News releases

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set out a new framework for collaboration in areas of food security, nutrition and innovative investment solutions.

BANJUL – The economy of The Gambia is losing 3.96 billion Gambian Dalasi (US$83 million) a year – about 5.1 percent of the country’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to the effects of child undernutrition, according to a new study released in Banjul today. The multi-agency Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) study shows that the losses are incurred each year through increased healthcare costs, additional burdens to the education system and reduced workforce productivity.

CAIRO/BEIRUT – On the occasion of UN Education Day, the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in the Arab States and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have said that protracted crises in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have put 15 million children out of school, undermining the development potential of countries in the region.

Dar es Salaam - The United Nations Tanzania, the World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Hub Tanzania and the UN Innovation Network (UNIN) on Thursday hosted the first UN Innovation Night in Tanzania, showcasing the world body’s innovative work in the country and its commitment to use innovative approaches to advance progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

DHANGADHI, Nepal – Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Prem Kumar Rai today inaugurated a Humanitarian Staging Area (HSA) in Dhangadhi, Sudurpaschim Province, together with the British Ambassador to Nepal, Nicola Pollitt, and WFP Nepal Representative and Country Director, Pippa Bradford. Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Rajan Pokhrel, and Chief Secretary of Sudurpaschim Province, Bal Krishna Ghimire were also present.

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON – A record 45 million people - mostly women and children - in the 16-nation Southern African Development Community are gravely food insecure following repeated drought, widespread flooding and economic disarray. As the crisis deepens, the world must step up now to save lives and enable communities to adapt to climate change, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

FREETOWN — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed an important contribution of 2,850 metric tonnes of rice from the Government of Sierra Leone to support the implementation of the country’s national school feeding programme which is at the centre of the government’s “free quality education” initiative.

NASSAU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is distributing food vouchers to assist 500 of the most vulnerable families living on hurricane-stricken Abaco in the Bahamas, which will allow them to buy the food of their choice and prioritise their needs.

Khartoum, Sudan – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, accompanied by the Prime Minister of Sudan, Abdalla Hamdok, today visited Kauda in the Nuba Mountains region of South Kordofan, marking a new milestone in the gradual expansion of humanitarian access to contested areas of Sudan. Also taking part in the confidence-building mission were five Sudanese government ministers, three Khartoum-based diplomats and United Nations officials.

LUSAKA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a €500,000 (US$ 610,000) contribution from the Italian Government to provide food to people affected by the drought in Zambia.

Nouakchott – In 2019, the European Union generously provided EUR 500,000 to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Mauritania, enabling vital humanitarian air services to continue in the country.

LUSAKA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a US$3.39 million contribution from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help meet the immediate food needs of drought-affected people in Zambia.

ROME – The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, has extended his condolences to the Government and people of Sudan after a plane crash in the west of Sudan towards the end of last week which claimed the lives of 15 people, among them a staff member of the World Food Programme, his wife and two children.

LUSAKA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a contribution of SEK 20 million (US$2 million) from the Government of Sweden to help meet the food and nutrition needs of people affected by the drought in Zambia.

Rome – Escalating hunger needs in sub-Saharan Africa dominate a World Food Programme (WFP) analysis of global hunger hotspots in the first half of 2020 with millions of people requiring life-saving food assistance in Zimbabwe, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central Sahel region in the coming months. The sheer scale and complexity of the challenges in Africa and other regions will stretch the resources and capacity of WFP and other agencies to the limit. Ramping up the humanitarian response will again require the generous support of donor governments to fund the assistance required to save lives and support development.

HARARE – Millions of Zimbabweans pushed into hunger by prolonged drought and economic crisis face an increasingly desperate situation unless adequate funding for a major relief operation materialises quickly, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

NAY PYI TAW, MYANMAR -– The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Myanmar have renewed their strategic partnership through the signing of a Letter of Understanding. U Than Aung Kyaw, Director General of the Foreign Economic Relations Department of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, and Stephen Anderson, WFP Country Director, signed the agreement on behalf of the two parties.

HARARE – Last week, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Zimbabwe completed its last cash distribution of 2019, which supported some 19,000 vulnerable residents in Harare’s sub-urban district of Epworth.

JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in South Sudan welcomes a contribution of US$500,000 from the Republic of Korea as overall humanitarian needs are deepening in the country with 7.5 million people needing various kinds of support in 2020.

LAGOS/ABUJA - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today presents the premiere of Bintu - The Musical, at the MUSON Centre in Lagos, Nigeria. The theatre production is a bold and thoughtful dramatization of the humanitarian impact of the decade-long crisis that has plagued Nigeria’s north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. WFP taps into Nigeria’s vibrant performing arts and entertainment industry to tell a story of conflict-driven hunger, resilience and humanity.

EAST JERUSALEM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of €5 million (US$5.6 million) from the Government of Germany which will help WFP meet the pressing food needs of the most vulnerable Palestinian families in Gaza and the West Bank.

MAPUTO - This year, the European Union (EU) contributed nearly €4 million in humanitarian funding to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Mozambique, supporting people affected by Cyclones Idai and Kenneth as well as providing logistics support to the humanitarian community operating in the country.

Khartoum, Sudan – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, accompanied by teams from WFP’s Sudan and South Sudan operations and leaders of the UN country team in Sudan have achieved a significant breakthrough in humanitarian access, by landing in Yabus, a town in the Southern Blue Nile State where they witnessed a food distribution to its war and flood-stricken residents for the first time in nearly a decade

SANA’A – A massive expansion of humanitarian assistance by the United Nations World Food Programme in Yemen this year has alleviated the worst suffering in Yemen and so far prevented famine, but over 11 million people continue to face a daily struggle to find enough food, according to WFP’s latest food security monitoring data .

KIGALI – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a contribution of £3 million (US$3.8 million) from the United Kingdom to help save the lives of over 60,000 Burundian refugees in Mahama camp in eastern Rwanda who had faced ration cuts this month.