WFP urges African summit to act on hunger crises

World Food Programme

Jan 23, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — As Africa’s leaders gather today for their AU summit, the United
Nations World Food Programme is calling on the continent’s leaders and
international donors to boost their support for its efforts to tackle
hunger and poverty in Africa before millions more lives are lost. Nearly
US$2 billion in food aid will be required in 2006 to stave off widespread
hunger and starvation.

“We’re afraid that Africa’s food crises are becoming accepted as ‘normal’.
As this year gets underway, drought is threatening disaster in two vast
regions — the Horn and Southern Africa ? posing huge challenges to our
donors, who are still reeling from the competing emergencies of 2005, both
in Africa and elsewhere,” said James Morris, WFP Executive Director.

“Again and again food crises stare Africa in the face and we are ringing
the alarm bell right now in the Horn of Africa,” said Morris, who is making
his fifth visit to southern Africa at the end of this month, in his
capacity as UN Special Envoy.

“We had an incredibly challenging time raising resources for Africa in
2005. Even with record WFP food aid from our donors, we have lost so many
children on the continent. African leaders and all our donors need a food
first policy in 2006,” Morris said.

Hunger is at its most destructive in Africa where one person in three is
malnourished. And the situation is getting worse: the number of
undernourished Africans rose by 33.1 million between 1992 and 2002.
According to UNICEF, 38 percent of children under the age of five are
stunted, and 28 percent are underweight. WFP is feeding twice as many
Africans in crisis than a decade ago.

“These statistics do not augur well for Africa’s future ? and they cannot
be ignored, especially since the world has produced enough food for
everyone on the planet for decades,” said Morris. “A combination of
poverty, conflict, HIV/AIDS, drought and a weakened capacity for government
has caused record levels of hunger stretching across the continent, from
north to south and from west to east.”

In 2006, WFP aims to provide food assistance to some 43 million people
across Africa, with a price tag of over US$1.8 billion:
– refugees, returnees and internally displaced people
– children in schools and pre-schools
– malnourished women and children requiring therapeutic feeding
– children, pregnant and nursing mothers at risk of malnutrition
– communities in need of infrastructure and training
– families affected by HIV/AIDS

Of the 43 million Africans requiring food assistance, some 35 million are
in need of emergency food aid. The highest numbers of needy to be targeted
by WFP are some 18 million in 11 countries of East Africa, where an
emerging food crisis caused by drought is threatening the lives of an
estimated 5.4 million people across Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
In Southern Africa, where HIV/AIDS has hit hardest, WFP seeks to assist 9.2
million people in seven countries. And in West Africa, where war and
poverty are the main scourges, WFP anticipates that at least 8.5 million
people require urgent food aid in 14 countries across the Sahel region.

“While our donors have been exceptionally generous last year, providing us
with some US$2 billion US dollars to run operations in 40 African countries
? we were approximately US$550 million short of our requirements for last
year,” said Morris.

“Each region in Africa has its own problems and suffering ? the need for
humanitarian assistance is almost overwhelming. We need aid pledges now..
As we’ve learned repeatedly in the past, delivering late costs far more
than delivering now?and it costs lives.” Morris concluded.

– WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to
an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs,
including 61 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world’s poorest
countries. WFP — We Feed People.

WFP Global School Feeding Campaign ? For just 19 US cents a day, you can
help WFP give children in poor countries a healthy meal at school ? a gift
of hope for a brighter future.

Visit our website: www.wfp.org