WFP Supported 260,000 People in Afghanistan Thanks to Contribution From Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund Through KSrelief

KABUL – Over the past nine months, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan supported more than 260,000 vulnerable people or 37,000 families with emergency food assistance thanks to a contribution of US$3.2 million from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF) managed by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and funded by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) of Saudi Arabia.

WFP procured nearly 4,000 metric tons of food, including fortified wheat flour, yellow split peas, fortified vegetable oil and salt. Benefiting from a drop in global food commodity prices, WFP was able to buy one third more food than initially anticipated. This helped WFP reach more families in need in a country where one third of the population are going hungry.

“We are pleased to see the positive impact of WFP’s work, knowing that our contribution helped brothers and sisters in need across Afghanistan,” said Dr. Walid Abdelwahab, Director of Regional Hub Türkiye, IsDB. "This contribution underlined the dedication of the AHTF and KSrelief to stand with the people of Afghanistan and to address the basic needs and promote self-reliance.”

WFP’s support reached families in Badghis, Bamyan, Farah, Ghor, Helmand, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Kapisa, Khost, Kunar, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Paktika and Uruzgan provinces. Nearly half of the people assisted achieved an acceptable level of food consumption, as per WFP post distribution analysis.

“Following peak hunger levels in 2021 and 2022, food security in Afghanistan is marginally improving, largely thanks to massive humanitarian assistance”, said Hsiao-Wei Lee, Country Director of WFP in Afghanistan. “This would not have been possible without the generous contributions from our partners like the Islamic Development Bank.”

WFP prioritized some of the most vulnerable families, including women-headed households without a male breadwinner, families with nine or more members including elderly or people with disabilities, displaced families or those who had no other option than to resort to begging or borrowing for survival.

In 2023, WFP reached a total of 18.6 million people across all our programmes, distributing over 600,000 metric tons of food and US$189 million in cash-based assistance. Of the people reached, 9.3 million were women and girls, nearly 11 million were children and an estimated 5.8 million were people with disabilities.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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For more information please contact:

Philippe Kropf, WFP/Kabul, Mob. +93 707 271 901

Ziauddin Safi, WFP/Kabul, Mob. +93 706 934 875

Ahmad Abu Ghazaleh, IsDB/Jeddah, email: AGhazaleh@isdb.org