World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Millions of people in parts of the western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are facing a “food and livelihood crisis” brought on by structural causes such as the dependence on the mining sector and a poor road and livelihoods infrastructure, say officials. (..) In Katanga Province the World Food Programme through partners is providing food for 2,000 moderately malnourished children with their families in the Kalemie and Nyemba health zones.

The United States of America has granted US$82 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) to tackle hunger, malnutrition and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a statement from the US Agency for International Aid (USAID) said on Thursday. The donation including food would be for over 3.5 million people across the country, particularly the 145,000 persons living in the regions of High-Uele and Low-Uele where violence carried out by Ugandan rebels, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA),have displaced several populations.

Food prices Democratic Republic of Congo have jumped 28% in the six-month period to March 2010, resulting in acute malnutrition in some areas of the central African country, a UN agency said on Wednesday. "This rise was particularly notable in 11 cities," including Lubumbashi, the country's second largest city in the southeast and the copper capital, said Stefania Trassari, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, quoting the World Food Programme.

About 530,000 children younger than five and more than a million women need urgent nutritional support in the Democratic Republic of Congo, says the Ministry of Health.(..)WFP is also providing nutritional support to at least one million vulnerable people, including 27,000 pregnant and nursing mothers, 400,000 school-children and more than 177,000 malnourished children.

The Democratic Republic of Congo health minister said Tuesday that at least 700 children under the age of five were dying from hunger a day in five of the strife-ravaged country's provinces.(..)The World Food Programme says that every month it helps to feed about a million vulnerable Congolese, including pregnant women and children.

Most fled the fighting with little more than the clothes on their backs. Now, insecurity and poor access are hampering efforts to address the most basic needs of more than 114,000 refugees in northern Republic of Congo. (..) . While one WFP barge laden with relief supplies made it from Brazzaville to the Likouala town of Ndjoundou, another was grounded downstream. In an effort to overcome these logistical setbacks, WFP has begun to airlift supplies to the north.

The World Food Program has begun airlifting urgent food assistance to tens of thousands of Congolese refugees who fled the Democratic Republic of Congo into the neighboring Congo Republic. (..) "We have been using barges along the river and, in fact, there is currently a barge loaded with 250 tons of rice and corn soy blend, as well as medical kits and other help headed to these people. And, hopefully it will get to them in about a week from now," said Casella.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Friday started to airlift urgent food assistance from Pointe Noire to Impfondo in Likouala province to reach tens of thousands of Congolese refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who have moved into northern Republic of Congo (RoC).

"The children who are playing have just had a small meal," said Ngbatambala, a community leader. "The ones who are crying haven't had anything since this morning. Here, it is a single meal per day." (..) The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has paid only one visit, last December, to distribute food across the whole region, according to aid workers and refugees.

I’ve learned some new words. One is “autocannibalism,” coined in French but equally appropriate in English. It describes what happens when a militia here in eastern Congo’s endless war cuts flesh from living victims and forces them to eat it. (..) The World Food Program averts starvation with its food distributions. And Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues,” is working with Unicef to build a city of joy here to train women — some of them shattered by war — to transform their communities. City of Joy will teach legal rights, self-defense and skills for economic empowerment, and a team of female construction workers is helping build it right now.