News releases

ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has completed its first round of food distributions to people impacted by the spread of conflict into Afar and Amhara regions. However, a lack of supplies due to various impediments to the movement of humanitarian aid still sees distributions in Tigray lagging behind.

ADDIS ABABA –  As conflict spills across Northern Ethiopia, forcing 300,000 people from their homes and 1.7 million into hunger in Afar and Amhara provinces, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced an unprecedented funding gap of $US426 million across its operation in Ethiopia and appealed for funds to meet the needs of up to 12 million people this year.

30 August 2021 – The Government of Japan provided JPY 200 million (US$1.8 million) to the World Food Programme (WFP) in Mozambique to address food insecurity in communities affected by the ongoing violence and displacement of people in the Cabo Delgado province.

YANGON – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned that its lifesaving operations in Myanmar are being held back by a major funding shortfall, with over 70 percent of its funding needs over the coming six months still unmet.

JERUSALEM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a contribution of CAD$2 million (approximately US$1.7 million) from the Government of Canada to provide much-needed food assistance for two months for more than 64,000 of people in the Gaza Strip who have been most-affected by the recent armed escalation and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

LUSAKA – This week, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) procured and delivered personal protective equipment, funded by Brazil to the Ministry of Health in Zambia. The equipment, consisting of 1,315 white overalls and 11,505 disposable gowns will be used in Zambia’s efforts to fight COVID-19.

The United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) humanitarian operations are getting a major boost with an AUD 34.7 million contribution from the Government of Australia. The funding will assist communities across the Indo-Pacific region affected by hunger as a result of conflict, COVID-19, or climate emergencies.

PEMBA, CABO DELGADO – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warns that without urgent funding, one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement crises in northern Mozambique risks becoming a hunger emergency as families continue to flee insurgent violence.

SANA’A – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes EUR 37 million from the European Union (EU) to support the humanitarian response in Yemen and provide emergency food assistance in response to an alarming rise in food insecurity which has left millions on the brink of famine.

JUBA – Cereal production in South Sudan in 2020 rose by seven percent over 2019 levels because of favourable rains. But cereals remained far below average production levels reached before conflict erupted in South Sudan in 2013, a new United Nations report on food security finds.

JUBA – The World Food Programme (WFP) condemns looting of its food assistance and destruction of humanitarian storage units in South Sudan’s Greater Pibor Administrative Area in Greater Jonglei. Violence between armed groups flared up in May, displacing thousands of people and jeopardizing the ability of humanitarian agencies to support communities on the brink of famine.

Yerevan, ARMENIA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a EUR 1.3 million contribution from the European Union (EU) to provide cash assistance across Armenia for people affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

SANA’A – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is increasing the level of food assistance in Yemen’s worst hunger hotspots in an effort to prevent a devastating famine. But the agency’s ability to sustain the response to the end of the year remains uncertain.

JERUSALEM – WFP has started providing emergency assistance for more than 51,000 people in north Gaza in response to rising humanitarian needs among families affected by the recent escalation of conflict in the impoverished strip.

ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$400,000 contribution from the Government of the Republic of Korea to our operations in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to help provide food and nutrition support for thousands of people displaced by conflict.

PEMBA, CABO DELGADO – Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province is in the grips of a spiralling crisis as thousands of people flee their homes amidst violence, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

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.

DAMASCUS – After a decade of upheaval, conflict and displacement, Syrians are facing the worst humanitarian conditions since the start of the crisis, with millions of people sliding into hunger in the last year alone, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

ADEN/SANA’A – The Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme issued an urgent plea for peace in Yemen and called for funding to help the most vulnerable hungry families as he wrapped up a two-day visit to the country where the worst famine the world has seen in modern history is now looming.

KINSHASA– Reaffirming the United Nations World Food Programme’s commitment to build stronger communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, today, concluded a visit to the country which included a meeting with the Country’s new President, Félix Tshisekedi.

CAIRO – A record 12.4 million Syrians - nearly 60 percent of the population - are now food insecure, according to alarming new national data from the UN World Food Programme (WFP). In just over one year, an additional 4.5 million Syrians have become food insecure.

Humanitarian crisis continues to exert a terrible toll on children, warn FAO, UNICEF, WFP and WHO

SANA’A/ADEN/ROME/NEW YORK/GENEVA - Nearly 2.3 million children under the age of five in Yemen are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, four United Nations agencies warned today. Of these, 400,000 are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and could die if they do not receive urgent treatment.

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.

Johannesburg - Escalating conflict and a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado has left communities completely reliant on humanitarian assistance. According to the Government, attacks by non-state groups have forced more than 565,000 people to flee their homes and villages, abandoning their crops and livelihoods.

NEW YORK – The World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, addressed United Nations Security Council today on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Here are selected highlights from his remarks: