WFP / CAR FOOD INSECURITY

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Ertharin Cousin witnessed alarming food insecurity and malnutrition in Central African Republic (CAR) amid a deadly combination of violence and insufficient funding for the humanitarian response. WFP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:37
• Production Date: 20 March 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
• MAMS Id: U140320c

Description

STORY: WFP / CAR FOOD INSECURITY
TRT: 2.37
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS

DATELINE: 17-19 MARCH 2014, BANGUI / BOSSANGOA, CAR

Shotlist

17 MARCH 2014, BANGUI, CAR

1. Various shots, weighing and taking measures of malnourished kids at the health center

19 MARCH 2014, BANGUI, CAR

2. Med shot, Cousin and delegation walking in the center
3. Med shot, mothers with children waiting at the center
4. Close up, kids
5. Close up, Cousin with kids
6. Med shot, kids
7. Close up, kid eating nutrition pack

19 MARCH 2014, BOSSANGOA, CAR

8. Tracking shot, destruction
9. Wide shot, IDP camp
10. Various shots, IDP camp
11. Various shots, a family eating from a joint plate
12. Med shot, Cousin with IDPs
13. UPSOUND (English), Ertharin Cousin, WFP Executive Director:
“We will not forget you. We will continue to work with you, and we need the world to work with us.”
14. Various shots, distribution of food and tools.
15. SOUNDBITE (English) , Ertharin Cousin, WFP Executive Director:
“They will convince the international community to help them and that is why we are here so that the world can see their faces, see the work that they are willing to do, see the fact that they have survived the crises, the conflict and they want to move forward, they just ask for our help so that they can move forward”
16. Med shot, woman preparing the food
17. Close up, pot with grains

Storyline

The Central African Republic is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe as more and more people are forced to flee their homes and the national economy is on the verge of collapse.

Even before conflict broke out, childhood malnutrition was a big problem in the Central Africa Republic. With a poor diet, consisting mainly of cassava, nearly 40 percent of children under five were stunted. With the entire population of the capital Bangui affected by the violence and looting, levels of malnutrition are rising.

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Ertharin Cousin witnessed alarming food insecurity and malnutrition in Central African Republic (CAR) amid a deadly combination of violence and insufficient funding for the humanitarian response.

So far this year, WFP has provided food to more than 250,000 people per month in CAR, including specialized nutritious foods to help prevent malnutrition among children.

But the scale of the disaster is immense. Furthermore, when the rainy season starts in a few weeks, most of the roads will become impassable. The rains will also increase the risk of diarrhea and other illnesses for tens of thousands of displaced people in unsanitary, makeshift camps.

With only 35 percent of funding secured for its CAR emergency operation through August, WFP has been unable to pre-position stocks required for life-saving assistance during the rains and the annual lean season when food from the last harvest runs out.

WFP appealed for nearly 107 million US dollars for urgent funding to assist 1.25 million people in CAR who risk hunger because of displacement and the coming lean season.