News releases

BEIRUT – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is radically expanding its support to a key Lebanese social assistance programme, with the goal of helping 270,000 people get through the triple shock caused by economic crisis, the COVID-19 lockdown and the blasts at Beirut port.

KAMPALA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed 5,000 metric tons of rice and US$300,000 in cash from the Republic of Korea to provide much-needed relief assistance to 781,000 people including refugees and Ugandans threatened by locusts.

TRIPOLI/TUNIS – The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are expanding their support for food insecure refugees and asylum seekers in Libya with emergency food assistance in response to the severe socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country as well as the effects of the ongoing conflict.

FREETOWN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a contribution of JPN 250 million (US$ 2.3 million) from the Government of Japan to support primary school children in Kambia and Pujehun districts of Sierra Leone.

MASERU- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes the Japanese Government contribution of JPY 250 Million (equivalent to about US$ 2.3 Million) that will enable WFP to strengthen food assistance to some 94,000 primary school and 60,000 pre-primary school learners, through the Government of Lesotho’s national school feeding programme.

MBABANE-The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed the Japanese Government contribution of JPY 200 Million (US$ 1,9 million) that will enable WFP to reach some 30,000 Food insecure households throughout the country, for the next 6 months.

Transcript as delivered of remarks by UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley to today’s virtual session of the UN Security Council on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Segment on food security risks in DRC, Yemen, Northeast Nigeria and South Sudan).



NEW YORK – Five months ago, I warned the Council the world stood on the brink of a hunger pandemic. A toxic combination of conflict, climate change and COVID-19, threatened to push 270 million people to the brink of starvation. Famine was real. It’s a terrifying possibility in up to three dozen countries if we don’t continue to act like we’ve been acting.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up emergency food assistance to reach nearly 160,000 people across Sudan following floods that ravaged 17 of the country’s 18 states.

LONDON – To urge action on addressing the urgent risk of famine, the UK’s first Special Envoy for Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs Nick Dyer met the United Nations World Food Programme’s Executive Director David Beasley to jointly call for other countries to step up.

Sittwe, Myanmar – In support of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement (MoSWRR), the Rakhine State Government and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have signed an agreement for the provision of short-term food assistance at quarantine centers across Rakhine State. Under the agreement, which was signed in the first week of September, people undergoing mandatory quarantine at eight townships in Rakhine State will receive three nutritious meals a day, funded by WFP, throughout the quarantine period.

LILONGWE - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a new contribution of EUR 2.3 million from the Flanders Government in Belgium which will help WFP reach an additional 100,000 smallholder farmers increasing their crop production and food consumption and building resilience to climatic shocks.

MAPUTO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a donation from the Government of Norway towards emergency operations in the humanitarian crisis-stricken province of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique. Norway’s contribution of 10 million Norwegian Kroner (approx. US$1 million) will enable WFP to assist 32,000 Internally Displaced Populations through in-kind food assistance for a period of two months. Ongoing insurgent armed attacks in the northernmost districts of Cabo Delgado province have displaced over 300,000 people as of September 2020, who seeked refuge in Nampula, Niassa and Zambezia provinces.

SANA’A – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a EUR 45 million contribution from the European Union (EU) to provide vital food assistance to families in Yemen facing acute food shortages as conflict, economic collapse and now the coronavirus pushes millions of people to the brink.

NEW DELHI: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM) of Uttar Pradesh are setting up over 200 supplementary nutrition production units to support distribution under the government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme that, among other services, provides nutrition services to children under 6 years of age.

CAIRO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley said today that COVID-19 will push the number of food insecure people in the Arab world up by more than 14 million, taking the total to more than 50 million.

Lilongwe, MALAWI – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a new contribution of €800,000 from the European Union (EU). This funding will help provide food assistance to the most food insecure refugees and asylum seekers in Malawi, who have been particularly hit by the economic consequences of COVID-19.

MBABANE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a €1.4 million contribution from the European Union (EU) to support 94,000 vulnerable Swazi households for 12 Months.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA– The Pacific humanitarian air service launched a flight today, delivering 6.5 tonnes of essential medical cargo and moving humanitarian personnel to support the COVID-19 response in Fiji, Kiribati and Nauru.

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.

LUSAKA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a EUR 5 million contribution from the European Union (EU) that will help provide cash assistance to 655,000 food insecure people in urban areas of Zambia. These vulnerable communities have been strongly affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19 and would struggle to get by over the next few months without that crucial support.

CAIRO – In support of Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity (MOSS), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started providing financial assistance for more than 40,000 mothers registered under the Ministry’s ‘Takaful and Karama’ programme and their children under 2 years to prevent malnutrition and help families fulfil the nutritional needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.