The United Nations' food aid agency said Wednesday that severe funding cuts from its top donors are hurting its operations in six countries and warned that nearly 14 million people could be forced into emergency levels of hunger.
The World Food Program, traditionally the UN's most-funded agency, said in a new report that its funding this year “has never been more challenged”, largely due to slashed outlays from the US under the Trump administration and other leading Western donors.
It warned that 13.7 million of its food aid recipients could be forced into emergency levels of hunger as funding is cut. The countries facing “major disruptions” are Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, it said.
“We are watching the lifeline for millions of people disintegrate before our eyes,” Executive Director Cindy McCain said.
“This is not just a funding gap, it’s a reality gap between what we need to do and what we can afford to do,” McCain said. “We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight against hunger."
The Rome-based agency says global hunger is already at record levels, with 319 million people facing acute food insecurity, including 44 million at emergency levels. Famine has broken out in Gaza and Sudan.
In Afghanistan, food assistance is reaching less than 10 per cent of people who are food insecure, meaning that they don't know where their next meal will come from, the agency said.
WFP says it's expecting about $1.5 billion from the United States this year, down from nearly $4.5 billion last year, while other top donors have also cut funding.
Many United Nations organisations, including the migration, health and refugee agencies, have announced sharp aid and staffing cuts this year because of reduced support from traditional big donors. The humanitarian aid community has also been affected by sharp cuts to the US Agency for International Development, or USAID.
