News releases

ROME/COTONOU – The number of people on the brink of starvation across the Sahel has increased almost tenfold over the past three years and displacement by almost 400 percent as the region stares down a horrendous food crisis, the Executive Director of United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, warned today.

DAKAR - As conflicts and rising food prices continue to weaken the food security situation in the Western and Central African region, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a euros 8.4 million contribution from France aiming to respond to the emergency food and nutrition needs of vulnerable populations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

OUAGADOUGOU — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a contribution of US$7 million from Japan to alleviate the suffering of vulnerable populations in a country hard-hit by the combined effects of insecurity, recurrent climate shocks, rising food prices, and the socio-economic impacts of the global pandemic (COVID-19).

DAKAR – Millions of families in West and Central Africa are growing more hungry and desperate by the day as food prices skyrocket – stoking a widening hunger emergency in a region engulfed by conflict and the socioeconomic fallout from COVID-19, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today, noting that immediate action is required to prevent a catastrophe.

OUAGADOUGOU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a 3.5-million-euro (US$4.2 million) contribution from Italy to provide food assistance and develop early-recovery projects for tens of thousands of people affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso.

SEOUL/DAKAR – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a $US500,000 contribution from the Government of the Republic of Korea to our operations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, which will help support the emergency response in Central Sahel, and provide school meals for thousands of young pupils.

OUAGADOUGOU – A donation of € 4.2 million from the European Union (EU) contributed to WFP’s efforts to stave off a hunger catastrophe in Burkina Faso, where 2 million people are struggling to feed themselves due to the combined effects of conflict, climate shocks and the socio-economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

ROME – The world has been put on a heightened famine alert with a new report by two United Nations agencies that contains a stark warning; four countries contain areas that could soon slip into famine if conditions there undergo “any further deterioration over the coming months”. These are Burkina Faso in West Africa’s Sahel region, northeastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen.

DAKAR/ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is today warning that unless humanitarian access is urgently granted to organizations like the WFP, catastrophic levels of hunger could hit hard in parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The stark warning comes ahead of the High-Level Ministerial Conference on the Central Sahel in Copenhagen on 20 October 2020.

ROME – A basic meal is far beyond the reach of millions of people in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic joins conflict, climate change and economic troubles in pushing up levels of hunger around the world, according to a new study released today by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

OUAGADOUGOU – Urgent and sustained action is needed to address worsening food and nutrition insecurity in Burkina Faso, say the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), citing alarming new data. Some 3.3 million people are estimated to be facing acute food insecurity during the current lean season, that period which precedes the harvest in September.

BERLIN – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread into countries already dealing with the impacts of drought, economic crises and conflict, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has provided USD 5.9 million to ensure that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) can continue to protect 1.2 million vulnerable African farmers with climate risk insurance.

ROME/LIÈGE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has kick-started a network of global logistics hubs that will support the entire aid community and ensure the delivery of vital medical and humanitarian supplies to developing countries at a time when commercial air transport is at a virtual standstill.

YOKOHAMA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a total of US$11.7 million in funding from the Government of Japan to provide vital food and nutrition assistance to the vulnerable populations in the Central Sahel affected by escalating armed conflict and severe impacts of climate change.

DAKAR – The humanitarian crisis in the Central Sahel region of Africa is spiralling out of control - with more than 5 million people facing severe food insecurity across the region, according to a new joint food security assessment released today by food security partners including the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

OUAGADOUGOU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes an in-kind contribution of yellow split peas and fortified vegetable oil from the Russian Federation to provide food assistance to people affected by rising insecurity in Burkina Faso.

DAKAR, 03 February 2020 - The number of people facing a critical lack of food and vital livelihood opportunities in the Central Sahel has spiked in one year due to rising insecurity and climatic shocks. The situation may further deteriorate unless the international community acts now, three United Nations agencies warned today.

OUAGADOUGOU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned of an escalating humanitarian crisis driven by widespread violence and the long-term impact of climate change that has gripped Burkina Faso and neighbouring countries in the Central Sahel region of West Africa. WFP said the humanitarian response needed to be rapidly escalated to protect and save lives in Burkina Faso and the wider region.

ROME – The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, will visit Burkina Faso on 12-14 August. The country is dealing with an unfolding humanitarian crisis resulting from a sharp increase in armed violence.

5 million people in need of food assistance and 1.6 million children at risk of severe acute malnutrition, 2.5 million pastoralists and agro-pastoralists require urgent livelihoods assistance

OUAGADOUGOU – In a region where school enrolment rates are very low, and early marriages a major cause of dropout among young girls, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has set up school canteens to help reduce malnutrition rates and to keep children in school. For better results, the organization has partnered with a women’s group that specializes in milk processing.

OUAGADOUGOU - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes the Federal Republic of Germany's contribution of eight million Euros (US$ 8.9 million) for the period 2016-2021 to support the resilience of rural communities through prevention and treatment of undernutrition, including behaviour change communication activities.

OUAGADOUGOU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warn that without urgent support, 31,000 Malian refugees risk being cut off from life-saving assistance over the next three months. With the lean season fast approaching, this is the period when they are most vulnerable and most need support.

Ouagadougou - The economy of Burkina Faso loses nearly FCA 409 billion (US$ 802 million) per year due to the effects of child under nutrition, according to a new study launched today in the capital by Mr François Lompo, Minister of Agriculture, Halieutic Resources, Sanitation and Food Security, representative of his Excellency, Lt Col Isaac Zida, Prime Minister of the transitional government of Burkina Faso.

OUAGADOUGOU – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distributing locally-produced yoghurt as part of its school feeding programme in the capital of the Sahel region, one of the most food-insecure areas of Burkina Faso.