WFP, the Haitian government and food experts from NGOs have just completed a comprehensive assessment which confirms the scale of the ongoing food needs in Haiti two months after the earthquake. The survey will shape policies to rebuild food security in the months ahead.
Most people think of malnutrition as not having enough to eat. But for many of the world's one billion hungry people, the problem is that they get too few of the minerals and vitamins that would allow them to thrive, physically and mentally. The challenge is ensure these people have the right foods, at the right time. Here are ten reasons why the world should face this challenge:
The Koinadugu Women’s Vegetable Farmers’ Cooperative delivered the first consignment of rice ever purchased by WFP in Sierra Leone. Twenty five metric tons of locally produced rice was purchased through the Purchase for Progress (P4P) project to be distributed through the school meals programmes. This rice - enough to feed 3,800 primary school children for 3 months– is the first batch of a total of 500 metric tons of food that WFP plans to buy this year from 10 different organizations in Sierra Leone.
“This is one of the best projects that we have going in the country” declared Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia.
WFP has started airlifting urgent food assistance into a remote northern region of the Republic of Congo in order to reach tens of thousands of refugees from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who have crossed the border to escape conflict.
WFP is ready to provide full assistance to any independent investigation into its food assistance operations in Somalia, where the agency aims to feed 2.5 million people in 2010. "Our integrity is paramount," said Executive Director Josette Sheeran.
Struggling families in coastal Chile are now receiving rations of WFP fortified High Energy Biscuits (HEBs) following two weekend airlifts to Concepcion. A Chilean student organisation helped to distribute the biscuits to hungry people in the quake zones.
WFP has signed two agreements with the Russian government to strengthen their existing partnership over the next three years in the battle against global hunger. Russia will also assist with providing school meals to children in Armenia.
Women form the backbone of the agricultural sector in many countries and play a key role in getting food onto the table. Speaking on International Women's Day, Isatou Jallow, chief of WFP’s Gender Unit, explains the central role that women play in fighting hunger.
The latest edition of WFP’s annual hunger bytes! competition produced a surge of videos highlighting world hunger. One winner contrasted ‘rich world’ diet culture with the plight of the hungry poor. Another put an emergency food ration in a highly unusual context.
Thought-provoking articles that deal with hunger and the issues involved in meeting the hunger challenge.
IRIN has asked a range of experts over the past year why malnutrition is recurrent in Niger even after decades of donor support and government programmes. Two of the hardest-hit regions were focused on - Diffa, which has borders Chad, and Zinder, which borders Nigeria.
We turned off the main road to Awassa, talked our way past security guards and drove a mile across empty land before we found what will soon be Ethiopia's largest greenhouse. Nestling below an escarpment of the Rift Valley, the development is far from finished, but the plastic and steel structure already stretches over 20 hectares – the size of 20 football pitches.
Failed rains in northern Burundi have left tens of thousands of people needing food aid and prompted many to seek work in neighbouring Rwanda to earn enough to feed their families. (..) Charles Dei, the humanitarian coordinator in Burundi, who also serves as country director of the World Food Programme (WFP), told IRIN that the lack of rain had adversely affected the January bean and maize harvest.
Three years ago, I was working as a U.S. Spokesperson for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) and met Lauren Bush, a Princeton student, who designed a bag that would feed kids around the world in school. In February 2007, Lauren and I co-founded FEED Projects, a small (ahem, two-person) company with the mission of selling these "FEED" bags to support WFP's international school feeding efforts.
His travels may take him to Ethiopia, Malawi, Lesotho or to the far corners of Ireland. His meetings may be with heads of state, parliamentarians, budgetary bean counters or with farmers and school children. His missions may range from promoting new conservation tilling techniques to considering the role of breast pumps in improving infant nutrition in Africa.
