The cash-strapped World Food Program has had to drop one-third of Syrian refugees from its food voucher program in Middle Eastern host countries this year, including 229,000 in Jordan who stopped receiving food aid in September, a spokeswoman said Friday, September 4, the Associated Press reports.

The sharp cutbacks come at a time when growing numbers of desperate Syrians who initially found refuge in neighboring countries are trying to reach Europe.

Abeer Etefa, a WFP regional spokeswoman, said the world must do more to support refugees in the regional host countries or face increasing migration.

“This is a crisis that has been brewing in the region for five years,” she said. “Now it is getting the attention of the world because it moved one step further from the region to Europe. We have to help people where they are or they will move.” The UN agency has been distributing food vouchers to refugees since the beginning of the Syria crisis, but is facing increasing funding gaps. “Since the beginning of this operation, it has been hand to mouth,” said Etefa. “It is nerve-wracking for the refugees and the staff.”

She said the agency needs $236 million to keep the program — even in its scaled-back version — funded through November. No major donors have come forward, she said, according to the AP.

Etefa said the agency tries to give priority to the most vulnerable refugees, including single mothers.