Food Security
The UN World Food Program “will have to cut monthly food rations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from $12.50 to $6” in April, unless it can raise emergency funds to replace those lost in the US funding freeze. The $6 ration will “not allow refugees to meet the ‘minimum standard’ for energy and nutrition” pregnant and breastfeeding women will be at increased risk.
Reuters, 03/05/2025
In Ethiopia, food assistance for more than one million people has stopped.
AP, 03/01/2025
In Somalia, a program to provide nearly 1 million children with treatment for severe malnutrition was terminated. The program had previously received waivers to continue delivering lifesaving assistance.
Devex, 02/28/2025
Due to the U.S. aid cut, almost 80% of emergency food kitchens in Sudan set up to help people left destitute by the civil war have closed. Almost 1,100 communal kitchens have been closed affecting “nearly two million people struggling to survive.”
BBC, 02/24/2025
“In a rural area of central Somalia, a water infrastructure project expected to bring food security to more than 1.65 million people is officially on hold.” Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked militant group, operates in the area and has found success recruiting from communities struck by drought or floods.
Devex, 02/19/2025
In Haiti, the stop-work order will cause 15,000 people to go hungry, fueling gang recruiting and instability.
Global Health Council, 02/05/2025
In Nepal, where 50,000 babies under one die annually and malnutrition is the leading cause of child mortality, work on a $72 million Integrated Nutrition Program was suspended.
New York Times, 01/31/2025
Food, water, and sanitation services to the 40,000 person Al-Hol refugee camp in northern Syria were interrupted, worsening humanitarian conditions for vulnerable refugees and serving as a recruitment tool for Islamic State militants.
BBC, 01/29/2025
In Haiti, “Action Against Hunger shut down a program that worked with about 13,000 Haitians to educate families about better nutrition and provided training for pregnant and breastfeeding women, among other services.”
The New York Times, 02/21/2025
On February 6, USAID announced a waiver for “lifesaving global health services, including management of severe acute malnutrition with RUTFs [Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods] — but only if their absence could ‘lead to mortality in women, newborns, and children under five.’ ... The stop-work order is still in effect for almost everything else, from malnutrition screenings at health centers to ongoing monitoring and other forms of aid, such as cash vouchers, that keep families from going hungry in the first place.”
Devex, 02/19/2025
“In South Sudan, at least $200 million in emergency food aid is unable to reach some 5 million people in a place where 60% are extremely food-insecure. Much of it is en route or piled in a warehouse in Mombasa, Kenya.”
Devex, 02/07/2025
“[I]n Bangladesh, food rations for 1 million refugees are running low, and they could face a 50% reduction in rations for March.”
Devex, 02/07/2025
In Afghanistan, where humanitarian aid groups provide almost all critical services, 50 national and international aid organizations suspended operations, partly or entirely, across the country. Approximately 15 million Afghans, mostly women and children, are in dire need of food aid.
NPR, 02/03/2025
434 of 634 volunteer kitchens in Khartoum, the battle-torn capital of Sudan, have shut down. The volunteer-run kitchens fed 816,000 people.
Devex, 01/29/2025
The World Food Program will close its southern Africa office due to the foreign aid cuts. This program “relied on the US for nearly half its budget.”
Semafor, 03/04/2025
“In northeast Syria, a program providing water, sanitation services, and food assistance to more than 100,000 has ended.”
Devex, 02/28/2025
“A project serving more than 144,000 people in Bangladesh that provided food for malnourished pregnant women and vitamin A to children” has been canceled.
The New York Times, 02/27/2025
In Nigeria, a U.S.-based nonprofit began running out of ready-to-use therapeutic food for severely malnourished children in three states. “Once the permission came through [to release the food from warehouses], the staff members who would normally distribute the food were unavailable because their employer did not have the funding or permission to let them work.”
New York Times, 02/21/2025
In Nigeria, the Danish Refugee Council has stopped treating 150 children under the age of 5 each month who suffer from severe acute malnutrition. “It has also stopped providing supplemental nutritional assistance to 400 children monthly and halted cash aid that helps 30,000 displaced people meet their basic food needs on their own.”
Devex, 02/19/2025
In Ethiopia, “almost 50,000 women and girls, including some who are pregnant and breastfeeding, will be at risk of potentially fatal malnutrition.”
Global Health Council, 02/05/2025
FEWS NET– a US-funded famine early warning system – has been taken offline. The network helps direct the effective distribution of food aid to tens of millions of people around the world.
The Guardian, 01/31/2025
In Nepal, where 50,000 babies under one die annually and malnutrition is the leading cause of child mortality, work on a $72 million Integrated Nutrition Program was suspended.
The New York Times, 01/31/2025
Action Against Hunger, a food security aid group in Congo, “will stop treating tens of thousands of malnourished children.”
AP, 03/01/2025
“In Liberia, a school feeding program that reached 25,000 children — and had previously increased attendance by 40% — has been terminated.”
Devex, 02/28/2025
“A project in the Democratic Republic of Congo that operates the only source of water for 250,000 people in camps for displaced people” has been canceled.
The New York Times, 02/27/2025