 Children queue to receive food aid in a refugee camp in Aleppo, Syria. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
In its report, the United Nations agency said that a more than 60% funding shortfall this year is the highest in the WFP’s 60-year history
This is the first time the agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise.
The WFP estimates that for every 1% cut in food assistance, more than 400,000 people risk falling into emergency levels of hunger. According to UN criteria, this is the final rating before falling into famine.
Given the dramatic cuts it is being forced to make, the WFP warned that an additional 24 million people could slip into emergency hunger over the next 12 months – a 50% increase from the current level.
WFP chief Cindy McCain said that due to the shortage of funding, the WFP has already been forced to make massive reductions in nearly half of its operations, including in hotspots like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, and Syria.
In Afghanistan, where half the population is acutely food insecure, the WFP was forced in May to cut its caseload by 66%, meaning some eight million people in need are no longer receiving food aid. In July, 45% of aid recipients in Syria and a quarter of those on the WFP's rolls in Haiti were cut from assistance.
The WFP said it was forced to cut nearly half of its caseload in Somalia, affecting 4.7 million people, at the peak of last year's famine response.
WFP statistics show that 345 million people worldwide are facing acute food insecurity, at level three or higher on the UN's five-level food insecurity scale, known as the IPC. A full 40 million of those are currently considered to be at an emergency level of hunger, IPC level 4, meaning they are forced to take desperate measures to survive and are at risk of dying from malnutrition.
McCain insisted there is only one way out of this for the WFP – to save only the starving and abandon those who are about to fall into this situation. She called for funds for emergency operations to feed the hungry today while simultaneously investing in long-term solutions that address the root causes of hunger.