World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

New Zealand will provide $2 million in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa due to severe drought. (..) McCully said new Zealand's contribution will be made via the United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) and accredited New Zealand non-government organisations (NGOs) with established partnerships in the affected region.

The latest funding brings to €5.6m the total Irish support since the start of 2011 for victims of the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa. €750,000 will fund the World Food Programme's efforts across the region to dramatically increase the distribution of highly-nutritious foodstuffs to small children and pregnant women, who are particularly vulnerable.

What will it take to address the humanitarian disaster in the Horn of Africa? Our panelists, Bettina Leuscher and Brian Stewart discuss the tremendous need for aid to assist the displaced and the undernourished, and the challenge of getting the world to act.

So far there is only one piece of relative good news to cling to in the giant humanitarian crisis now threatening 10 million people in dust-blown, rain-starved East Africa. (..) The World Food Program has a five-point scale that runs from "general food secure" up to the ultimate horror (stage five), "catastrophic famine." East Africa is now at stage four.

In the last 60 years, East Africa has faced the worst food crises as more than 10 million people are facing terrible need of food, clean water and basic sanitation as a result of which, till date, numerous people have lost their lives. (..) The UN World Food Program (WFP), articulated that the changing weather conditions had made droughts more widespread in the region.

But first, last week 10 million people in East Africa were in need of urgent help because of the drought there. Since then, the figure has gone up by another two million. At the same time, tens of thousands of people are still arriving in refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. These people need food and shelter. David Orr is a spokesperson for the World Food Programme - they're in charge of getting food to those who need it.

Some 10 million people are at risk in the Horn of Africa as two years of drought have forced food prices beyond the reach of most families

A drought plaguing parts of the Horn of African means around 9 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, the World Food Program said from Rome. (..) "A slowly evolving regional hunger crisis may not have the immediate impact of a mega-emergency like the Haitian earthquake, or Pakistan floods, but the drought and rising malnutrition in the Horn affects more people and its effects are equally devastating," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement.

ELEANOR HALL: The United Nations is warning that more than 10 million people could be affected by the horn of Africa's worst drought in decades. (..) TIMOTHY MCDONALD: (..) Emergency appeals throughout the region are about half funded and the World Food Programme is currently able to meet only a third of the actual food needs in its areas of operation.

An estimated 9 million people across the Horn of Africa are facing a severe food crisis following a prolonged drought in the region, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said on Wednesday. According to WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, drought conditions in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and parts of Uganda has left children and women in need of humanitarian assistance.