The UK government has provided £4.49 million (Rs 678 million) to help Nepal’s most vulnerable people cope with the Covid-19 pandemic and provide food security and nutrition recovery support to their families.

The aid from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office will allow the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to support close to 65,000 people affected by the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 with cash-based assistance.

According to the WFP, the assistance is part of its Livelihoods and Economic Recovery Project to help improve livelihoods and reduce food insecurity in five vulnerable districts of Province 2, Karnali and Sudur-Paschim provinces.

In rural areas across the country, the pandemic has destroyed work and livelihood opportunities for many households.

Currently, over 20 per cent of households in Nepal are severely food insecure while around 43 percent of children between 6 to 23 months do not have enough variety in their diet, WFP said in a statement.

Additionally, the WFP said the pandemic has severely affected those families with vulnerable members, including the disabled, elderly, children, family members suffering from Covid-19 or with pre-existing medical conditions, as well as pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers.

WFP said the UK aid will help support these vulnerable groups through its various nutrition and livelihood projects.

“I am proud that we are providing UKaid to help some of the poor and vulnerable people of Nepal, particularly mothers and children, who have been especially hard hit. My thanks go to our WFP partners for joining us in this effort and helping us to make it happen,” said Lisa Honan, development director at British Embassy in Kathmandu.

For those families who cannot take part in the livelihood project’s ‘cash for work’ activities, the WFP said it will provide unconditional cash support to protect them against resorting to negative coping mechanisms such as eating fewer and smaller meals, child labour or child marriage.

“The United Kingdom’s contribution to the WFP will provide immediate, much-needed assistance to more than 157,000 most-vulnerable COVID affected people desperately struggling to feed their families in some of the most remote areas of Nepal,” said Pippa Bradford, country director of WFP Nepal.