Cindy McCain suffers a mild stroke and will take leave from World Food Program while recovering

NEW YORK (AP) — Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain and head of the U.N. World Food Program, suffered a mild stroke this week and is said to be recovering “well,” according to a press release Thursday from the humanitarian organization.

The statement said McCain, 71, is expected to make a “full recovery” and will be traveling from Rome, where the WFP is based, to Arizona to focus on her recuperation. She will return to her post after her doctors have cleared her in four to six weeks.

“I want to thank the medical staff in Italy for the excellent treatment I received,” said McCain. “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 U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies for food and agriculture under former President Joe Biden. McCain 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.

In late August, after visiting Gaza, McCain told The Associated Press it was “very evident” that there isn’t enough food in the Palestinian territory. She said she had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the urgent need for more aid.

Her comments came a week after the world’s leading authority on food crises said the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it was likely to spread across the territory 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 is real and it is happening now,”

An advocate for children, McCain has served on the board of directors for Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing facial deformities for children around the world, visiting India, Morocco and Vietnam, the joint announcement said.

McCain 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. Beasley was at the helm when the World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, in part for being “a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”

Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of WFP, is expected to oversee the organization’s day-to-day operations until McCain’s return.

In the statement Thursday, McCain said she has “full confidence” in her leadership team’s ability “to stay laser-focused on delivering urgently needed food assistance to the more than 100 million people WFP is working to serve across 87 countries.”

She added, “The fight against hunger has never been more critical, and I am incredibly proud of the work our teams do every day. I look forward to being back in the field soon — alongside WFP teams — pushing back against famine and supporting communities in need.”