News releases

COLOMBO – The Government of Japan today announced a USD 1.5million (LKR 600 million) funding to help the Government of Sri Lanka respond to the ongoing economic crisis. The funds will be used by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to provide food assistance to children and families in need of support.

BAGHDAD – WFP Iraq is to receive US$1 million of the US$91.6 million that the Government of Sweden has contributed to the organization’s global flexible funding for 2022.

ABIDJAN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is today calling for a massive expansion of proven solutions that help fix broken food systems and make communities affected by land degradation more resilient to shocks.

NEW YORK – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, addressed the United Nations Security Council today on the impact of the war in Ukraine on global food security. Here are selected highlights from his remarks:

Call for US$ 10.1 million to provide critical assistance as economic shocks take their toll

DUSHANBE – British Ambassador to Tajikistan Tim Jones visited Vakhsh, Jaloliddini Balkhi, and Yovon districts of Khatlon Region and saw first-hand the school feeding programme implemented by the United Nations World Food Programe (WFP).

DILI –The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Ministry of Health today started to distribute Super Cereal, a fortified blend rich in vitamins and minerals, to vulnerable groups. Procured with funding contribution from China, the nutritious food will be distributed to more than 144,000 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women across all 13 municipalities over the next four months.

BAGHDAD – In 2021, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received a total of a CAD 5.5 million contribution from the Government of Canada, including CAD 1 million from a regional project between Canada and WFP. This donation has helped WFP provide food assistance to 255,000 displaced Iraqi families and 72,000 Syrian refugees living in camps as well as emergency livelihood restoration activities throughout 2021.

Humanitarian assistance averted a catastrophe in the harsh winter months – but hunger continues across the country at unprecedented levels.

KABUL – 19.7 million people, almost half of Afghanistan’s population, are facing acute hunger according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis conducted in January and February 2022 by Food Security and Agriculture Cluster partners, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and many NGOs.

ABIDJAN – With today’s start of the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the World Food Programme is making available to the media, experts on resilience and food systems who can comment on the linkages between desertification and hunger, as well as on large scale solutions and greening the Sahel.

CAIRO – The war in Ukraine has dealt a fresh hammer blow to Syria’s ability to feed itself just as the country struggles to deal with levels of hunger that are up by half since 2019, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today on the eve of the annual donor pledging conference held in Brussels.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme is today calling for the re-opening of the ports in the Odesa area of southern Ukraine so that food being produced in the war-torn country can flow freely to the rest of the world, before the current global hunger crisis spins out of control.

LVIV – The United Nations World Food Programme welcomes a contribution of EUR 25 million from the European Union to provide humanitarian food assistance to people affected by the conflict in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. This funding contributes to the provision of multipurpose cash as well as immediate food relief to families in conflict-affected areas in Ukraine, and to displaced people from Ukraine in Moldovan transit sites and receptions centres.

LVIV – The UN World Food Programme yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine to scale up cash transfers to half a million people across Ukraine.

The international community calls for a shift towards better prevention, anticipation, and targeting to address the root causes of food crises

ROME – The number of people facing acute food insecurity and requiring urgent life-saving food assistance and livelihood support continues to grow at an alarming rate. This makes it more urgent than ever to tackle the root causes of food crises rather than just responding after they occur. This is a key takeaway from an annual report launched today by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) - an international alliance of the United Nations, the European Union, governmental and non-governmental agencies working to tackle food crises together.

Jakarta, 28 April 2022 – The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), in partnership with the Governments of Indonesia and Bangladesh, hosted a virtual knowledge and experience exchange as part of South-South and Triangular Cooperation on 20th April 2022. Government officials from both countries shared best practices to promote and champion youth participation in building disaster-resilient communities.

ANTANANARIVO – The United Nations World Food Programme today welcomed a EUR 1.5 million contribution from France to help treat and prevent acute malnutrition among young children in southern Madagascar, which is reeling from three consecutive years of devastating drought.

BRIDGETOWN – An estimated 2.8 million people or nearly 40 percent of the population in the English-speaking Caribbean is food insecure, 1 million more than in April 2020, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

Banjul – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched, today, cash transfers to assist internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees, and host families in Foni Kansala (West Coast region), as the conflict in the Senegalese Casamance region has led to cross-border displacement.

The Republic of Korea’s first Michelin star chef joins global advocacy efforts to fight global hunger

SEOUL - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced that Tony Yoo, celebrity chef specializing in modern Korean dining and owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant, has been appointed WFP Chef Advocate.

SANA’A / SEOUL - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a US$1 million contribution from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea to provide humanitarian assistance in Yemen.

Baghdad, Iraq — The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and reaffirm their commitment to strengthening collaboration and joint initiatives on gender equality and women empowerment in Iraq.