WINDHOEK, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 100,000 Namibians received food assistance from the World Food Program (WFP) in July, the UN agency said in its latest country brief, highlighting persistent hunger challenges in the drought-prone southern African nation.
According to the report shared on Tuesday, the WFP assisted 96,387 people through various programs, including digital food vouchers, soup kitchens and school feeding schemes.
More than 25,000 children benefited from warm meals at community kitchens, while a further 12,038 schoolchildren were reached through the homegrown school feeding program, the report said.
The WFP said it also enrolled 58,764 vulnerable people, mainly pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under five, in a complementary nutrition support program, where households received value vouchers to buy diverse food items from local retailers.
It said the initiative created jobs and boosted rural economies while ensuring that vulnerable families accessed nutritious diets.
The agency said that food insecurity remains widespread in the semi-arid nation due to recurrent droughts, floods, pest outbreaks and climate shocks linked to the El Nino phenomenon, which has resulted in reduced harvests and inflated food prices and left poor households especially vulnerable.
The WFP estimates that it requires an additional 0.5 million U.S. dollars over the next six months to sustain assistance, representing about 19 percent of its funding needs.
It said its work in Namibia also focuses on strengthening national food systems, supporting smallholder farmers, and building government capacity to ensure long-term resilience against hunger.
