Rohingya Fear Starvation as WFP Cuts Food Aid in Myanmar

By: Camp Correspondent

March 15, 2025

The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that it will halt food aid for one million people in Myanmar starting in April due to a severe funding shortfall. The decision is expected to have devastating consequences for vulnerable communities, particularly Rohingya refugees and internally displaced people in central Rakhine State who rely heavily on WFP assistance.

Crisis Deepens for Rohingya in Rakhine

The food crisis in Myanmar has worsened due to ongoing conflicts, displacement, and increasing restrictions on humanitarian access. The aid suspension will also impact 100,000 displaced people in central Rakhine, where Rohingya communities already face severe restrictions on movement and access to employment.

For many Rohingya families, the loss of food assistance means a direct threat to survival.

“Without this food aid, we have nothing left. We are not allowed to work, and now even the little support we had is being taken away. How will we survive?” said Mohammed Salim, a Rohingya father of four.

Amina Khatun, a widowed mother, shared her distress: “My children already go to bed hungry some nights. If this food support stops, we will have no choice but to beg or starve.”

WFP’s Urgent Appeal for Funding

WFP has issued an urgent appeal for $60 million to sustain food assistance in Myanmar for the remainder of the year. If additional funding is not secured, only 35,000 of the most at-risk individuals—including young children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities—will continue to receive aid.

Myanmar’s Worsening Food Crisis

According to WFP:

• 15.2 million people in Myanmar are struggling to get enough food daily.
• 2.3 million people are already suffering from severe hunger.
• The recent aid suspension will push even more into crisis, with Rohingya communities among the hardest hit.

With no jobs, no access to farmland, and no freedom of movement, the Rohingya in Myanmar are now on the brink of a full-scale humanitarian disaster. Human rights groups are calling for immediate international intervention to prevent mass starvation in Rakhine State.