SW News: The World Food Program cautioned that after 12 years of unrelenting conflict, economic restraints, and the February earthquake, hunger and malnutrition are on the rise in Syria and that more than half the population is food insecure.

According to the United Nations, 12.1 million Syrians are food insecure, and another 2.9 million are in danger of starvation, highlighting the critical need for more humanitarian aid.

Malnutrition caused 28% of child stunting, and maternal malnutrition is at an all-time high, according to the organization. As food costs were growing, the latest earthquakes in Syria and Turkey made matters worse.

Despite a 40 percent increase in yearly funding until 2023, the food assistance agency is functioning at "half rations" in Yemen and Syria, according to WFP regional director Corinne Fleischer. The WFP supplies food for 13 million Yemenis and 7 million Syrians.

Ms. Fleischer said that the WFP needed $150 million to feed Syrians for six months after the earthquake, but only 16 percent of that amount had been raised. In the meanwhile, a United Nations investigation determined that the Syrian government and the United Nations delayed the distribution of humanitarian aid after the earthquake.

Following years of inflation and currency devaluation, the World Food Programme revealed that food and fuel costs are at a 10-year high. Syria, which was formerly self-sufficient in terms of food production, is now one of the six nations with the highest food insecurity. Wheat yield has plummeted by 75 percent as a result of infrastructure destruction, rising fuel prices, and drought-like conditions.

In the meanwhile, Christian groups like Blue Marists have helped hundreds of displaced families with food, milk powder for infants, hygiene goods, clothing, and footwear. They paid for medical treatment for individuals who were unable to obtain it in overcrowded hospitals and rented homes to those who had lost theirs.

The WFP has warned that unless it receives additional funds from donors, it would be forced to significantly cut the number of people it supports beginning in July.