World Food Program USA President & CEO Barron Segar Calls on Congress to Include Robust International Food Assistance in COVID-19 Relief Bill

As the House and Senate continue to work towards agreement on another COVID-19 relief package, I urge members to support the inclusion of robust funding for international aid, especially humanitarian food assistance.

The economic impacts from COVID-19—from the closure of the informal economy to the loss of remittances— threaten to double the number of people facing crisis levels of hunger around the world. Already, four countries face the prospect of looming famine (Burkina Faso, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen), with more than a dozen others close behind.

This global health emergency has become an unprecedented global food security crisis. With it, we are already seeing a rise in destabilizing trends like food-related instability and mass migration. Food assistance, we know, can help prevent these dangerous forces from metastasizing into greater instability.

While Congress negotiates further relief for the American people, we must remember that this virus, and the suffering that it forces on vulnerable people, does not respect borders—ours and the fate of the world is wholly intertwined. The United States must once again rise to the occasion in a moment when global hunger threatens an entire generation.

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World Food Program USA supports the mission of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the leading agency addressing hunger worldwide. By mobilizing individuals, lawmakers and businesses in the United States to advance the global movement to end hunger, WFP USA bolsters an enduring U.S. legacy of feeding families in need around the world. | Follow us @WFPUSA