World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

WFP congratulates Rachel Weisz on winning an Oscar last night for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, for her performance in the movie, The Constant Gardener.

Following his visit to the epicentre of the Horn of Africa drought – in northeastern Kenya – the head of WFP has warned that the human death toll could soar in the coming months without sufficient donations to head off a disaster.

WFP warns that despite a good start to the long rains falling in the epicenter of the regional drought, the suffering of millions of nomadic herders and subsistence farmers in Kenya would continue and even deepen.

As a result of insufficient funding, WFP has been forced to reduce food aid rations to some 230,000 Somali and Sudanese refugees living in two camps in remote areas in northeast Kenya.

WFP warmly congratulated its Ambassador against Hunger, top record holder Paul Tergat, on his performance today in New York where he finished third place in the world’s most prestigious marathon race.

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.

WFP today strongly condemned the hijacking of a food aid ship Wednesday afternoon by unidentified gunmen at the port of Merka, 100 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu.

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.