Saving Lives

WFP’s position as a first responder to emergencies was brought to the fore in 2019. We worked on a record 18 emergencies, 7 at the highest classification of Level 3, and 11 at Level 2, in 20 countries. It was the highest number since 2011, as many countries remained trapped by long-standing or recurrent conflict, weather extremes or economic downturns.

The Central Sahel and Mozambique were declared L3s, while crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen were ongoing, confirming WFP’s ability to sustain operations in complex and protracted emergencies.

Roughly two-thirds of WFP’s life-saving food assistance went to girls, boys, women and men facing severe food crises, overwhelmingly as a result of conflict.

Yemen

WFP launched its fastest-ever scale up of food assistance to avert famine in Yemen, doubling food distributions to areas where conflict and economic collapse had reduced nearly 240,000 people to famine-like conditions. Catastrophic levels of food insecurity were rolled back in nearly two-thirds of the worst-affected districts by mid-2019.

Funding and supply chain problems led to rations being cut by over a third in July, and the partial and temporary suspension of food assistance in Sana’a. People provided with nutritional support showed significant improvements. Around 85 percent of children under 5 recovered from acute malnutrition, up from 81 percent at the beginning of 2019.

1.4 Million MT

of food provided
US$268 million

in cash or vouchers
1.41 million

food-insecure people assisted

Biometric registration of around 920,000 people helped to ensure that almost 9 in 10 prioritized individuals received full rations each month.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

A worsening of conditions in DRC made it the second-largest hunger crisis after Yemen. The number of severely food-insecure people rose by a fifth over one year to almost 16 million. Here, 25 years of sustained conflicts and multiple displacements have forced a large fraction of the population to live on the edge of survival, with food insecurity reaching alarming levels in Kivu region in 2019.

WFP played a critical role in helping to manage an Ebola outbreak which first emerged in DRC in 2018, with over 2,200 lives lost by the end of 2019. WFP provided food and nutrition support to nearly 1 million people, helping limit population movements and thereby reduce the spread of the disease.

4.9 Million

people provided with food
2 Million

people provided with cash
US$55 million

in cash distribution

The WFP-managed United Nations Humanitarian Air Service transported more than 37,000 people and 476 MT of cargo including medical equipment and vaccines, amid the latest Ebola outbreak.

Syria

Syria entered its ninth year of conflict in 2019, with ongoing insecurity spurring massive displacement and dramatically increasing food insecurity. Food distributions reached an average of 96 percent of targeted beneficiaries each month, despite a significant increase in needs, while assistance reached 40 percent more beneficiaries as access improved.

Ongoing preparedness and pre-positioning efforts, underpinned by strong donor support, saw WFP launching most emergency responses within the first 72 hours.

6.3 Million

people provided with life-saving food and nutrition assistance
40%

increased assistance on 2018
96%

of targeted beneficiaries reached each month

South Sudan

Nearly 13 million people’s lives depended on humanitarian assistance in South Sudan by the end of 2019, as violence and displacement continued. Extensive flooding affected close to 1 million people, destroying an estimated 73,000 mt of cereal and causing significant livestock losses.

WFP pre-positioned nearly two-thirds of food in 2019, allowing it to reach communities when roads become impassable due to the rainy season or outbreaks of violence.

4.8 Million

people supported with food, cash and vouchers
269,000 MT

of food distributed
US$46 million

distributed in cash transfers and vouchers

Reduced insecurity allowed WFP to access new areas and reduce reliance on airdrops and airlifts, resulting in savings of nearly US$79 million.

Central Sahel

The humanitarian crisis in the Central Sahel reached unprecedented levels in 2019 as conflict spread rapidly to new areas, increasing displacement fivefold and doubling the number of food-insecure people across the region to 4.8 million.

burkina faso

620,000

displaced and host families provided with life-saving assistance, despite funding shortfalls and insecurity
mali

573,000

vulnerable members of the host population and IDPs reached by revision of traditional lean season response to include newly displaced people
niger

292,000

targeted IDPs, refugees and local populations reached by scaling up emergency response

Mozambique

WFP mounted one of the largest emergency responses ever seen in Mozambique, after two of the most powerful cyclones – Idai and Kenneth – ever to hit the country. As with countless sudden emergencies, WFP was among the first on the ground and immediately provided food assistance to 20,000 survivors in hard-to-reach areas using helicopters.

WFP’s relief operation reached over 1.8 million people affected by Cyclone Idai and more than 300,000 affected by Cyclone Kenneth.

Nigeria

An upsurge in conflict displaced nearly 2 million people in northeast Nigeria in 2019, and led to almost 3 million people experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity. WFP assisted 1 million internally displaced persons in camps and host communities through in-kind emergency food and cash distributions, and malnutrition prevention and treatment activities. In-kind assistance was provided to highly vulnerable individuals furthest from available food sources and functioning markets.

Nutrition-specific assistance saw a recovery rate of 98% among those in the treatment programme – well above the target of 75%.

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CHANGING LIVES