The World Food Programme (WFP) in Yemen recently received a highly generous in-kind donation by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The 6,300 metric tons of mixed commodities are being off-loaded at the port of Hodeidah.
The donation will be devoted in its entirety to the “Emergency Food Assistance to Conflict-Affected Persons in Northern Yemen” operation – a program intended to address the food security needs of some 416,000 internally displaced and war-affected persons in Yemen’s northern governorates.
Despite the ongoing political crisis in Yemen, WFP’s operations remain robust and largely unaffected, and the distribution of USAID’s donation is expected to run smoothly.
“The situation is becoming more complex by the day,” said Gian Carlo Cirri, WFP Representative in Yemen, “but we are committed to seeing our operations through uninterrupted. We owe it to our beneficiaries.”
As the most impoverished country in the Arab world, Yemen suffers from widespread hunger and malnutrition, and is in need of urgent intervention. During WFP’s most recent Comprehensive Food Security Survey, it was determined that 1 in 3 Yemenis are acutely hungry, making Yemen the 11th most food insecure country in the world.
In addition, half of all Yemeni children are chronically malnourished and the number of underweight children in third highest in the world, after India and Bangladesh.
WFP-Yemen is still in need of US $67.4 million to sustain its operations until the end of 2011. Such a dramatic lack of funds could severely compromise WFP’s ability to assist its intended 3.5 million beneficiaries in Yemen.
It is for these reasons that USAID’s generous in-kind donation is so timely and critical. It should be noted, however, that this is not the first time the American aid agency has granted its support to WFP’s 2011 emergency operation in Sa’adah; indeed, earlier this year, it extended a vital US $10 million to the initiative.
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