The United Nations food agency on Thursday said it will be forced to cut food aid to about 90 000 vulnerable children and orphans in Namibia due to a funds crunch sparked by shifting donor focus.
”It’s an unjust and preventable tragedy that children — especially orphans — become the victims of funding shortfalls,” John Prout, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) director in Namibia, said in a statement.
”The international community should not forget that a hungry child in Namibia is every bit as desperate as a vulnerable child in the rest of the world,” he said.
”As new problems emerge in different parts of Africa and the rest of the world, donor focus has shifted away from Southern Africa and all our programmes across the region have been affected,” Prout said.
The WFP said that if it received $1-million right now, it could resume the programme targeting Namibian children in January.
”WFP is facing a shortfall of $4-million for its operations in Namibia through to April,” the statement said.
”Across the region, excluding Namibia, WFP faces a funding shortfall of $48-million for programmes in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which assists about 4,5-million people.” — Sapa-AFP