Latest World Food Programme News

As flooding becomes a yearly disaster in South Sudan, thousands survive on the edge of a canal

Dec. 22, 2024 02:06 AM EST

AYOD, South Sudan (AP) — Long-horned cattle wade through flooded lands and climb a slope along a canal that has become a refuge for displaced families in South Sudan. Smoke from burning dung rises near homes of mud and grass where thousands of people now live after floods swept away their...

UN food agency says 40 million people are struggling to feed themselves in West and Central Africa

Dec. 20, 2024 07:18 AM EST

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — More than 40 million people are now struggling to feed themselves across West and Central Africa with that number set to rise to 52 million by the middle of next year, the United Nations food agency said Friday. According to a new report released Friday, the...

Syria faces crisis and Gaza heads toward famine, World Food Program official says

Dec. 12, 2024 18:04 PM EST

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The deputy executive director of the U.N. World Food Program has been on whirlwind visits to hotspots in the Middle East and Sudan to assess dire humanitarian situations and escalating demands for food from millions of people trapped or fleeing conflicts. But...

They fled war in Sudan. But they haven't been able to flee the hunger

Dec. 03, 2024 10:55 AM EST

ADRE, Chad (AP) — For months, Aziza Abrahim fled from one village in Sudan to the next as people were slaughtered. Yet the killing of relatives and her husband's disappearance aren't what forced the 23-year-old to leave the country for good. It was hunger, she said. “We don’t...

Famine is likely imminent in northern Gaza, hunger experts say

Nov. 08, 2024 18:08 PM EST

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — There is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in parts of northern Gaza, where Israeli forces are conducting a major offensive, hunger experts warned Friday. An alert issued by the four experts called the humanitarian situation throughout the war-torn...

UN report warns of famine, aggravated by conflicts and climate shocks

Oct. 31, 2024 16:53 PM EDT

ROME (AP) — Severe food crises threaten hundreds of thousands of people in vulnerable areas, including the Palestinian territories, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali, said a report released Thursday by the United Nations' food agencies. Conflicts, economic instability, and...

Southern Africa is enduring its worst hunger crisis in decades due to El Niño, the UN says

Oct. 15, 2024 23:52 PM EDT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Months of drought in southern Africa triggered by the El Niño weather phenomenon have had a devastating impact on more than 27 million people and caused the region's worst hunger crisis in decades, the United Nations' food agency said Tuesday. The...

They fled their homes to escape Boko Haram. Now Nigeria is resettling them back despite their fears

Oct. 13, 2024 00:14 AM EDT

DAMASAK, Nigeria (AP) — When Boko Haram launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2010, Abdulhameed Salisu packed his bag and fled from his hometown of Damasak in the country's battered Borno state. The 45-year-old father of seven came back with his family early last year....

UN official appeals for Lebanon's ports and airport to be spared as Israel presses its offensive

Oct. 12, 2024 13:49 PM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — A top United Nations official said during a visit to Beirut Saturday that he is concerned that Lebanon's ports and airport might be taken out of service, with serious implications for getting food supplies into the county, as Israel continues its offensive against the Lebanese...