New York — NEW YORK (AP) — Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain and the head of the U.N. World Food Program, suffered a mild stroke this week and is said to be recovering “well,” according to a Thursday news release from the humanitarian organization.
The statement said that McCain, 71, is expected to make a full recovery and will travel from Rome, where the World Food Program is based, to Arizona to focus on her recovery. She will return to her position after her doctors approve it within four to six weeks.
“I want to thank the medical staff in Italy for the excellent treatment I received,” McCain said. “My recovery is progressing well thanks to their outstanding care.”
McCain was appointed in March 2023 to lead the world’s largest humanitarian organization after serving as US Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agencies under former President Joe Biden. McCain broke with Republicans when she endorsed Biden for president in 2020, making her a key alternative to the Democrat after current President Donald Trump spent years criticizing her husband and his military service.
She has since become the face of the World Food Programme, one of the few UN agencies to receive bipartisan support for its efforts to help nearly 150 million people confront conflict, disasters and the impacts of climate change this year. McCain and the World Food Program were in the spotlight as the agency sought to respond to humanitarian crises caused by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the Israeli offensive inside the Gaza Strip.
In late August, after his visit to Gaza, McCain told the Associated Press that it was “very clear” that was not the case. Enough food in the Palestinian territories. She said she spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu About the urgent need for more aid.
Her comments came a week after the world’s leading body on food crises made the announcement The largest city in the Gaza Strip is suffering from famineIt is likely to spread throughout the region Without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions On humanitarian aid.
“I personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza,” she said. “It’s real and it’s happening now.”
McCain, an advocate for children, served on the board of directors of Operation Smile, a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing facial deformities in children around the world, and visited India, Morocco and Vietnam, the joint announcement said.
McCain’s successor is David Beasley, the former South Carolina governor who led the World Food Program through difficult times, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the global food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beasley was at the helm when The World Food Program won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prizein part because it is “a driving force in efforts to prevent hunger from being used as a weapon of war and conflict.”
Karl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme, is expected to oversee the organization’s day-to-day operations until McCain returns.
In a statement Thursday, McCain said she had “full confidence” in her leadership team’s ability “to remain focused on delivering urgently needed food assistance to more than 100 million people that WFP serves in 87 countries.”
She added: “The fight against hunger has never been more important, and I am so proud of the work our teams do every day. I look forward to returning to the field soon – alongside WFP teams – to fight hunger and support communities in need.”