The World Food Program (WFP) warned on Tuesday that a cash shortage forcing it to cut rations could push another 24 million people to the brink of famine.
The UN agency said it was struggling to meet growing global needs for food aid while facing a funding gap of more than 60% this year, the highest in its history.
“For the first time, WFP saw its contributions declining while needs steadily increased,” said a press release from an organization that was nevertheless awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.
This decline in donations, which is affecting many humanitarian aid organizations and United Nations NGOs, could have catastrophic consequences. WFP experts estimate that for every 1 percent cut in food aid, more than 400,000 people will face food shortages.
In the classification adopted by the UN, it is the last phase just before famine.
Given the drastic cuts in food aid distributed by the WFP, “an additional 24 million people could face food emergency in the next 12 months, an increase of 50% from current levels.”
The head of the organization, American Cindy McCain, emphasized the urgent need for additional funding.
“With record numbers of people around the world facing famine, we must increase – not reduce – this vital aid,” she stressed.
“If we don’t get the support we need to prevent further disasters, the world will undoubtedly see more conflict, more unrest and more hunger,” she said.
“Vital lifeline”
The WFP estimates that 345 million people worldwide are affected by acute food insecurity at level three or higher of the food insecurity classification of up to 5, known as IPC.
In total, 40 million of them are currently considered to be in food emergency, meaning they are forced to take desperate measures to survive and risk dying from malnutrition.
“WFP food aid is a vital lifeline and is often the only thing keeping them from starvation,” the organization explains.
But the agency said it was already forced to make massive cuts to nearly half of its aid operations around the world, including in hot-spot areas such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Haiti and Syria.
In Afghanistan, where half the population suffers from acute food insecurity, WFP cuts have resulted in 8 million people losing the food aid they previously received.
And in July, 45% of aid recipients in Syria and a quarter of those on the WFP list in Haiti also had to be excluded.
The same case in Somalia, where 4.7 million people stopped receiving food aid from the UN agency last year.
The food agency’s experts warn of a “vicious circle” of humanitarian aid in which the WFP would be forced to only help the hungry, to the detriment of the hungry.
For Cindy McCain – the widow of former US presidential candidate and influential Senator John McCain – “We must fund emergency operations to feed the hungry today, while investing in long-term solutions that address the root causes of hunger.”