UN food agency warns of ‘doom loop’ for world’s hungriest as governments cut aid and needs increase
UN food agency warns of ‘doom loop’ for world’s hungriest as governments cut aid and needs increase
FILE - An Afghan school girl, right, walks past sacks of milled wheat on the main road in the city of Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, June 29, 2008. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
FILE - Laborers unload a consignment of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo, File)
File - A view of the exterior of the headquarters of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in Rome, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - An Afghan school girl, right, walks past sacks of milled wheat on the main road in the city of Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, June 29, 2008. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
FILE - An Afghan school girl, right, walks past sacks of milled wheat on the main road in the city of Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, June 29, 2008. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
FILE - Laborers unload a consignment of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Laborers unload a consignment of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo, File)
File - A view of the exterior of the headquarters of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in Rome, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
File - A view of the exterior of the headquarters of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in Rome, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. The World Food Program warned Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation. The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
ROME (AP) — The World Food Program warned Tuesday that humanitarian funding cuts by governments are forcing the U.N. agency to drastically cut food rations to the world’s hungriest people, with each 1% cut in aid risking to push 400,000 people toward starvation.
The agency said the more than 60% funding shortfall this year was the highest in WFP’s 60-year history and marks the first time the Rome-based agency has seen contributions decline while needs rise.
As a result, the WFP has been forced to cut rations in almost half its operations, including in hard-hit places like Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Haiti. In a statement, WFP warned that 24 million more people could slip into emergency hunger over the next year as a result.
WFP’s executive director, Cindy McCain, said with starvation at record levels, governments should be increasing assistance, not decreasing it.
“If we don’t receive the support we need to avert further catastrophe, the world will undoubtedly see more conflict, more unrest, and more hunger,” she said. “Either we fan the flames of global instability, or we work quickly to put out the fire.”
The WFP warned that if the trend continues, a “doom loop” will be triggered “where WFP is being forced to save only the starving, at the cost of the hungry,” the statement said.