On November 28, 2007 the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) called upon international donors to contribute urgently to a new three-year, $98 million program to help fight hunger in Indonesia. WFP has not received significant contributions towards this program and may need to suspend or significantly reduce their efforts to provide assistance to Indonesia unless funding is pledged soon. In the past year, 845,000 Indonesians have received WFP food assistance in areas including West Timor, Lombok, Madura, East Java and Greater Jakarta.
Tony Banbury, Asia Regional Director for WFP, said "Hunger is still a very real threat for too many poor Indonesians." According to the WFP, approximately 13 million children under five are malnourished in Indonesia, and as many as 30 percent of children under the age of five are severely malnourished in some of the poorest areas of the country. For more information:
