Displacement Archives - World Food Program USA

NAIROBI – Millions of people in the Horn of Africa are trapped in a hunger emergency as the region lurches from crisis to crisis: The longest drought in recorded history has given way to rains and flash flooding, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today. Food and energy prices remain stubbornly high, and the impact of the conflict in Sudan continues to reverberate around the region.

“Conflict, climate extremes and economic shocks: The Horn of Africa region is facing multiple crises simultaneously. After five consecutive failed rainy seasons, flooding has replaced drought, killing livestock, damaging farmland and further shattering livelihoods,” said Michael Dunford, U.N. World Food Programme regional director for Eastern Africa. “And now the outbreak of conflict in Sudan is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.”

When the region’s long-awaited rains arrived in March, they should have brought some relief. But instead, flash flooding inundated homes and farmland, washed away livestock and closed schools and health facilities. More people were forced from their homes including 219,000 people in southern Somalia.

The last three years of drought have left more than 23 million people across parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing severe hunger. Mortality and malnutrition rates remain unacceptably high. Consecutive failed harvests and high transportation costs have pushed food prices far beyond the reach of millions in the region. A food basket in Eastern Africa in March 2023 cost 40% more than a year ago. In Ethiopia, fuel prices have almost doubled in a year.

It will take years for the region to recover, and humanitarian assistance is a lifeline. Yet limited humanitarian resources are being stretched further still by the conflict in Sudan, which has sent over 250,000 people fleeing into neighboring countries such as Ethiopia and South Sudan where hunger is already high.

Last year, the U.N. World Food Programme and partners launched a rapid scale up of lifesaving assistance in drought-hit Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. This scale-up helped to keep famine at bay in Somalia. But now, the U.N. World Food Programme is facing a funding crunch and is forced to scale back assistance.

“The U.N. World Food Programme’s rapid expansion of lifesaving assistance helped prevent famine in Somalia in 2022. But, despite the emergency being far from over, funding shortfalls are already forcing us to reduce assistance to those who still desperately need it. Without sustainable funding for both emergency and climate adaptation solutions, the next climate crisis could bring the region back to the brink of famine,” said Dunford.

By the end of 2022, the U.N. World Food Programme was distributing food assistance to a record 4.7 million people in Somalia. But in April, funding shortfalls forced the U.N. World Food Programme to reduce this to 3 million people. Without additional funds, the U.N. World Food Programme will have to further reduce the emergency food assistance caseload in Somalia to just 1.8 million by July. This means that almost 3 million people will not receive support, despite their continuing needs.

The U.N. World Food Programme urgently requires $810 million over the next six months to keep lifesaving assistance going and to invest in long-term resilience programs in the Horn of Africa.

Notes for the Editor: High res. photos are available here.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

ROME/PORT SUDAN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that an additional 2 – 2.5 million people in Sudan are expected to slip into hunger in the coming months as a result of the ongoing violence in the country. This would take acute hunger in Sudan to record levels, with more than 19 million people affected.

The biggest spikes in hunger are expected in West Darfur, West Kordofan, Blue Nile, Red Sea and North Darfur states. Meanwhile, the cost of food is soaring all across the country. The price of basic food items is expected to increase by 25% in the next three to six months. If farmers are prevented from accessing their fields and planting key staples between May and July, it will drive food prices even higher.

Insecurity and violence forced the U.N. World Food Programme to temporarily pause its operations in Sudan but it has since restarted them. Since last week, the U.N. World Food Programme has reached over 35,000 people with lifesaving food. Operations are focused on assisting a total of 384,000 people including families who have recently fled the conflict, pre-existing refugees and internally displaced people and the vulnerable communities hosting them across Gedaref, Gezira, Kassala and White Nile states.

Additionally, the U.N. World Food Programme-managed United Nations Humanitarian Air Services (UNHAS) is starting regular air connections between Port Sudan and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to facilitate the safe transportation of frontline humanitarian workers and critical aid.

In the coming months, the U.N. World Food Programme will scale up its emergency assistance to support 4.9 million vulnerable people in areas where the security situation allows in addition to preventing and treating moderate acute malnutrition for 600,000 children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women. Prior to the outbreak of conflict, the U.N. World Food Programme had a funding gap of more than $300 million for its lifesaving operations, and the needs are expected to rise significantly with the crisis.

