'Food assistance builds bridge between hunger and hope'

Rome - The World Food Programme (WFP) October 14 marked World Food Day by highlighting the vital role that food assistance plays during humanitarian crises, supporting recovery in the immediate aftermath of disasters and building the resilience that is necessary to ensure food security.

"Across the world, we are the bridge between hunger and hope for millions of people," said WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheran, "WFP is providing life-saving food assistance in the midst of crises like the drought in the Horn of Africa.

In countries like Libya, we are supporting communities that are strving to recover from crisis and in places like Haiti, we continue to work with governments and civil society to build resilience so that the vulnerable are better able to cope when the next disaster strikes."

Relief, recovery and resilience are the three defining pillars of WFP's work in more than 70 countries around the world, where we are bringing the most effective and appropriate food assistance to nearly 100 million people this year.

"Here in Sri Lanka, WFP is partnering the government to provide nutritional food, principally to returnee and food affected communities, schoolchildren and pregnant and nursing mothers and their young infants," WFP Sri Lanka Country Director, Adnan Khan said.

"Our intervention aims to make a real contribution to improving the food security, livelihoods and nutrition of our beneficiaries. We are unwavering in our determination to bring about lasting transition and sustainability for those food insecure men, women and children in the country whom we currently assist," according to a WFP press release.

This year's theme for World Food Day, "Food Prices - from Crisis to Stability", underlines the role that food assistance can play in protecting vulnerable communities that are affected by food price volatility.

WFP is deploying an increasingly sophisticated array of innovative tools to address the needs of people who are struggling to access the nutrition they need for their families on a daily basis - including those in many developing countries who have borne the brunt of the turbulence on global food markets.