A senior official from the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), newly returned from Myanmar, on Thursday called for an increase in the level of humanitarian assistance to the country while urging its government to undertake reforms that will help the poor. WFP regional director for Asia Tony Banbury said current aid levels are unable to meet the needs of the people f Myanmar and urged the country's military government to undertake “critical reforms for the benefit of the country's desperately poor and needy people,” WFP said in a statement. At least 5 million vulnerable people in Myanmar lack food, and many suffer needlessly from diseases and live in poverty, said WFP, which said in can now provide food to only about 500,000 vulnerable people-far less than needed. “Humanitarian organizations can help, but we are faced with insufficient funding,” said Banbury. The WFP mission is Myanmar is only one-third funded. “Myanmar and its people have tremendous potential. But the government's policies, its harsh travel and trade restrictions, unnecessarily trap millions in lives of poverty and malnutrition, even in food-surplus areas such as Shan State,” Banbury said. “WFP food assistance is desperately needed by so many people, but it is only reaching a faction of them.”
