The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a USD1.5 million (JPY 164 million) contribution from the Government of Japan to provide nutrition response to 40,000 vulnerable food insecure people in The Gambia.

With this contribution WFP will provide fortified blended foods to malnourished children under 5, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, and mothers living with HIV to address moderate acute malnutrition. WFP will also support nutrition education and awareness raising to increase the knowledge and skills of caregivers, mothers, adolescent girls, households and community leaders in best feeding practices.

“We are grateful for Japan’s generous contribution to our work in The Gambia” said Yasuhiro Tsumura, WFP’s Representative in The Gambia.  “This support came at a critical time when COVID-19 pandemic, seasonal climate shocks including flash floods and windstorms are causing the hardest blow in families’ food security situation.”

The latest food security analysis estimated that 600,000 people (30 percent of the population) are food insecure with 114,000 men, women and children severely affected during the lean season period, June-August 2021.

Attending the handover ceremony, today, Tatsuo Arai, Ambassador of Japan to The Gambia commended the good collaboration between WFP and the Government of The Gambia in drawing and implementing this important project relating to Human Security in this critical time of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We look forward to the active participation of The Gambia in the upcoming Tokyo International Conference for African Development, next year and the Nutrition-for-Growth Summit to be held in December 2021 in Tokyo, Japan”, he indicated.

WFP’s comprehensive response in The Gambia includes emergency assistance to disaster-affected people and provision of nutrition support to malnourished children and women, as well as life changing support including school feeding, resilience building and community/national capacity strengthening.  WFP needs USD 3.4 million in the next 6-months for its operations in The Gambia.