Photo credit: the independent
The World Food Program (WFP) warned on Friday that hunger could reach catastrophic levels in parts of Cameroon if a funding target of at least $67 million is not met.
The Independent reports that the WFP representative for Cameroon and Sao Tome and Principe, Gianluca Ferrera, said progress made in the fight against hunger could be reversed without adequate funding.
Cameroon is the world’s most neglected displacement crisis, according to a Norwegian Refugee Council report from earlier this year.
The country faces several crises: Boko Haram insurgency in the north, a separatist uprising in the two English-speaking regions, and the influx of refugees from the Central African Republic in the east. These crises, combined with climatic shocks, have created a displacement crisis and worsened the spectre of hunger.
Over 3.3 million people require humanitarian assistance, and more than 2 million are internally displaced, according to the WFP.
Ferrera said over 52,000 children will no longer receive school meals starting in January due to a lack of funds. The WFP will also scale down operations with the risk of shutting down five of its offices in Cameroon. This will put over half a million at risk of losing food and nutrition assistance.
In 2022, the WFP received funding worth $106 million for Cameroon, but this year, the amount is merely $20 million.
These funding shortages come after the Trump administration championed an unprecedented withdrawal of US foreign aid, which totalled $64 billion in 2023, the last year with comprehensive figures available.
