U.N. Says Iraq Food Program Needs Funds
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ROME — The United Nations World Food Program warned Wednesday that its emergency operations in Iraq, which feed about 3 million people, were at risk because donors have come up with only 44% of the necessary money.
The Rome-based agency aims to provide 73,700 tons of food to 1.7 million primary school students, 220,000 malnourished children and their families, 350,000 pregnant and nursing women, and more than 6,000 tuberculosis patients this year.
But the $66-million operation has received only $29 million from donors, the agency said.
“We provide food to those who cannot support themselves,” said Calum Gardner, the World Food Program’s director for Iraq. “If we don’t get more funding soon, we will no longer be able to assist them.”
Last year, a Norwegian research group said malnutrition among Iraq’s youngest children had nearly doubled since 2003.
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