WFP humanitarian aid

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

Afghanistan's long-standing difficult humanitarian situation turned into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises after the Taliban came to power in the fall of 2021. The crisis is due to e.g. widespread and long-lasting poverty, a difficult security situation, drought, global food price increases and the coronavirus pandemic. According to the UN, more than 28 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. At the same time that the Taliban makes it difficult to distribute aid with prohibitions and restrictions. In particular, the food security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated alarmingly: almost 20 million people suffer from a severe food shortage, 6 million people are on the verge of starvation. The World Food Program (WFP) plays a central role in humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. WFP's Afghanistan operation is the organization's largest in terms of needs, and the needs are constantly growing: WFP's operation needs for the next half-year period (summer-November) are 1.03 billion dollars. During 2022, the WFP operation provided food aid to a total of more than 23 million people. By increasing support for WFP, Finland aims to respond to the growing food insecurity in Afghanistan.