World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

WFP has begun distributing food in cyclone-damaged areas of Yangon as it ramped up efforts to respond to the looming humanitarian needs in the southern coastal regions of Myanmar hardest hit by the powerful Cyclone Nargis three days ago.

A senior official of WFP has said that humanitarian assistance is presently unable to meet the needs of the people of Myanmar and that the Myanmar Government must undertake immediate critical reforms for the benefit of the country\'s desperately poor and needy people.

FAO has called for a renewed commitment to guarantee the right to food for the world's hundreds of millions of hungry people.

Read UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon message to mark World Food Day, which this year promotes the Right to Food.

WFP expressed growing concern that the current unrest in Myanmar could impede efforts to feed some 500,000 people. As a result of the disturbances, the authorities have placed restrictions on the movement of food.

WFP has received assurances that government-imposed restrictions on the movement of WFP food assistance in Myanmar will be lifted, officials of the humanitarian agency have said.

Yokohama - The Government of Japan confirmed today a contribution of US$ 1.4 million to WFP to help feed the hungry poor in Myanmar, Colombia, and Eritrea.

Bangkok - Having launched one of the most complex emergency operations in its history, during which it delivered food, medicine and even helped evacuate the injured, WFP has shifted focus to long-term recovery.

Bangkok - A senior United Nations official urges the Myanmar government to review and reform policies that impede humanitarian efforts to combat growing hunger and poverty.