Supporting immediate needs in neighboring countries

The conflict has triggered displacement within and outside Sudan, with people fleeing to neighboring countries needing basics like shelter, food and water. In Chad, the U.N. World Food Programme rapidly provided emergency food assistance to new arrivals and has so far reached over 16,000 people. But the response is at risk because of a low level of funding for operations in Chad.

Over 40,000 people have already crossed into South Sudan, where the U.N. World Food Programme is providing hot meals each day at transit centers as well as nutrition screening for children and pregnant or breastfeeding women. Extra pressure on resources could force the U.N. World Food Programme to take food and funding from others to support new arrivals.

In Egypt, which is seeing the largest influx of refugees, the U.N. World Food Programme is working with the country’s government and the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) to provide food assistance to those fleeing the crisis in Sudan. More than 20 metric tons of fortified food items have been delivered to the two entry points and are currently being distributed by the ERC. The U.N. World Food Programme is coordinating with the government of Egypt, ERC and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to start immediate emergency food distribution of ready-to-eat food rations (that do not require cooking facilities and can be used immediately) to displaced families arriving from Sudan.

In the Central African Republic, nearly 9,700 people have crossed the border from Sudan and reached Amdafock in Vakaga prefecture. The U.N. World Food Programme is responding and plans to assist nearly 25,000 new arrivals expected over the coming days. The Vakaga prefecture is seeing emergency levels of hunger.

The U.N. World Food Programme remains committed to the people of Sudan and calls on all parties to take immediate steps to stop the fighting and facilitate humanitarian access so we can scale up our operations in a country with some of the highest rates of hunger in the world.

Note for the editor: High res. photos available here

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and the world’s leading humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Comprehensive review finds that food-related instability linked to the climate crisis, resource conflict and economic shocks is contributing to
a vicious cycle of hunger and conflict

WASHINGTON, DC (April 6, 2023) – World Food Program USA today released a new report – Dangerously Hungry: The Link Between Food Insecurity and Conflict – which examines the ways hunger acts as a driver of conflict around the world. While it has long been known that conflict produces food insecurity, Dangerously Hungry explores that relationship in the inverse. Such a finding illustrates how ending hunger is not only a moral imperative but also a key to national security interests.

“That war inevitably produces poverty and hunger has been proven true in every major conflict across human history. But it is also true that hunger can lead to instability. There is a vicious feedback loop between conflict and hunger currently at play in dozens of countries around the world,” said Dr. Chase Sova, senior director of public policy and research and lead author of the report.

A follow-up to World Food Program USA’s 2017 report, Winning the Peace, today’s report is a comprehensive review of 60 new peer-reviewed academic studies that explicitly test food insecurity’s impact on conflict. The report identifies and groups 12 drivers of food-related instability (e.g., crop yields or high food prices) into three main categories: the climate crisis, resource conflict and economic shocks. These drivers are linked to eight distinct types of instability ranging from protests and riots to civil war.

The report highlights several emerging themes. Conflict between pastoralist and agricultural communities over land and water resources continues to lead to violence and instability in the African Sahel. The current global food price crisis, meanwhile, bears remarkable resemblance to 2007/8, when rapidly rising food prices caused unrest in nearly 40 nations. Food price riots and protests are most common in urban areas while more extreme forms of food-related instability, like terrorism and civil war, often begin in rural areas farther from the reach of government authorities.

“As global hunger reaches record highs, instability is predictably increasing in tandem. If leaders and policymakers don’t do everything in their power to end the current hunger crisis, we will feel the repercussions around the world. This report should be an eye-opener to us all,” said Barron Segar, president and CEO of World Food Program USA.

The authors are clear to note that people experiencing hunger are not always violent. Food insecurity rarely produces conflict on its own. Instead, people must also be motivated to choose conflict over peace, a choice often resulting from desperation, past grievance or poor governance. Perceived threats to food availability can also trigger instability even before hunger strikes.

Academic literature on food-related instability has grown significantly in recent years. Almost half of all research on food-related instability over the past 20 years has been produced in the last five years alone. Within that research, the climate crisis has emerged as a major contributor, with half of all peer-reviewed studies in Dangerously Hungry examining food-related instability through the lens of climate.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the lingering economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and a rise in climate-related extreme events around the world, 2022 was a year of record-high global hunger. Predictably, global instability has risen as well. At least 12,500 protests occurred last year in countries facing rapid food and fuel price increases, with headline grabbing demonstrations occurring in at least 20 countries.

