WFP to resume full rations for refugees in Kenya

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Tuesday said it will resume providing full food rations to refugees in Kenya in January 2015, as a result of new donor contributions.

WFP said it has raised more than 45 million U.S. dollars since it launched an urgent appeal in October alongside the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

“Thanks to substantial support from government partners, we are now able to resume full rations on Jan. 1, 2015,” WFP acting Country Director for Kenya Thomas Hansson said in a statement.

WFP has been regularly distributing food twice a month to around half a million refugees in both the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in northern Kenya, but in November, insufficient funding forced WFP to reduce the size of their food rations by half.

The refugees are provided with cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, salt and a nutrient-rich maize-soya flour blend, together with 2, 100 kilocalories per person per day, which is the recommended daily caloric intake.

In addition, WFP also provides specialized nutritional support for mothers and young children.

Hansson said refugees depend on food assistance for their survival, and the donors’ funds will enable his organization to meet the full food needs of refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma.

Currently, Kenyan government policy prevents refugees working outside the camps, leaving them highly dependent on international assistance.

Source: Xinhua