A top official from the World Food Programme (WFP) has raised concern that children remain without school meals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The official said urgent action is required to help hundreds of millions of children who are without access to school meals.
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Director of the WFP’s school feeding division, Carmen Burbano de Lara, said this while speaking at the Rewired Education Summit at Expo Dubai 2020 earlier this week.
The official said half of the 370 million lost access to school meals in 2020 as the schools around the world closed due to COVID-19.
She said though the issue remains a global one, the Middle East is one of the worst affected areas, particularly Yemen.
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She added that there was a global collapse of the programs to support children to get school meals last year and half of the children affected are still going without meals.
An estimated 73 million primary school-aged children, living mostly in Africa, are in need of school meals while the situation is equally grim elsewhere. (AW)
