Egypt: WFP Resumes Refugee Assistance Programme

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it will use a U.S.$500,000 grant from the government of Japan to provide nutritional assistance to 4,200 refugee mothers and their less-than-two-year-old children over the next four months.

WFP was forced in August 2020 to suspend the refugee assistance programme due to funding shortfall.

To be eligible for assistance, refugee mothers must get regular medical checkups during pregnancy and after childbirth at WFP partner hospitals in the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria and Damietta.

Data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) shows that Egypt hosts more than 265,000 registered asylum-seekers and refugees from 65 countries.

The majority of the asylum seekers, according to the UN refugee agency, are from Syria, followed by Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, and Somalia.

Egypt’s challenging economic conditions have considerably increased the vulnerability of both refugees and host community members. With many refugees lacking a stable source of income, coupled with soaring inflation, basic needs are barely covered.

WFP has been supporting refugees in Egypt since 2013, reaching today more than 120,000 refugees from different nationalities with food assistance.

‘…[W]e are glad to announce that our support to refugee mothers has resumed thanks to this generous contribution from the government of Japan’, WFP Country Director in Egypt, Praveen Agrawal, said in a statement on the WFP website.

‘This programme is vital for the most vulnerable mothers and their children as it is the only source of support for many of them and it gives them access to nutritious food they [would not] be able to afford otherwise’.

Refugee mothers will receive monthly top-ups to their electronic cards that they will redeem for nutritious food items in the market.

This support is critical during the ‘First 1,000 Days’ of a child’s life, from conception to two years of age, to prevent malnutrition and its irreversible effects such as chronic anaemia and stunting.

The Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, Noke Masaki, said Japan will host the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit in December 2021 in cooperation with WFP and other partners in order to improve nutrition for people around the world.

‘Save as many lives as possible, and leave no one’s health behind. This has been the conviction that Japan, as a country upholding human security and universal health coverage, has adhered to throughout this battle against the pandemic’, the statement quoted Masaki as saying.

‘We will continue to provide nutritional assistance for socially vulnerable people such as refugees, children and pregnant women with the international community’.

The WFP refugee assistance programme has transformed over the years to provide comprehensive integrated support alongside monthly assistance through cash transfers via e-cards.

Source: WFP

Photo source: WFP

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp

About the Author