PAKISTAN / FOOD AID

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is facing a shortfall in its US$170 million budget for its Pakistan operation, even as it anticipates increased numbers of hungry people. WFP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:31
• Production Date: 5 June 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: NUTRITION; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: PAKISTAN
• MAMS Id: U090605e

Description

STORY: PAKISTAN / FOOD AID
TRT: 1.31
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 3-4 JUNE 2009, PIRPAI, NOWSHERA DISTRICT / ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

Shotlist

3-4 JUNE 2009, PIRPAI, NOWSHERA DISTRICT, PAKISTAN

1. Various shots, food distribution WFP Logistic Base
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Wolfgang Herbinger, WFP Pakistan Country Director:
"If we don't get new donations within the next few days we will have a break in our supply line. It takes some time from receiving a donation, from receiving money in the bank, to making it available, to delivering it to the needy people on the ground. There is always several weeks, even if we rush it, so we are really going to run out of food rations for the families if we don't get, very quickly, food."

4 JUNE 2009, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

3. Various shots, unloading ‘Plumpy Doz’ at Islamabad Airport

Storyline

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is facing a shortfall in its US$170 million budget for its Pakistan operation, even as it anticipates increased numbers of hungry people.

WFP has been streaming critically needed food assistance to more than two million displaced people in Pakistan. The food aid is being distributed through humanitarian hubs that WFP has established close to the areas that have seen the greatest population movements.

On arrival at the hubs, displaced people who have been registered receive a month’s ration of food, as well as cooking utensils and shelter material.

WFP today (5 June) thanked donors for enabling a swift response to the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan, but the agency also warned that a lack of funds could soon interrupt its operations in the region.

SOUNDBITE (English) Wolfgang Herbinger, WFP Pakistan Country Director:
"If we don't get new donations within the next few days we will have a break in our supply line. It takes some time from receiving a donation, from receiving money in the bank, to making it available, to delivering it to the needy people on the ground. There is always several weeks, even if we rush it, so we are really going to run out of food rations for the families if we don't get, very quickly, food."

WFP has received US$72 million in donations towards the emergency operation in Pakistan – with more than half of this amount coming from the United States. Other donors to the operation include Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Approximately US$100,000 has also been donated by Pakistani individuals and private companies.

This week the agency began moving 97 metric tons of a highly nutritious food supplement, called Plumpy’ Doz which will be distributed to children under the age of five, who have been identified as needing urgent additional assistance. Plumpy’Doz is a peanut paste containing skimmed milk, sugar, vitamins and minerals that can be eaten on its own or added to meals.