three months after rebels seized power, Central African Republic (CAR) is in the grip of a humanitarian emergency and most of its people have no access to basic medical services because of insecurity and lack of funding, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Tuesday. (..) Even before the crisis, people’s access to food and healthcare was limited. Hunger levels in parts of the south and northwest of the country were above international emergency levels, according to surveys carried out by MSF in 2011. Since the fighting began in December 2012, food prices have soared, according to the World Food Programme.

The World Food Program (WFP) reports it is scaling up its emergency assistance program in the Central African Republic (CAR) in response to a worsening food crisis in the country. (..) WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs says people are resorting to drastic coping mechanisms to stretch out their dwindling food stocks. She says many people are only eating one meal a day.

The first UN mission to reach a rebel-held part of the Central African Republic says the situation there is desperate. Fighters agreed to a peace deal with the government in Gabon last week. But the rebels are still entrenched and nothing has been done to deal with the humanitarian emergency.

Last year, around 13 million people in the Horn of Africa needed food aid. Now aid agencies warn failed harvests in the Sahel, the band of desert and scrub that runs south of the Sahara, mean 12 million more people require assistance. (..) The world has more than enough food to feed itself. Redistributing it to those who lack their share is the job of large and well-funded international aid agencies, particularly the World Food Program.

The U.S. Food for Peace program has made a 6.5 million dollar donation to fight hunger in the Central African Republic (CAR). The donation will purchase 4,0000 metric tons of supplies to be distributed by the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Torrential rains and flash floods that swept through cities and villages in Central Africa in late August have intensified a food crisis in the region, leaving upwards of 10 million people suffering from severe food shortages, the United Nations and relief organizations warned last week. (..) In early August, a shortfall of international aid forced the United Nations World Food Program to suspend food aid to families with children over the age of 2 in Niger.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that it may have to cut its feeding programme in the Central African Republic (CAR), where tens of thousands risk becoming malnourished unless new funding is secured.

The United Nations World Food Program says tens of thousands of people in Central African Republic face malnutrition if the WFP cannot secure urgent funding. In Central African Republic, the United Nations World Food Program says it needs an additional $15 million in funding over the next eight months to continue feeding 600,000 people there.