Rome — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes the announcement of supplemental emergency humanitarian assistance from the United States government which will be critical in preventing famine and saving millions of lives. "I thank the United States Administration and lawmakers from across the aisle in Congress for their strong bipartisan leadership. This supplemental aid package is critical to meet surging humanitarian needs in many parts of the world," said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. "It is essential these funds are now swiftly allocated and a significant portion is used to prevent famine in the most dire hunger crises, and reach vulnerable people caught up in conflict and on the frontlines of climate disasters."

The announcement comes as conflict, climate extremes and economic shocks across the globe fuel extreme hunger. Emergency food crises have intensified in 2024: almost seven out of ten food insecure people live in fragile or conflict-affected regions. Globally more than 40 million people across 45 countries are in emergency levels of acute hunger - meaning one step away from famine.

Severe hunger is also contributing to people fleeing within and across borders, not only risking the lives of those affected but also jeopardizing regional security and stability. With famine now a real and dangerous threat in the Gaza Strip and Sudan, and millions driven into hunger in countries such as Haiti and Ukraine, an accelerated response to food insecurity has never been so urgent.

"As the world's largest humanitarian organization, WFP has an unrivalled ability to deliver food assistance to the tens of millions who need it the most, preventing a slide into chaos and instability." said Executive Director McCain. "We stand ready to deliver assistance quickly, strategically, and wherever it is needed, alongside our partners."

Note to editors:

Heightened food security needs are highlighted in yesterday's release of the Global Report on Food Crises (GFRC) by WFP and partners, which paints a dramatic picture of persistently high levels of acute hunger in 2023. In a year when the world experienced its hottest year on record - with extreme floods, storms and droughts, intensifying in severity and frequency - the number of people facing acute food insecurity rose to unacceptably high levels.