World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

As violence rages in Syria, nearly 28,000 refugees have fled into Lebanon. (..) In Lebanon, vouchers are given to refugee families by the United Nations World Food Programme. They can be used to buy fresh produce in local shops. “The World Food Programme is using vouchers here in Lebanon to assist the Syrian refugees. This is also an innovative system that helps the local economy and alleviates the burden on the host communities,” said WFP spokeswoman Laure Chadroui.

The humanitarian crisis in Syria is growing by the day according to the UN. As many as 1.5 million people now require assistance and the World Food Programme says it plans to increase distribution to those in need.

The number of people needing humanitarian assistance in Syria has risen to 1.5 million from the previous estimate of 1 million, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Friday. The United Nations' World Food Programme had distributed food to 461,000 Syrians by mid-June and aims to increase that number to 850,000 in July, officials said.

The UN's food agency said Wednesday that this year's forecasts for global food production are positive overall but warned that some areas will likely struggle due to armed conflict and displacement. (..) Despite the positive trend, "several regions of the world are expected to struggle with the consequences of poor rainfall, severe weather, armed conflict and displacement," the Rome-based agency said.

Syria’s government has agreed to a written deal with the United Nations and other international organizations that would allow aid workers and supplies to enter four hard-hit provinces, U.N. officials announced Tuesday. The agreement with Damascus and representatives of the government in Geneva should allow convoys with supplies and aid workers from nine U.N. agencies and seven other non-governmental organizations to enter Daraa, Deir el-Zour, Homs and Idlib within days, said John Ging of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. (..) He said at least 1 million Syrians are in urgent need of some form of humanitarian aid.

Hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to feed their families in the parts of Syria hardest hit by violence, activists and aid workers say, with access to food cut off by ruined infrastructure, rocketing prices and, say some, security forces who steal and spoil food supplies. (..) “We are deeply concerned that as many as half a million people are finding it difficult to get enough to eat, especially in areas most affected by violence,” said Abeer Etefa, a spokeswoman for the World Food Programme.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that it aimed to deliver food assistance to 500,000 people in Syria "in the coming weeks", roughly double the number it expects to reach in April. (..) "As the conflict continues, Syrians in areas affected by the violence are struggling to feed their families and WFP is deeply concerned about the potential for food insecurity," said WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin.

Syria has agreed to a 10 April deadline to begin implementing a six-point peace plan, UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has said, according to diplomats. The plan calls for a UN-supervised ceasefire by all parties, withdrawal of soldiers and heavy weapons from cities, and delivery of humanitarian aid.

The UN has said it will participate in a humanitarian mission in Syria this weekend to assess the situation there. (..) They will visit centres of protest and violence, such as Homs, Hama and Deraa. (..) In a statement, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos stressed the importance of "unhindered access to identify urgent needs and provide emergency care and basic supplies."

The United Nations is readying food stocks for 1.5 million people in Syria as part of a 90-day emergency plan to help civilians deprived of basic supplies after nearly a year of conflict. (..) "Our focus is to prepare support potentially to 1.5 million of the conflict-affected population initially through food distribution and also potentially through a voucher program when it is feasible," WFP's Lauren Landis said.