News releases

BANGUI – Amidst growing humanitarian needs in the Central African Republic, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is responding to the ongoing floods in the country, rolling out assistance to 30,000 people who urgently require food assistance. Starting in July, torrential rains caused flooding in Bangui, as well as Bangassou (south-west) and Paoua (north-west) prefectures, leaving 22,450 people without homes, livelihoods, or assets. Many of those affected are sheltering with host families or in public spaces like schools or churches – but meteorological services forecast more heavy rains

NDJAMENA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is stepping up its emergency response to heavy rains and flooding in Chad, with emergency operations targeting 300,000 flood-hit women, men and children over the next three months. According to Chad’s Ministry of Health and Solidarity, 622,000 people have been affected by floods since late August 2022, with hundreds of houses destroyed and massive damage to crops and livelihoods.

KABUL/ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a EUR 500,000 contribution from the European Union (EU) to support the food needs of communities in the Afghan provinces of Paktika and Khost which were affected by an earthquake in late June. The funds will help WFP deliver emergency food assistance to more than 170,000 earthquake-affected people over six months. The EU’s contribution, made through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department, comes on top of the EUR 15.5 million the EU recently provided to WFP’s Afghanistan response.

CHISINAU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its cooperating partners have delivered 1 million hot meals since 15 March to Ukrainian refugees living in WFP-supported Refugee Accommodation Centres (RACs) in Moldova.

ISLAMABAD – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up its emergency response to reach 1.9 million people affected by this year’s monsoon floods. Recovery and resilience support is now a top priority as families struggle to cope with the loss of homes, livestock and food, and the country grapples with colossal damage to infrastructure, agricultural land and crops.

COLOMBO – Amidst an unprecedented economic crisis that has left millions of Sri Lankans food insecure, John Aylieff, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific concluded a two-day visit to Sri Lanka where WFP is stepping up its emergency operations.

BANJUL – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today launched an emergency food assistance programme targeting 51,200 women, men and children affected by the worst flash floods the Gambia has experienced in nearly half a century. Driven by torrential rains in late July 2022, the flooding has mainly hit the suburbs in urban settlements - with women and children under 5 accounting for almost three-quarters of the total affected population.

SANA’A / ROME – A UN World Food Programme-charted vessel departed today from the Ukrainian Black Sea Port of Yuznhy (Pivdennyi) with wheat grain destined for the agency’s humanitarian response in Yemen.

ISLAMABAD – With a record 33 million people affected by this year’s heavy monsoon rains and flooding in Pakistan, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is stepping up its support to the Government’s relief efforts. The floods are the deadliest in over a decade and more heavy rains are forecast.

ROME – It is reprehensible that millions of people will be pushed further into hunger by the resumption of fighting in Northern Ethiopia. In the past few months, the humanitarian truce has allowed WFP and our partners to reach almost 5 million people in Tigray. However, yesterday that lifeline was severed.

Tripoli – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Libya has welcomed a contribution of JPY 200 million (approx.US$1.53 million) from Japan to implement its food distribution in the West and the East of the country. This project aims to provide food assistance to more than 10,000 beneficiaries, including vulnerable and food-insecure people, as well as schoolchildren.

BRIDGETOWN – Strengthening emergency preparedness and response capacities of the Caribbean islands, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), through a partnership with the Government of Barbados and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) will build a logistics hub and training centre in Barbados.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director General Qu Dongyu, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank Group (WBG) President David Malpass, World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley and World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala issued the following joint statement calling for urgent action to address the global food security crisis.

KABUL – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has rapidly deployed food and logistics equipment to support communities devasted by the 22 June earthquake that struck near the city of Khost. 18 trucks are being deployed to the earthquake-affected areas carrying emergency supplies, including High Energy Biscuits (HEB) and mobile storage units. WFP plans to provide emergency food to an initial 3,000 households and is ready to ramp up its support pending results of ongoing post-disaster assessments.

ANTANANARIVO – Members of the European Parliament who visited drought-stricken southern Madagascar to see how front-line communities and responders are dealing with the protracted humanitarian emergency there noted that a steady flow of assistance has helped avert catastrophe and ease widespread hunger. But they warned that much remains to be done to meaningfully restore lives and livelihoods in a region particularly prone to the intensifying impacts of climate driven crisis.

CAIRO – The war in Ukraine has dealt a fresh hammer blow to Syria’s ability to feed itself just as the country struggles to deal with levels of hunger that are up by half since 2019, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today on the eve of the annual donor pledging conference held in Brussels.

KYIV – The United Nations World Food Programme today called for unimpeded access to families trapped in conflict areas and encircled cities in Ukraine, saying lack of access was the biggest obstacle to its life-saving operations in the war-torn country.

JUBA - Food insecurity is likely to rise by seven percent across South Sudan in the coming months, compared to last year, according to a new United Nations report on food security. UN organizations are renewing the call for more humanitarian and livelihoods assistance to stave off looming hunger and enhance resilience.

DAKAR – The number of women, men and children affected by a food and nutrition crisis in West and Central Africa is expected to reach a new record high in June 2022 - quadrupling in just three years from 10.7 million in 2019 to 41 million in 2022 - unless appropriate measures are urgently taken, reveals the Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis released in March 2022.

LVIV – One month into the conflict in Ukraine, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food assistance to one million people in the country and has built systems able to deliver food at scale to communities in need. Trucks, trains and mini vans are today delivering food supplies to the most vulnerable people across the country and more convoys are expected in coming days.

ROME / SEOUL - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$ 1.5 million contribution from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea to emergency relief efforts in Ukraine.

Columbia, SC – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley will announce a major new fundraising drive aimed at billionaires, corporations, and individuals in response to the crisis in Ukraine, and the unprecedented impact on global food security.

SEOUL - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a KRW 1 billion (approximately US $ 823,000) contribution from Dunamu, a block chain and fintech company in the Republic of Korea, towards its emergency operations in Ukraine. The donation will be used to provide food assistance and relief to, both, people affected by the conflict in Ukraine and those who have fled to neighbouring countries.

KRAKOW – The United Nations World Food Programme has welcomed a US$14 million contribution from the Government of Japan to provide emergency food assistance to people affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

SANA’A, ADEN, ROME, NEW YORK, - Yemen’s already dire hunger crisis is teetering on the edge of outright catastrophe, with 17.4 million people now in need of food assistance and a growing portion of the population coping with emergency levels of hunger, UN agencies have warned.