WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working to provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to the tens of thousands of innocent children, women, and men displaced by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) assault on Sinjar and surrounding areas of northern Iraq.

USAID is deploying humanitarian response experts to key locations in the region to help manage and coordinate U.S. Government support of the Government of Iraq’s humanitarian aid effort for those displaced by ISIL. On August 4, USAID authorized the UN World Food Program (WFP) to utilize for the Iraq Emergency Operation approximately 15 metric tons of USAID A-29 meal replacement bars already in country, which can meet the daily caloric requirements of 31,000 people. USAID’s meal replacement bars contain a complete daily ration of calories, fat, protein, and carbohydrates and are fortified with a premix of 24 vitamins and minerals. Aside from water and breast milk, the bars can serve as the sole source of food during the initial phase of an emergency situation.

On August 5, WFP began distributing the USAID meal replacement bars to newly displaced individuals in and around Dohuk, along with hot meals and three-day emergency rations containing canned tuna, beans, vegetables, dates, and halawa, a sweet food made with sesame paste.

At the request of the Government of Iraq and to help meet urgent needs of those who cannot be reached by humanitarian organizations, the U.S. military—in close coordination with USAID—earlier this week began airdropping life-saving food rations and water to the large community of Iraqi Yezidis trapped by ISIL on Mount Sinjar.

USAID remains committed to the people of Iraq and supporting the Government of Iraq’s efforts to meet the critical humanitarian needs.