World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

ERBIL, IRAQ – As the exodus continues of Syrians into the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the leaders of the UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme paid tribute to the government here for giving refuge to almost 200,000 people, including some 47,000 arriving in the last two weeks.

The conflict in Syria has led thousands of Syrians to flee seeking safety in neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. Food is one of their priority needs and WFP is responding with an operation to assist refugees in all five countries. WFP is providing assistance mainly through food vouchers redeemable in local shops as well as direct food distributions in some areas where beneficiaries cannot access markets easily.

School children in Kurdistan, northern Iraq, recently started receiving a daily snack designed by WFP to boost their nutritional intake and to help them concentrate. A nervous Robin Lodge went along to see whether the children liked the new date bars.

Two Iraqi refugee households in the Syrian capital Damascus recently received an early morning visit from the Arab world’s young film star and WFP celebrity partner Hend Sabry.

Rome, 12 November 2008 - Irrespective of its potential wealth, Iraq is a country in turmoil, with an estimated 1.5 million people displaced as a direct result of war and violence. A new survey shows that, although there have been recent improvements in the overall security situation, and although safety nets exist, there remain nearly one million people who are food insecure.

WFP Ambassador Against Hunger Mahmoud Yassin has called on donors to provide urgent funding now to enable WFP to continue its operation to provide food assistance to tens of thousands displaced Iraqis in Syria after early June.

WFP has thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 720 metric tons of dates donated to support WFP’s beneficiaries in Syria.

WFP has welcomed a US$1.3 million donation from India to WFP’s Iraq operation, which assists 3.8 million people, more than half of whom are children.