UN's food-aid chief says funding prospects 'bleak'

Funding prospects are "bleak", and impoverished Syrian refugees face more cuts in food aid, the head of the World Food Programme said in an interview after inspecting the bare refrigerator of a refugee family and meeting boys forced to swap school for work to help their families survive.

Ertharin Cousin, the UN agency's executive director, called on donor countries to give more to millions displaced by the Syria conflict, now in its fifth year.

"We need everyone to recognize that we as a global community must continue to stand by these families, these children, until the political situation is solved," she said after meeting with refugees in the Jordanian capital, Amman.