Statement From World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley On Life-Saving U.S. Donation to Fight Famines

Published July 8, 2017

I am most grateful for the strong support to fight famine that President Trump and the American people have just given the World Food Programme. And we are deeply thankful for the leadership of Chancellor Merkel as the G-20 host for putting Africa and the looming famines on the world’s agenda.

This is a lifesaving gift. The US$ 331 million will truly save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.

It comes at the time when people are most vulnerable, when the food has run out from the last harvest, when there is nothing left for these families to feed their children. With this donation, we will save people from dying. We can now push even harder to make sure young children will not wither away from hunger and illness.

The money means our people can get food to the children, women and men who are in desperate need. We are grateful to all of our donors who made our work possible, but we have to push even harder to avoid famine. We ask for more support from those donors who can do more. Please help us, so we can help them.

Our men and women on the ground have done heroic things to stave off famine and they will continue to do so. We get the job done. We feed people.

But make no mistake. We also need to stop the fighting in those countries or we won’t be able to deliver help to all people and prevent famine. This is why the world needs to come together — we need peace and we need to love our neighbors.

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WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

For more information please contact:

Ralf Suedhoff, WFP/Berlin, Mob. +41 1609 4912547

Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 65132321, Mob. +39 346 7600521

Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44 20 72409001, Mob. +44 7968 008474

Bettina Luescher, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41 22 917 8564, Mob. + 41-79-842-8057