“We are now less than a decade away from the Sustainable Development Goal of ending global hunger by 2030, so the message is urgent and loud: We know Zero Hunger will not be achieved without first putting an end to conflict. What Dangerously Hungry also demonstrates is that ending conflict will not be possible if food insecurity itself is allowed to metastasize into unrest and violence,” concludes Sova.

Download the full report at www.wfpusa.org/dangerouslyhungry.

About World Food Program USA
World Food Program USA, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, DC, is a catalyst for fundraising, advocacy and engagement across the United States in support of the U.N. World Food Programme’s mission to end global hunger. To learn more about World Food Program USA’s mission, please visit wfpusa.org/mission-history.

About the United Nations World Food Programme
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and the world’s leading humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Media Contact:
Abigail Seiler
Senior Manager, Public Relations
World Food Program USA
aseiler@wfpusa.org
443-843-4368 (cell)

BLANTYRE – Prices of staple foods are soaring in Malawi, ten days after Tropical Cyclone Freddy made its second passage over the southern African country, worsening levels of hunger as families struggle to meet their food needs.

The price of corn, the country’s staple food, has soared to record levels and is now 300% higher on average than the same time last year in the cyclone-affected region. Several markets are either inaccessible or don’t have sufficient food. In the southern Nsanje district – a district cut-off by floods – corn prices are up 400% year-on-year.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is on the ground supporting the country’s government efforts to help flood-hit families get back on their feet. Here is an update on the situation and the U.N. World Food Programme’s activities in support of the government-led response:

Some 3.8 million people in Malawi were facing severe levels of hunger at the peak of the hunger season, between January and March, this year. Tropical Cyclone Freddy has worsened the situation and more people will now need assistance in 2023.
The national government estimates that over 500 people have died, while some 350 are reported missing. More than 500,000 people are displaced and living in some 534 makeshift camps.
Some 800,000 acres of land have been flooded, including nearly 300,000 acres of farmland, according to estimates from the U.N. World Food Programme’s Advanced Disaster Analysis & Mapping Flood Impact Analysis.
As of March 20, 33,000 people have received food assistance.
The U.N. World Food Programme has provided 40 metric tons of Corn Soya Blend (a partially pre-cooked fortified food eaten as a porridge) to displaced people in the Phalombe, Chikwawa and Mulanje districts.
About 1,500 people have been rescued in the Nsanje district by the government, with the help of boats provided by the U.N. World Food Programme in support of rescue efforts by the Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) and IRIS Africa.
The U.N. World Food Programme requires at least $27 million for three months to support 500,000 people, including displaced people and schoolchildren, with food assistance to complement the government’s in-kind response and provide government and partners with logistics support

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DAMASCUS – An average monthly wage in Syria currently covers about a quarter of a family’s food needs, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today, highlighting an urgent need for increased humanitarian assistance as the country grapples with the devastating impact of recent earthquakes and a 12-year-long conflict.

Some 12.1 million people, more than 50% of the population, are currently hungry and a further 2.9 million are at risk of sliding into hunger. Meanwhile, recent data show that malnutrition is on the rise, with stunting and maternal malnutrition rates reaching levels never seen before.

“Bombardment, displacement, isolation, drought, economic meltdown and now earthquakes of staggering proportions. Syrians are remarkably resilient but there’s only so much that people can take,” says Kenn Crossley, U.N. World Food Programme country director in Syria. “At what point does the world say enough?”

The February 6 earthquakes came as food prices in Syria were already soaring. The selection of standard food items that the U.N. World Food Programme uses to track food inflation has almost doubled in price in 12 months and is 13 times more expensive than three years ago. The upwards trajectory is expected to continue.

The recent earthquakes have highlighted the urgent need for increased humanitarian assistance in Syria, not only for people hit by the earthquakes, but also for those who were already grappling with sky-rocketing food prices, a fuel crisis and consecutive climate shocks. Food and fuel prices are at their highest in a decade after years of inflation and currency devaluation.

Stunting rates among children have reached 28% in some parts of the country and maternal malnutrition prevalence 25% in northeast Syria.

A country that used to be self-sufficient in food production now ranks among the six countries with the highest food insecurity in the world, with heavy dependency on food imports. Damaged infrastructure, high cost of fuel and drought-like conditions have slashed Syria’s wheat production by 75%.

The U.N. World Food Programme provides food assistance for 5.5 million people across the country through a mixture of food distributions, nutrition programs, school meals, cash assistance and support for livelihoods, resilience, and social safety nets. Since the earthquake hit north Syria, the U.N. World Food Programme has reached 1.7 million quake-affected people, including people who already benefit from monthly food assistance.

