The United Nations World Food Program has warned that refugees in Ethiopia are at risk of starvation.

The organization said the risk of starvation has increased as it has been forced to reduce food distributions due to funding constraints.

In October, the World Food Program announced that it had been forced to reduce food rations from 60 percent to 40 percent for 780,000 refugees in 27 camps in Ethiopia.

This means that each person is receiving less than 1,000 calories of food assistance per day.

It said only 70,000 new refugees, who fled conflict in neighboring Sudan and South Sudan, will receive full rations for the next six months.

The organization also noted that the rate of hunger and severe malnutrition is high among newly arriving refugees.

The organization has warned that it will completely stop providing food assistance to all refugees in Ethiopia in the coming months if it does not receive urgent funding.

In addition to the financial crisis, the ongoing insecurity, especially in the Amhara region, continues to hamper the World Food Program's humanitarian work, he said in a statement.