World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

The United Nations World Food Program has allocated $213 million towards providing food aid for Yemenis in 2012. (..) Political upheaval and mass protests throughout 2011 pushed Yemen into a humanitarian crisis, while an influx of refugees fleeing war and famine in the Horn of Africa only increased the need for aid. (..) Georgia Warner, WFP reports and advocacy officer, said, “On average, the cost of the main food commodities has risen by 46 percent since January 2011.”

Even before Yemen plunged into chaos this year, rates of malnutrition were the third highest in the world (...). Facing a $60 million shortfall in its 2011 budget for Yemen, the World Food Program (WFP) said it may no longer be able to distribute food rations to the displaced in Aden, let alone reach the millions of ordinary Yemenis going hungry across the country.
 

"Aid workers in Yemen, the Middle East’s poorest country, appear to have made some headway in broadening the mainstream narrative to include the deepening humanitarian crisis. (..) The UN says some seven million people in Yemen are food insecure - meaning they go to bed hungry or do not know where the next meal is coming from. (..) Malnutrition rates in several parts of the country are already well beyond emergency threshold levels.

Some people in Yemen have to go without food for days at a time as the humanitarian crisis in the country deteriorates, with one in five children acutely malnourished, rights groups said on Wednesday. (..) But the crisis has not only affected those displaced by conflict, the rights groups said, noting that "surging food and fuel prices" have also "pushed poor Yemenis across the country to the brink."

Inspired by the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, demonstrators in Yemen shouted "You're next!" at President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (..) "Rising food prices and political instability have left millions of people in Yemen hungry and vulnerable. Malnutrition is stalking the lives of women and children," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program.

Yemen is at risk of falling into a deeper humanitarian crisis akin to Somalia's descent as political unrest has made it more difficult for many struggling Yemenis to afford food, United Nations officials said on Monday. (..) Like other Gulf Arab nations, Yemen relays heavily on food imports as only 2.5 percent of land is arable, said Lubna Alaman, country director for the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) in Yemen.

With a population of 24 million, Yemen is situated at the Southwestern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. (..) According to a report by UN World Food Programme, ‘the Price of bread is 50% more than what it was at the beginning of the year’. Many Yeminis are spending 30 to 35% of their daily income on bread, leaving little for other necessities.

Today is World Food Day. It might, if one heeds the words of Ban Ki-moon, be more suitably designated Global Lack of Nutrition Day. (..) In Yemen, a deteriorating situation has quickly become a disaster. Last week the World Food Programme warned that the country faces a humanitarian crisis after rising food prices combined with political instability to put 3.5 million people at risk of starvation.

The United Nations reported that the number of people killed during the seven month uprising in Syria has exceeded 3,000. (..) As violence escalates in Yemen so does food insecurity, according to the U.N. World Food Programme.

An increase in food prices, political uncertainty and fuel shortages are severely straining Yemenis’ ability to feed their families, the United Nations Food Programme (WFP) warned today, adding that the country is now facing a serious humanitarian situation.