With a billion people on the planet going hungry every day, the worlds response to the urgent hunger needs of the most vulnerable is flagging (vaklende), with the result that critical food assistance is already being cut.
WASHINGTON, DC 30 July 2009: The World Food Programme (WFP), which aims to feed 108 million hungry people in 74 countries this year, is facing “dangerous and unprecedented” funding shortfalls, the UN agencys Executive Director Josette Sheeran said here on Wednesday.
– Our budget for this year of assessed and approved needs is 6,7 billion US dollar and we expect from our projections and working with government to come in at 3,7 billion, Sheeran noted.
– We are actively cutting 3 billion dollar (ca. 16 milliarder DKR) of our program – which means a reduction in rations and programs throughout the world, including those to the worlds most vulnerable people, she added.
Fewer meals for children
In Bangladesh, home to some of the worlds hungriest people, a WFP programme set up to give meals to 300.000 children in school will now reach only 70.000.
All together, WFP was aiming to feed 5 million hungry people in the South Asian nation this year. Due to lack of funds, the UN organization is now aiming to reach only 1,4 million.
In Guatemala in Central America, funding shortfalls could mean that in August, around 100.000 children under the age of 5, and 50.000 pregnant and lactating (ammende) women are going to lose their supply of Vitacereal – a highly nutritious blend of maize, soy and micronutrients.
Sheeran said the world is “rightly” looking for sustainable solutions to the world hunger problem and she commended the G8 countries recent 20 billion dollar pledge to boost global food security.
She said the pledge, which focused in particular on agricultural development, showed the industrialized world “takes the food security issue seriously”.
– At the same time, we must also keep pace with growing emergency needs. The problem is not all about agricultural yields; the challenge is people cannot get access to food – whether because of poor infrastructure or because they can not afford it, Sheeran stressed..
Crisis compounded
WFP analysis confirms that the food crisis is not over in the developing world. In fact, the situation is more alarming in many countries than it was a year ago as the impact of high food prices is compounded by the recent financial crisis.
New data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) suggests food prices are higher today than a year ago – at the height of the global food crisis – in more than 80 percent of developing countries.
Sheeran, who praised the Obama Administration for prioritizing the issue of food security, was in Washington to urge policymakers to keep focused on urgent hunger needs as they seek to craft long-term solutions to hunger.
Looking forward to Septembers G20 meeting in Pittsburg, which will be chaired by President Obama, she said WFP was calling upon the group “to take action not only on the financial crisis, but also on hunger.”
Kilde: WFPs website
