UN says there’s unprecedented demand for food aid UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The World Food Program’s top official said it’s unprecedented that the U.N. aid agency finds itself simultaneously responding to half a dozen major crises in addition to helping the largest number of refugees in the world since World War II. Ertharin Cousin said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press that the number of people who need food aid continues to grow, and the demands are overwhelming the donor community which has been “incredibly generous,” led by the United States which has given WFP $1.6 billion. There are currently four top-level humanitarian crises — in Iraq, Syria, Central African Republic and South Sudan — as well as hundreds of thousands of people caught up in the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and more than 50 million refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people scattered around the world, she said. Because of funding shortages and increasing demands from the four crisis countries, refugees, and countries hit hardest by Ebola, Cousin said WFP has been forced to cut some rations and distributions. WFP is funded from donations and over 90 percent of its budget comes from governments, many of whom have their own financial and domestic challenges, [...] newsintx/un-says-theres-unprecedented-demand-for-food-aid/
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 10:40:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015