WFP nearly halves food aid to Syria, triggering alarm in aid community

The World Food Programme (WFP) cut almost half of its food aid to Syria due to a lack of funds on Wednesday, removing assistance to millions of people currently reliant on the agency.

The organisation said it was prioritising the needs of 3 million Syrians who are "unable to make it from one week to the next without food assistance", but leaving 2.5 million people without access to its services.

The WFP said that if it continued supplying food to the 5.5. million it previously supports then all food aid would run out by October.

Syria is currently experiencing famine-like levels of hunger and soaring rates of poverty, driven by 12 years of war and a global cost of living crisis.

Over 12 million Syrians are food-insecure, and rates of malnutrition were at an all-time-high, with one in four pregnant and nursing mothers acutely malnourished.

The slashing in food aid sent alarms through the humanitarian sector, which has been struggling with shrinking funds for the last few years.

Some members of the aid community, however, said that shifting the mechanisms through which aid is distributed could help cushion the blow of the aid decrease.

"For sure it will have negative impacts, but there is talk of giving cash assistance as well," Fadi al- Dairi, the chair of the steering committee of the northwest Syria NGO forum, told The New Arab.

Al-Dairi explained that a move to cash assistance or livelihood support could be more "sustainable" and could "empower communities" to decide for themselves how best to allocate donor funding.

The WFP said it requires a minimum of $180 millions to prevent the coming cuts.

The UN agency made a plea for additional funding on the eve of the annual Brussels Conference, when donor countries get together to pledge money for Syria and countries affected by the Syrian crisis.

Despite growing need, this year’s conference is not expected to bring in more funds than last year, as the global economic downturn and funding needs for Ukraine impact donor appetite for the Syrian cause.