WFP URGES WORLD LEADERS TO FOCUS MORE ON HUNGER AND POVERTY IN AFGHANISTAN LONDON - As international leaders and donors gather here for the Conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday and Wednesday, the United Nations World Food Programme is calling on the world community to focus more of its energy and attention on the millions of poor and hungry people in Afghanistan.
MASSIVE AID EFFORT CONTAINS GROWTH OF MALNUTRITION IN DARFUR KHARTOUM – Despite the deteriorating security situation in Darfur, a new United Nations assessment has found that overall malnutrition levels have mostly stabilized in 2006 and food insecurity has improved slightly thanks to a stronger international response to the suffering in Sudan’s war-torn west.
WFP DESPERATELY NEEDS FUNDS TO SUSTAIN PAKISTAN HELICOPTER LIFELINE CAIRO - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today that US$24 million is urgently needed to maintain its helicopter ‘lifeline’ operation in Pakistan -- the largest relief helicopter operation in the UN’s history -- until the end of August to assist thousands of victims of last year’s earthquake.
WORLD’S FIRST HUMANITARIAN INSURANCE POLICY ISSUED ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme announced today that AXA RE has been awarded the world’s first insurance contract for humanitarian emergencies. The contract provides US $7 million in contingency funding in a pilot scheme to provide coverage in the case of an extreme drought during Ethiopia’s 2006 agricultural season.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY MEETS HUNGRY CHILDREN IN SOUTHERN SUDAN ON DAY OF FASTING MALAKAL, Sudan – On the traditional day of fasting for millions of Christians around the world, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr.