Food Assistance

A Sudanese mother in Nyala feeding her malnourished child ready-to-use therapeutic food

UNICEF

Approximately 870 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger, which kills more people every year than malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined. Food assistance is one method to mitigate this crisis.

USAID’s food assistance efforts are an expression of the compassion and goodwill of the people of the United States. The lifesaving assistance we provide can also help to stabilize fragile situations. 

Food Aid Reform Proposal:

The President’s 2014 Budget includes food aid reform that will allow life-saving assistance to reach an estimated four million more people annually within the same resources. Food aid reform will ensure that the USG is able to flexibly respond to hunger needs around the world, reaching more people with more efficient programming. Click here to learn more. 

Our emergency food assistance and multi-year development programs:

• Monitor food insecurity throughout the world;
• Save lives in times of crisis;
• Tackle chronic undernutrition; and
• Help the most vulnerable break the cycle of poverty and hunger through agriculture and livelihoods support.

Many development food aid programs target disaster-prone areas and are designed to help reduce the need for emergency assistance over time.

We are providing more effective food assistance:

• Our in-kind food products are being revamped to be more nutritious and better serve the needs of vulnerable populations around the world.
• USAID has adopted a state-of-the-art supply-chain management system that allows us to preposition food strategically, significantly reducing the amount of time it takes to reach people in need. 
• Since 2010, in-kind foods are now complemented by a cash-based emergency food security program that allows USAID to buy some food locally and regionally. The cash program also allows USAID to support interventions that enable hungry people to access local markets. Click here to see our cash-based programs in action in Zimbabwe. 
• These tools are directed with the help of a state-of-the-art early-warning system that applies remote monitoring techniques with in-country data gathering and analysis in key food insecure locations. Today the USAID funded Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) is one of the most highly regarded early-warning systems in the world.

While our ability to meet the challenges of hunger has become more sophisticated, our goal remains constant: To help people everywhere enjoy active and productive lives and, ultimately, achieve a world where no one needs food assistance.