THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD

Published purpose

November 2013 - The humanitarian situation in Syria has rapidly deteriorated over the past year as a result of the civil war in the country. The United Nations estimates more than 110,000 people have been killed, and hundreds of thousands more wounded, due to the violence. Within Syria, some 9.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, 6.5 million of whom are internally displaced. In addition, over 2.2 million Syrian refugees are living in host countries in the region. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to the gravest consequences of the conflict and host countries are increasingly overstretched by the influx of people needing assistance. With DFATD’s support, the United Nations World Food Programme is providing food assistance to an estimated 6.7 million people, in Syria and in neighbouring countries. Project activities include: (i) delivering essential food assistance through designated distribution sites such as refugee camps and therapeutic feeding centres where people with severe acute malnutrition are treated; (ii) improving assessments to determine people’s nutritional status and developing more effective responses to malnutrition; (iii) using innovative technology, such as distributing vouchers that people can use to purchase food in urban settings; (iv) supporting local economies by purchasing food locally and regionally where appropriate; and (iv) providing supplementary feeding to prevent or treat malnutrition in people at risk, and distributing nutritious supplementary foods to vulnerable groups including children, pregnant and lactating women, and female-headed households.