News releases

PANAMA CITY – The socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean could potentially leave around 14 million* vulnerable people in severe food insecurity this year, warranting urgent attention to save lives, according to projections by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

SANTO DOMINGO – Startling figures were released today about the impact of micronutrient deficiencies, or “hidden hunger” during the opening of the First Regional Workshop on Rice Fortification in Latin America and the Caribbean,” which aims to highlight rice fortification as a cost-effective strategy that can help countries achieve Zero Hunger by 2030, as laid out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

QUITO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today the start of an emergency operation to assist 260,000 vulnerable and food insecure people seriously affected by the earthquake in Ecuador and in desperate need of food and other basic necessities.

QUITO –The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has sent a convoy with food assistance for some 8,000 people severely affected by the 7.8-earthquake that hit the coast of Ecuador, leaving more than 400 people dead and thousands more in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, and the Secretary General of the Organization of American State (OAS), Luis Almagro, today signed an agreement to intensify their joint efforts to improve the food security and nutrition of the people of the Americas.

LIMA –More than 200 participants including government representatives, regional and international school feeding experts, public and private organizations and associates, from 17 countries from the region, will participate in the VII School Feeding Seminar for LAC, which will be held from the 26th to the 28th of August 2015 in the Peruvian capital.

Quito – Mario and Patricio Pillajo’s book about plants of the Andes titled “Plantas de la Cordillera Andina”, containing the description and traditional uses of two hundred species, was presented yesterday to the Pichincha Provincial Government. The book is a compilation of plants growing in the Cayambe and Pedro Moncayo cantons in the province of Pichincha, and the canton of Papallacta in the Napo province. Their work was published with the support of the Pichincha Provincial Government and the World Food Programme (WFP).

April 22, International Mother Earth Day, WFP launches an atlas that maps out the vulnerable areas to climate change, disasters, and food insecurity in the Andean Region.

PANAMA CITY – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a new Atlas of the Andean Region showing which areas are most threatened by climate change and the risks of related disasters and their potential impact on the food security and sustainable development of entire communities.

QUITO.– Colombian asylum seekers crossing the Ecuadorian border face difficult conditions: Most have nothing left but the clothes they are wearing. To meet their basic needs and promote their integration in Ecuadorian communities, the World Food Programme (WFP) carries out a humanitarian operation that provides the most vulnerable with food and protection assistance.

Evaluation, evidence generation and report dissemination are important activities of WFP’s work in Ecuador. In 2014, WFP Country Office will lead a study on the Cost of Malnutrition in Ecuador, in partnership with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Pan American Health Organization (OPS) and the Ministry of Public Health (MPS).

PANAMA CITY –The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean launched today a new Regional Nutrition Strategy that aims to provide a nutritional model for WFP on how to engage with governments of middle income countries.

The climate change challenges for the Post-2015 Development Agenda were discussed in Quito in a panel moderated by the Representative of the United Nations World Food Programme in Ecuador, Deborah Hines.

Ecuador receives the largest flow of refugees in the Western Hemisphere. Many Colombian families who flee from violence in their country make a home for themselves in the area closest to the northern border. They receive assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP), as do their Ecuadorians neighbours.

ROME/QUITO – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is marking World Food Day on 16 October by highlighting the power of nutrition to transform individuals, societies and economies, and the need to make it central to all development efforts.

Four hundred families from the Santa Elena Province are improving their diets by incorporating nutritious foods produced by small farmer associations, thanks to an initiative of the Decentralized Autonomous Government of the Santa Elena Province in partnership with World Food Programme (WFP).

A delegation of the Department for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) visited communities along the border in the province of Esmeraldas, where joint programmes offer humanitarian assistance to Colombian families fleeing from violence in their country.

Improving the diet and nutrition of children from 6 to 36 months and of their families is the main objective of the recently launched Strengthening Local Government Capacities to Improve Food and Nutrition Security project with the support of the Carchi Provincial Government and of the World Food Programme (WFP). The Prefect of Carchi, Guillermo Herrera; WFP Representative in Ecuador, Deborah Hines, and other local authorities participated in the ceremony in the town of Bolivar, marking the start of the project.

From WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin

ROME – In 2003, the world mourned when 22 people lost their lives in an attack on the United Nations office in Baghdad, Iraq. Ten years later, we still mourn all too often for humanitarian workers killed in the line of duty. Many more are injured, detained, kidnapped, traumatized and otherwise prevented from carrying out their life-saving work.

LA LIBERTAD -The World Food Programme (WFP) Representative in Ecuador, Deborah Hines, visited communities in Santa Elena with a Provincial Government team in order to discuss details about the project aimed at improving the nutrition of children from 6 up to 36 months of vulnerable families in Santa Elena.

Ecuador is vulnerable to natural disasters, including heavy rainfalls and floods, volcanic eruptions, wildfires and seismic disturbances. To improve preparedness for potential emergencies, especially related to food security and resilience, the National Risk Management Secretariat (SNGR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) signed in June a two-year work plan.

Over 240 delegates from 37 countries are coming together in Costa do Sauípe, Brazil, to exchange experiences and debate options for developing sustainable national school feeding programmes in the Global Child Nutrition Forum 2013. It is the 15th edition of the meeting and it’s the first time that it occurs outside Africa or the United States. The Forum opens this Monday, 20 May, and will conclude on 24 May.

PANAMA CITY –Latin America and the Caribbean countries have made significant progress in tackling hunger and malnutrition, reducing the number of hungry by 16 million over a decade, but much work still remains to be done, said the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin.

TEGUCIGALPA – The National Systems of Risk Management from Central American countries today began a series of simulation exercises to respond to emergencies and disasters in order to help strengthen their coordination processes and joint operation of humanitarian assistance for affected populations. These processes anticipate the participation of government institutions and national and international humanitarian actors.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it will provide technical support to the Government of Mexico’s efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition through its newly created “National Crusade against Hunger”.