THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD

Published purpose

February 2014 - The humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate as a result of the civil war in the country. The United Nations estimates that more than 130,000 people have been killed, with 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 2.4 million Syrian refugees are registered and living in host countries in the region. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to the impact of the conflict and host countries are increasingly overstretched by the influx of affected people needing assistance. With the support of DFATD and other donors, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food assistance to up to 4.25 million vulnerable crisis-affected people across Syria and supplementary feeding to address the critical nutrition needs of up to 255,000 young children and pregnant and lactating women. It is also improving its ability to identify vulnerable people and increasing its monitoring to make sure it is reaching those in need.