WFP reduces food assistance in several operations including Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that funding cuts have forced it to significantly reduce food assistance in several operations, including Syria, warning that an additional 24 million people are at risk of falling into the brink of famine.
The United Nations agency said it is struggling to meet the growing global needs for food assistance while facing a funding shortfall of over 60 percent this year – the highest rate in its history.
In a statement, it said, “For the first time ever, the World Food Programme has witnessed a decrease in contributions while needs have continued to rise.”
This could have serious consequences, as experts estimate that for every one percent reduction in food assistance, over 400,000 people are at risk of falling into levels of acute hunger.
Due to the significant cuts it has been forced to make, the WFP warned in its statement that “an additional 24 million people may slip into acute hunger over the next 12 months, an increase of 50 percent from the current level.”
The WFP estimates that 345 million people worldwide face severe food insecurity, with 40 million of them currently at emergency levels of hunger, or Level Four on the international scale, meaning they are forced to take desperate measures to survive and are at risk of death due to malnutrition.
The agency said that due to funding shortages, it has had to make massive cuts in nearly half of its operations, including in hotspots like Syria, Bangladesh, Haiti, and Afghanistan.
In June, the WFP announced that it would cut food and cash-for-food assistance for nearly half of the 5.5 million people it supports in Syria due to the fast-depleting funds.
Since 2015, food insecurity levels in Syria have increased by over 50 percent from 8 to 12.1 million people in 2022 – out of a population of over 20 million, according the WFP. Syria’s conflict-rooted food insecurity has in recent years been exacerbated by global events such as the economic collapse of Lebanon, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and February’s earthquakes.
As the Syrian pound falls to record lows, the first quarter of this year saw the price of a standard food basket of essentials rise by 10 percent. This is almost four times the average wage of a schoolteacher.