News releases

NAIROBI – Nearly 9 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), 4.7 million refugees and asylum-seekers, and hundreds of thousands of migrants in East and Horn of Africa are suffering some of the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from IOM, the International Organization for Migration, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned that famine – already present in four countries – could become a reality for millions of people around the world, without urgent funding to stave off a catastrophe, and without access to families cut-off by conflict.

ROME – Millions of refugees are looking to a future of uncertainty and hunger as the effects of the pandemic on aid budgets play out in funding shortages for emergency operations, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned ahead of World Refugee Day.

Rome/Geneva/New York - Millions of people are pressed up against the border in an active war zone in north-west Syria and remain in need of humanitarian aid to survive. The UN needs cross-border and cross-line access to reach those most in need.

KINSHASA – As hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the sudden eruption of Nyiragongo volcano in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) start returning home, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a USD 150,000 contribution from the Government of the Republic of Korea to help provide them with emergency food assistance.

ROME – This weekend, leaders of the G7 acknowledged the unprecedented humanitarian crisis our world faces today as more than 34 million people teeter on the edge of famine and endorsed a Famine Prevention Compact to urgently address the problem. This is a welcome move.

KHARTOUM – For the first time in ten years, United Nations humanitarian agencies have been able to access conflict-affected communities in the five non-governmental areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) El Hilu in South Kordofan and Blue Niles states of Sudan.

10 June 2021, Rome - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF call for urgent action to address the dramatic acute food insecurity in northern Ethiopia. The three agencies are particularly concerned about the situation in Tigray region where the risk of famine is imminent, unless food, livelihood assistance and other life-saving interventions continue to be scaled-up, unimpeded access is guaranteed, and hostilities cease.

ROME – Alarming new data has today confirmed the magnitude of the hunger emergency gripping Tigray, where at least 4 million people face severe hunger and 350 000 of them are facing famine. The lack of information on people’s food security in western Tigray in the IPC analysis is also deeply worrying.

JERUSALEM – The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) will support more than 5,300 vulnerable women in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, using the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) electronic voucher platform.

ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomes a generous contribution of €8.5 million for 2021-2023 from the people of Germany to provide emergency assistance to save lives and the livelihoods of communities affected by conflict and climate change in Ethiopia. It is part of Germany’s flexible funding for the Eastern Africa region.

SANA’A – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes EUR 37 million from the European Union (EU) to support the humanitarian response in Yemen and provide emergency food assistance in response to an alarming rise in food insecurity which has left millions on the brink of famine.

Dili– A United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) chartered flight carrying Sinovac vaccines from Beijing arrived today in Dili. The vaccinations were donated by the Chinese Government in support of the COVID-19 response in Timor-Leste.

AMMAN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that 21,000 Syrian refugees will no longer receive their monthly food assistance as of July following a prioritization exercise driven by a shortage of funds.

KINSHASA – The United Nations World Food Programme has started providing emergency food rations to people displaced from their homes in Goma by the sudden eruption of Nyiragongo volcano on 22 May.

MEKELE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has provided emergency food assistance to 1 million people since starting distributions in Northwestern and Southern zones of Tigray region in March.

KHARTOUM – The Ministry of Agriculture and Forests of Sudan, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations World Food Programme today called for greater investment in Sudan’s agriculture and humanitarian assistance, as a new food security assessment shows that a record number of Sudanese will face acute food insecurity in the coming lean season.

Yerevan, ARMENIA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$1 million contribution from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to provide cash assistance to help food-insecure, displaced people in Armenia cover their food needs until the end of June.

Niamey — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomes a US$ 7 million contribution by the Government of Japan to provide food and nutrition support to more than 83,000 people in Niger’s crisis-affected regions of Diffa, Maradi, Tahoua and Tillabery.

ROME- Economic empowerment of rural women as farmers, entrepreneurs and leaders contributes towards alleviating poverty, increasing food security and achieving gender equality. These findings, based on an evaluation of a six-year multi-agency global initiative implemented in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger, and Rwanda, were shared at a high-level event in Rome earlier this week.

Yerevan, ARMENIA – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a EUR 300,000 contribution from the Government of France, which will help WFP to support food insecure and displaced people in Armenia through cash transfers to meet their immediate food needs till the end of June.

JUBA – Cereal production in South Sudan in 2020 rose by seven percent over 2019 levels because of favourable rains. But cereals remained far below average production levels reached before conflict erupted in South Sudan in 2013, a new United Nations report on food security finds.

BEIRUT – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started scaling up its support to a crucial national social support scheme in Lebanon to assist families struggling to make ends meet amid a severe economic downturn, skyrocketing inflation and a collapsing Lebanese pound.

LUXOR – The Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Egypt Christian Berger visited today Qena and Luxor governorates in Upper Egypt to witness the sustained impact of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) EU-funded project “Enhancing Access to Education and Fighting Child Labour”