Humanitarian Aid Not Enough For Myanmar's Poor - UN Official

A senior official of the United Nations World Food Programme
said
that humanitarian assistance is presently unable to meet the needs
of
the people of Myanmar and that the Myanmar Government must undertake
immediate critical reforms for the benefit of the country's desperately
poor and needy people.



Following a visit last week to Myanmar, WFP Regional Director for Asia
Tony
Banbury said that while at least five million vulnerable persons in
Myanmar
are short of food, and that far too many people suffer needlessly from
diseases and live in poverty, WFP can presently only provide food to about
500,000 vulnerable persons - far less than is needed.



"Humanitarian organizations can help, but we are faced with insufficient
funding, and whatever we manage to accomplish in the current circumstances
will only scratch the surface," said Banbury, whose four-day visit
included
reviewing WFP operations in Shan State, Myanmar. The WFP operation in
Myanmar is presently only 30 percent funded.



Banbury met with UN Agency and diplomatic representatives in Yangon, and
met with WFP's staff in Yangon and in Taunggyi during his visit to
Myanmar.
Banbury also travelled to Pin Laung and Hsi Hsaing Townships in Southern
Shan State, visiting villages and schools where WFP food assistance
supports families and communities formerly dependent on opium cultivation.



"Myanmar and its people have tremendous potential. But the government's
policies, its harsh travel and trade restrictions, unnecessarily trap
millions in lives of poverty and malnutrition, even in food surplus areas
such as Shan State," said Banbury. "WFP food assistance is desperately
needed by so many people, but it is only reaching a fraction of them."



Even with greater funding for aid agencies, humanitarian assistance alone
will not be enough to transform the lives of the millions of vulnerable
persons in Myanmar who need help, said Banbury. "The Myanmar government
should immediately pursue the reforms needed to lift Myanmar's people out
of poverty and hunger, and allow them to reach their full potential."



Operating in Myanmar in collaboration with 22 UN and NGO cooperating
partners, WFP provides food assistance to vulnerable persons in Myanmar
including HIV/AIDS and TB patients under treatment and school children in
marginalized areas of the country. A programme giving
nutritionally-enriched foods to mothers and children addresses acute
malnutrition rates that prevail in several operational areas.



Over three years, WFP plans to reach a total of 1,600,000 vulnerable
people
at a total cost of US$51.7 million. WFP assistance is provided to the
returned Rohinga communities in North Rakhine State, drought-affected
areas
in the central dry zone, and farming communities in former poppy growing
areas in the Shan State. WFP provides vulnerable families and households
with a food basket consisting of rice, pulses, vegetable oil, salt and
high-protein blended food. WFP operations rely on the Government to
facilitate the movement of food and personnel.



Donors to WFP's protracted relief and recovery operation in Myanmar
include
Australia (US$5.1 million), the United Nations Central Emergency Response
Fund (US$1.4 million - for CERF see: ochaonline.un), the United
Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (US$ 648,000), Japan (US$1.1
million), European Union (US$1.1 million), Switzerland (US$870,000),
Finland (US$670,000), Germany (US$670,000), United States (US$300,000),
New
Zealand (US$210,000) and Italy (US$140,000). A further US$2.3 million has
been received in multilateral donations and US$40,000 in private
donations.




WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: on average, each year, we
give food to 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs,
including 58 million hungry children, in 80 of the world's poorest
countries. WFP - We Feed People.

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