A funding crunch for the U.N. World Food Programme in Syria threatens to curtail the assistance, exactly when people need it most. The U.N. World Food Programme urgently requires a minimum of $450 million to keep up assistance for over 5.5 million people across Syria for the rest of 2023. This includes $150 million to support 800,000 people affected by the earthquake for six months.

Without sufficient resources, the U.N. World Food Programme will have to drastically reduce the number of beneficiaries it serves from July onwards, leaving millions of people in deep need without food assistance.

“The world has now forgotten us. That’s what we hear from many Syrians, and it’s a stark reminder that we need to do more,” said the U.N. World Food Programme’s Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe Corinne Fleischer. “We need the funds to continue to provide food for millions of families – until Syrians can feed themselves again.”

As well as providing immediate food assistance, the U.N. World Food Programme is working on finding long-term solutions to help communities in Syria become less reliant on direct food assistance. Across Syria, the U.N. World Food Programme supports the rehabilitation of irrigation systems, mills, bakeries and markets. Such projects carry greater return on investment compared to traditional food distributions. For example, each $1 invested in rehabilitation of bakeries or irrigation canals can reduce the annual cost of general food assistance by over $3.

Note to the editor:

Broadcast quality footage available here
High-res photos available here

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

CAIRO/ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has stepped up its emergency response to support earthquake survivors in Syria and Türkiye, providing emergency food assistance to nearly half a million quake-affected people in the two countries through hot meals, ready-to-eat food packages and family food rations.

U.N. World Food Programme teams in the two countries are delivering immediate relief in the affected areas and at the same time assessing needs and supporting logistics efforts. Because the U.N. World Food Programme has ongoing operations in both countries, it has partners, staff and a robust supply chain in place. This means the U.N. World Food Programme could respond to food needs within the first hours of the disaster.

“Families tell me they left everything behind when the earthquake hit, running for their lives. The U.N. World Food Programme’s food is a lifeline for them. While they think about their next steps in the destruction left by the earthquake, their children can eat,” said Corinne Fleischer, U.N. World Food Programme regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. “We have scaled up rapidly and requests for more food are coming every day from cities and communities. We are there for them, but the U.N. World Food Programme can’t do it alone. We urgently appeal for funding to help us reach those in need.”

In Syria, in addition to providing immediate food assistance in quake-affected cities, the U.N. World Food Programme has resumed its regular general food assistance for 5.5 million people every month following a brief pause after the earthquakes. This includes regular monthly assistance, either in-kind or cash-based, to 1.4 million people in non-government-controlled areas of the northwest.

Between February 13 – 16, 52 U.N. World Food Programme-contracted trucks crossed into northwest Syria through Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam.

With humanitarian access expanded through the opening of two additional border crossing points from Türkiye to northwest Syria, the U.N. World Food Programme plans to use all three Turkish-Syrian border crossings, Bab al-Hawa, Bab al-Salam and Al Ra’ee, to ensure a constant reach of aid to non-government-controlled areas of northwest Syria.

Prior to the earthquake, food insecurity and poverty in Syria were already at alarming rates with a population suffering the effects of 12 years of conflict and successive shocks. Over 12 million people across the country were categorized as food insecure, including 2.5 million people severely food insecure. In addition, 2.9 million were at risk of slipping into food insecurity.

The Syrian economy is too fragile to withstand external shocks and the earthquake-affected cities of Syria have been severely impacted by the conflict. In northwest Syria, 90% of the population, 4.1 million people, were already relying on humanitarian assistance prior to the earthquake.

“We rely on the international donor community to stand up for Syrians, otherwise, the February 6 earthquakes will turn an already dire situation into an unbearable scenario for millions of people,” says U.N. World Food Programme Representative and Country Director in Syria Kenn Crossley. “No population can face this alone after years of conflict, a pandemic and catastrophic economic decline.”

The U.N. World Food Programme is appealing for $80 million to provide assistance through hot meals, ready-to-eat meals, vouchers and cash.

The U.N. World Food Programme is also appealing for funding for both the earthquake affected population and the millions of people in Syria that receive the agency’s lifesaving food assistance every month. The U.N. World Food Programme urgently requires a minimum of $386 million to maintain its regular emergency assistance program across all of Syria.

Without sufficient resources, the U.N. World Food Programme will be forced to dramatically reduce up to 70% of the people it assists in Syria from July onwards.

