The World Food Programme (WFP) reached an agreement with Venezuela to begin operations to serve nutritious meals to the most vulnerable children, particularly in pre-primary and special education schools, reaching up to 185,000 children by year-end. WFP aims to provide daily meals to 1.5 million students by the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
Refugees
United Nations humanitarian staff in Nigeria continue to receive alarming reports of clashes between insurgent groups and the armed forces in the town of Damasak in Borno State. Recently, they say, non-State armed groups have been searching house to house, reportedly looking for civilians identified as aid workers.
The United Nations Children’s Fund warned today that Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province is facing a large and likely long-lasting humanitarian situation. The agency said it is concerned about the rising rate of malnutrition, and about cholera, which is not yet under control and is spreading to other provinces.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said today that, due to significant funding gaps, it is cutting food rations for refugees and internally displaced people in South Sudan. The cuts will affect nearly 700,000 of them and they will now receive 50 per cent of a full ration, down from 70 per cent.
At least 11,000 people have fled their homes following an attack by insurgents on the town of Palma, Mozambique, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Officials are working around the clock to provide assistance, including blankets and sleeping mats, but warn that hunger is rising.
In Zimbabwe, 2.4 million people are struggling to meet their basic food needs due to the impact of COVID-19, the World Food Programme reports. It is delivering monthly cash transfers to 326,000 people across 32 urban areas, and aims to reach 550,000 people in the 28 worst-affected, food-insecure urban areas in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in Myanmar strongly condemns attacks on health-care providers and sites since the military takeover on 1 February. WHO says 32 attacks on health-care facilities and staff resulted in two deaths and six injuries between 1 February and 24 March.
The World Food Programme said today it has begun providing emergency food aid to vulnerable people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and urgently needs $170 million to meet critical food and nutrition needs over the next six months. The agency noted that the outbreak of conflict there coincided with the peak harvest period.
Acute hunger could soar in more than 20 countries over the coming months without urgent, scaled-up assistance, a report issued today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme warns. Yemen, South Sudan and northern Nigeria top the list, according to the “Hunger Hotspots” report.
At least 14 civilians were killed in an attack by suspected combatants of the ADF on Sunday night in Bulongo village, east of Beni, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported. The Mission’s Force Intervention Brigade deployed to the area yesterday.