UNITED NATIONS, CMC – The World Food Program (WFP) said on Wednesday that for the first time in nearly a decade, there are no contingency stocks for the hurricane season in Haiti, as it warned that almost 14 million people worldwide could face severe hunger by the end of the year.
The WFP said that the slashing of humanitarian funding is also threatening six of its most critical operations.
It said programs in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan are already facing major disruptions, which will only get worse.
“Every ration cut means a child goes to bed hungry, a mother skips a meal, or a family loses the support they need to survive,” said WFP executive director, Cindy McCain.
The WFP said the crisis is happening as global hunger reaches record highs, with 319 million people facing acute food insecurity, including 44 million at the emergency level. Famine has also taken hold in Sudan and the Gaza Strip.
WFP said it expects to receive 40 per cent less funding this year, resulting in a projected budget of US$6.4 billion, down from US$10 billion last year.
“We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight against hunger,” said McCain, with the WFP saying that even hard-won gains in the Sahel region, where 500,000 people have been lifted out of aid dependence with integrated food assistance and resilience programs, could soon be wiped out without continued support.”
The cuts could push 13.7 million people who receive WFP food assistance from crisis to emergency levels of hunger, a one-third increase, the WFP said in a new report.
“In Haiti, hot meal programs have already stopped, and families are receiving half of WFP’s standard monthly rations,” the agency said. At the same time, “support in Somalia has been downsized repeatedly”, from 2.2 million people last year to just 350,000 in November.
WFP said that its preparation efforts also have suffered. For the first time in nearly a decade, there are no contingency stocks for the hurricane season in Haiti, and no pre-positioning of food in Afghanistan as winter approaches.
Although the cuts have different impacts across its operations, the agency remains committed to delivering food assistance in the world’s hungriest places.
“The devastating harm inflicted by cuts to food assistance not only threatens lives, but also risks undermining stability, fuelling displacement, and stoking wider social and economic upheaval,” said McCain.
“Swift and effective food assistance is a vital bulwark against chaos in nations already struggling to cope.”
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