WFP Welcomes Support From Kuwait Red Crescent Society For Rohingya Refugees
KUWAIT CITY – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$500,000 contribution from the Kuwait Red Crescent Society for urgent food assistance to Rohingya refugees who have fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for safety in Bangladesh.
The contribution from the Kuwait Red Crescent Society will help WFP to provide food and nutrition assistance to more than 14,000 refugees in the Cox’s Bazar region. Families will be provided with a nutritious food ration of rice, lentils and vegetable oil for a period of three months.
“It is the first time the Kuwait Red Crescent Society supports WFP’s life-saving food assistance and we look forward to continue our partnership to reach those people that are most in need,” said Abdallah Alwardat, WFP Director in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Region. “This contribution comes at an important moment when the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are facing extremely difficult circumstances.”
WFP is providing food assistance to people who have been arriving in Bangladesh since late August, and has so far assisted more than 760,000 people. Upon arrival, people receive high energy biscuits. Once settled, they receive fortnightly rations of rice, lentils and oil. WFP has also been providing specialized nutritious foods to families with young children, and to pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers who are particularly at risk of malnutrition.
WFP urgently needs US$18.8 million to continue providing life-saving food assistance for one million people – including new arrivals, people who were already living in camps and host communities – through the end of February 2018.
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WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.
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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Dina El-Kassaby, WFP/Cairo, Tel. +2 01015218882
Colin Kampschoer, WFP/Dubai, Mob. +97254724971
Shelley Thakral, WFP/Bangladesh, Mob. +8801755642150