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ANKARA/DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered urgently needed food assistance to 115,000 people in Syria and Türkiye in the first four days since deadly earthquakes struck the region, killing thousands and forcing tens of thousands into the freezing outside temperatures. Distributions are ongoing.

“We’re providing mainly hot meals, ready-to-eat food rations and family food packages — things that require no cooking facilities and can be consumed immediately,” said U.N. World Food Programme Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Corinne Fleischer. “For the thousands of people affected by the earthquakes, food is one of the top needs right now and our priority is to get it to the people who need it fast.”

The U.N. World Food Programme is appealing for $77 million to provide assistance for a total of 874,000 quake-affected people in Türkiye and Syria. This includes 284,000 newly displaced people in Syria and 590,000 people in Türkiye, which includes 45,000 refugees and 545,000 internally displaced people.

Operational Updates for Syria and Türkiye

Syria

The U.N. World Food Programme has reached a total of 43,000 people in Syria with hot meals and ready-to-eat meals. Thanks to prepositioned food inside the country, the U.N. World Food Programme has enough ready-to-eat meals for 100,000 people and enough stock of family rations to cover the needs of 1.4 million people for one month – the latter require cooking facilities and are ready for distribution.
In northwest Syria, through U.N. World Food Programme partners, around 23,850 affected people received ready-to-eat meals that last for one week. In Aleppo, 5,000 affected people received ready-to-eat meals through partners, 6,000 people received hot meals for the fourth day running and 4,000 children received sandwiches at temporary shelters over the past 48 hours.
In Tartous and Lattakia governorates, 1,500 affected people received ready-to-eat meals and 1,650 people at temporary shelters received sandwiches.
In Hama, U.N. World Food Programme partners distributed RTEs to support 1,020 displaced people for one week.

Türkiye

In Türkiye, the U.N. World Food Programme is providing a total of 73,000 refugees and people displaced by the earthquakes with family food baskets that cover their food needs for one week.
On February 9, the U.N. World Food Programme delivered food baskets to Osmaniye Cevdetiye camp for 18,000 quake-affected displaced Turks and Syrian refugees. The U.N. World Food Programme has delivered additional family food rations enough for 54,000 people in camps in Adana, Hatay, Kilis and Kahramanmaraş.
U.N. World Food Programme teams are delivering food to support cities in southeast Türkiye in expanding soup kitchens that are providing daily cooked meals for quake-affected people. The food will be used to prepare cooked meals through community kitchens to be distributed daily for 2 weeks to around 200,000 quake-affected people in four provinces: Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis and Kahramanmaraş.
The U.N. World Food Programme will increase its assistance to Syrian refugees as well as provide food rations for Turkish citizens displaced by the quakes and sheltering in temporary accommodation camps.
Refugees are normally assisted through electronic vouchers, but the assistance will be switched to food packages as supermarkets are now unable to accept vouchers. The U.N. World Food Programme will continue to review its response plan, as needs arise.

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About the United Nations World Food Programme
The U.N. World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

Our hearts go out to those in Türkiye and Syria who were impacted by the devastating earthquakes that struck on Monday where, as of this morning, more than 2,300 people have been killed and thousands injured. We are deeply saddened by the devastation and loss. We are closely monitoring the unfolding situation and stand ready to support the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)’s emergency response.

The U.N. World Food Programme has operated in Türkiye and Syria for years and will continue to provide unconditional food assistance to vulnerable groups during the disaster recovery.

In Syria, the U.N. World Food Programme has been active since 1964, scaling operations in 2011 in response to the civil war. The U.N. World Food Programme distributes lifesaving food to 5.6 million people in Syria every month. This assistance includes 1.3 million people in the northwest via the cross-border operation from Türkiye.

The U.N. World Food Programme re-established a presence in Türkiye in 2012, in response to the Syrian crisis. With the government of Türkiye and humanitarian partners, the U.N. World Food Programme helps refugees meet their basic needs. Türkiye hosts the largest refugee population in the world with 3.6 million Syrian refugees.

We stand committed to the people of Türkiye and Syria and will do everything we can to reach vulnerable families in their time of great need. But we can’t do it without the support of donors. Please join us as we work to feed millions of vulnerable people.

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About World Food Program USA
World Food Program USA, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, DC, proudly supports the mission of the United Nations World Food Programme by mobilizing American policymakers, businesses and individuals to advance the global movement to end hunger. To learn more about World Food Program USA’s mission, please visit wfpusa.org/mission-history.

Media Contact:
Toula Athas
Director, Communications
tathas@wfpusa.org
202-627-3940