The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has cut food rations for one million refugees in Uganda due to funding shortages.
In a statement, the UN agency said it urgently needs $50 million to restore the life-saving support for refugees and asylum seekers in the East African country.
“Due to severe funding shortages, WFP Uganda has cut 1 million refugees entirely off from food assistance,” said the statement.
The agency warned that malnutrition in refugee reception centers has exceeded 15%, noting that urgent funding is needed to restore this lifeline.
In March, the WFP announced food ration cuts for refugee families in Uganda, with new refugees receiving just 60% of relief food instead of 100 percent, the most vulnerable getting 40%, down from 60%, and moderately vulnerable households have seen their rations drop from 30% to 22%.
The WFP provides the refugees with monthly relief assistance in the form of in-kind food or cash to meet their basic food needs. The level of assistance depends on funding availability.
Uganda is Africa’s largest refugee-hosting nation, with over 1.8 million refugees, of which 60,000 are new arrivals in the last three months, mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan, according to figures released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
