Communities all throughout the world are suffering from conflicts, climate emergencies, and crumbling economies.
In 2024, response plans are ultraprioritized on the most urgent needs, and budgets have been tightened.
In 2023, 128 million people received life-saving assistance, but a growing funding gap meant that support was cut back and millions of people were not reached. In 2024, nearly 181 million people in 72 countries are targeted to receive humanitarian aid and protection.
The United Nations today launched its global appeal for 2024, asking for US$46.4 billion to provide 180.5 million people with life-saving assistance and protection on behalf of more than 1,900 humanitarian partners worldwide.
The most vulnerable communities across all continents are suffering greatly as a result of armed wars, the climate catastrophe, and collapsing economies. This is leading to catastrophic famine, widespread displacement, and disease epidemics.
In 2023, one child out of every five will either be living in or has escaped a conflict area. Acute hunger affects 258 million people worldwide. In the world, one in 73 individuals are displaced, a doubling in ten years. Furthermore, illness outbreaks are to blame for avoidable deaths worldwide.
In many of the most cruel situations on earth, humanitarians are preventing epidemics, combating starvation, saving lives, shielding children, and giving shelter and hygienic conditions.
However, the required assistance from the global community is not keeping up with the demands, according to Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.
“We express our gratitude to all of the contributors, who have so far this year contributed $20 billion—yet that only makes up one-third of the required sum. People’s lives will be paid for our inability to help them in 2024.
In 2023, underfunding prevented humanitarian organisations from reaching over two-thirds of the target population.
The outcomes are terrible: Between May and November, 10 million people in Afghanistan lost access to food aid. Over 500,000 people in Myanmar were left living in substandard conditions. More than 80% of Yemenis who are intended for aid lack access to clean water and sanitary facilities.
Furthermore, just 2% of Nigerian women who requested services related to gender-based violence prevention and sexual and reproductive health actually obtained them.
The needs-and-resources mismatch has been addressed by aid organisations in their 2024 response plans, which will target fewer people—nearly 181 million next year as opposed to 245 million at the end of 2023—and have a more disciplined emphasis on the most urgent needs.
Additionally, organisations are requesting less money, $46.4 billion for 2024 as opposed to $56.7 billion at the conclusion of the global appeal for 2023.
The goal remains to serve everyone in need, though, and there is still a pressing need for donors to dig deep and provide full funding for all response plans.
Three consecutive high-level events will be held in honour of the introduction of the Global Humanitarian Overview 2024 today: the first will take place in Doha, Qatar; the others will be held in Geneva, Switzerland; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On behalf of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), distributed by APO Group.
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