The World Food Programme’s work to prevent and address wasting in food insecure contexts in 2024

Tackling child wasting globally amid unprecedented challenges requires renewed and joint efforts and is a key focus for WFP. In a world where humanitarian needs are outpacing resources, prevention programmes are the foundation for effectively addressing malnutrition, building resilience and developing human capital.

In 2024, WFP is scaling up its work on prevention and supplementation of moderate acute malnutrition in the 15 prone-to-crisis and food insecure countries to address wasting in children and women to reduce the immediate needs for humanitarian response in collaboration with UNICEF.  

Starting from the premise that a child’s nutritional needs can only be met within the setting of a food secure household, WFP will provide nutritionally adequate household assistance to food insecure households and nutritional targeted support to the nutritionally at-risk (e.g., pregnant and breastfeeding women and children). Depending on the severity of the situation and if markets are functional, this individual support can be a specialized nutritious food , a cash transfer, and/or a local food solution combined with social behaviour change activities and malnutrition detection. 

WFP will provide supplementation to children that have fallen into moderate wasting and will elevate the focus on maternal nutrition through programming that tackles the needs of mothers and children as a pair to ensure continuum of care from pregnancy until child is 2 years of age.

WFP is committed to addressing the root causes of malnutrition related to poor diets and ensuring that the most vulnerable and the most marginalized are better equipped to mitigate and cope with future shocks. To do this, WFP is increasing its efforts in emergency preparedness, anticipatory actions and shock-responsive social protection, while making intentional connections with longer term resilience, food system strengthening and social protection programming.  

In 2024, WFP aims to reach 36 million children and women with programmes to prevent and address malnutrition. In all aspects of its work, WFP remains committed to working closely with, and ensuring better coordination between, national governments, development and humanitarian partners and UN agencies to meet these ambitious goals.