News releases

ROME – Hunger in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua has increased almost fourfold over the past two years - from 2.2 million people in 2018 to close to 8 million people in 2021 – a result of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 and years of extreme climate events. Of this figure, 1.7 million people are in the ‘Emergency’ category of food insecurity and require urgent food assistance.

The United Nations calls for the targeting of new policies and investments in the lagging territories of Latin America and the Caribbean.

December 2, 2020, Santiago de Chile - A new United Nations report shows the territorial inequality of malnutrition in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

ROME – Millions of people in Central America urgently need food assistance in the wake of Hurricane Eta, one of the worst storms in decades, as fears grow of another storm brewing in the coming days.

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).

TEGUCIGALPA – The Federal Republic of Germany contributed €1 million (US$1.1 million) to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), supporting emergency food assistance to more than 16.000 families severely affected by the drought in the Dry Corridor of Honduras

April 25th, 2019, Panama City. – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) today warned that prolonged droughts and heavy rain have destroyed more than half of the maize and bean crops of the subsistence farmers along the Central American Dry Corridor, leaving them without food reserves and affecting their food security.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new inter-agency study released today found a correlation between the prolonged droughts in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras – exacerbated by El Niño phenomenon from 2014 to 2016 — and the increase in irregular migration from these countries to the United States of America.

UN meeting urges long-term development action for food security, safeguarding livelihoods

GUATEMALA – More support for families in Central America’s Dry Corridor who have been hurt by three straight years of drought will be coming from the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP), thanks to a $3 million (US$2.2 million) donation announced today by the Government of Canada.

GUATEMALA CITY – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) committed today to both assisting 1.6 million people hit by droughts exacerbated by El Niño in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti and building resilience against future climatic shocks.

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.

Panama City, August, 11, 2015 – For the second consecutive year, the vulnerable communities that live in the Dry Corridor of Central America are even more threatened as a consequence of the climatic conditions that affect the region.

PANAMA CITY –The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a contribution of US$5 million from the USAID’s Food for Peace Programme (USAID/FFP) to provide food assistance to 87,145 people to help them recover from the prolonged impact of last year’s drought in Honduras and Guatemala.

PANAMA CITY – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a contribution of €3 million (US$3.1 million) from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) to provide food assistance to approximately 73,000 people affected by the drought in Guatemala and Honduras.

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.

PANAMA CITY – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food assistance among small coffee producers, seasonal workers and their families in Central America, who have been affected by the current epidemic of Coffee Rust, a fungal disease that destroys the leaves of coffee plants, lowering yields, diminish fruit quality and sometimes devastating entire plantations.

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.

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.

SAN JERONIMO, COMAYAGUA- The President of the Republic a.i., Antonieta de Bográn, the President of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Howard G. Buffett, WFP Representative in Honduras, Miguel Barreto, and Laurant Sillano of the European Union opened a modern grain processing plant that will benefit small holder farmers in the departments of Comayagua and Intibuca.

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”.