UN World Food Program head Cindy McCain says she will step down for health reasons

ROME (AP) — U.N. World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain announced on Thursday that she will step down as the head of the humanitarian organization in three months to focus on her health.

The 71-year-old American suffered a mild stroke in October 2025 and returned in early January to the WFP’s headquarters in Rome to resume her duties.

“She wasted no time assuming the many responsibilities of leading the world’s front-line agency tackling a multitude of hunger crises across the globe, but found the demands of the job were outpacing her recovery,” WFP said in a statement.

“With a heavy heart, I am announcing my intention to step down as the executive director of the World Food Program,” McCain said. “Serving this incredible organization has been the honor of a lifetime.”

McCain praised “WFP’s ability to save lives in the most dangerous, destitute and remote locations of the world, where people need us the most.”

She added she had hoped to finish her term and the decision to leave the organization was “one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make.

”But my health has not recovered to a level that allows me to fully serve the enormous demands of this job,” she said.

McCain stressed that “over the past three years, we have delivered life-saving and life-changing assistance for millions of the world’s most vulnerable people — and this unwavering commitment will be more important than ever in the years to come.”

McCain was appointed in March 2023 to lead the world’s largest humanitarian organization for a five-year term. She had previously served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies for food and agriculture under former President Joe Biden.

The widow of Republican Sen. John McCain, she broke with Republicans when she endorsed Biden for president in 2020, making her a key surrogate for the Democrat after now-President Donald Trump spent years criticizing her husband and his military service.

She has since become the face of the World Food Program, one of the few U.N. agencies that has received bipartisan support for its efforts to help nearly 150 million people confronting conflicts, disasters and impacts of climate change this year.

McCain and the WFP have been in the spotlight as the agency has sought to respond to the humanitarian crises caused by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and Israel’s offensive inside the Gaza Strip.

McCain had succeeded David Beasley, a former South Carolina governor who had led WFP through challenging times, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the global food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.