World Vision delivers more food and supplies into Ukraine

The aid agency also warns that Ukraine conflict could lead to increase in global starvation

Soaring humanitarian needs inside Ukraine have prompted World Vision to deliver its second shipment of essential food and supplies to a hospital in the embattled nation.

The shipment delivered essential items to a municipal hospital in Novoselytsia just over the Romanian border, and was the second in just one week by World Vision to hospitals in western Ukraine, a region where many of the internally displaced are seeking refuge in sub-zero temperatures.

The supplied goods included nappies, blankets, mattresses, sheets, towels, detergents, cleaning items, canned food, rice, flour, grains, juices and oil, among many others.

World Vision Romania National Director Mihaela Nabâr said the organisation was becoming increasingly worried by the worsening humanitarian situation and deprivation inside Ukraine where food, in particular, was running out in many places.

“We already know the situation for refugees in neighbouring countries is bad enough, but we are also hearing dreadful stories of desperation inside Ukraine, of people who are internally displaced after fleeing the fighting,” Mihaela Nabâr said. “So, in areas where we have access, such as western Ukraine, we will continue to respond to the needs of those people.”

As the number of those in need of support spirals, World Vision is scaling up its response in three countries: Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova. The organisation has assisted people as they transit the country, and at current estimates is aiming to reach 200,000 people within Romania, 50,000 within Ukraine and 20,000 inside Moldova. It is also supporting many of the estimated 4,500 refugees who have fled to Georgia.

The organisation also warns that the conflict in Ukraine is worsening the hunger crisis in dozens of other nations.

UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley recently said that as they obtain half their grain from the Ukraine-Russia area, the conflict could inhibit WFP's ability to reach 120 million of the world's most vulnerable people.

As WFP’s largest partner, World Vision is extremely concerned for millions of people already on the brink of starvation. The impact of COVID-19 saw donor governments reduce food aid funding for the world’s poorest and hungriest people last year, and now the conflict in Ukraine is likely to lead to further risk to food aid. Families are now dependent on this nutritional support to survive, especially those have been forced to flee their homes in countries like Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan.

World Vision calls on the international community to ensure ration cuts, as a result of fallout from this conflict, are avoided.


Published on 17 March 2022