UN launches record $51.5 billion humanitarian appeal for 2023
Estimated costs UN humanitarian aid for 2023 is $51.5 billion, a 25 percent increase from the beginning of this year, the UN and partner organizations said Thursday.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), next year will be a new record in humanitarian aid needs: 339 million people need help in 69 countries, which is 65 million more than at the same time last year. ).
“The humanitarian needs are shockingly high as this year’s extreme events spill over into 2023,” said the UN emergency coordinator. Martin Griffiths.
“Deadly droughts and floods are wreaking havoc in communities from Pakistan to the Horn of Africa. The war in Ukraine has turned parts of Europe into a battlefield. More than 100 million people have been displaced worldwide. And all of this pandemic’s devastation among the world’s poorest.
“For people on the brink, this appeal is a lifeline. For the international community, it is a strategy to deliver on the promise to leave no one behind.”
The 2023 Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO), launched today by the UN in collaboration with non-governmental organizations and other humanitarian partners, paints a rough picture of the future.
This huge UN appeal comes as at least 222 million people in 53 countries face acute food insecurity by the end of 2022. According to OCHA, 45 million people in 37 countries are at risk of starvation.
Public health is under pressure due to outbreaks of COVID-19, monkeypox, vector-borne diseases, and Ebola and cholera. Climate change increases risks and vulnerability. By the end of the century, extreme heat may claim as many lives as cancer. OCHA said it will take four generations – 132 years – to achieve global gender equality. In particular, 388 million women and girls live in extreme poverty around the world.
According to OCHA, the GHO Action Plans describe how aid agencies working together on specific types of aid – including shelter, food, maternal health, child nutrition and protection – can save and support the lives of a total of 230 million people worldwide.
This year, humanitarian organizations have delivered aid to address the most urgent needs of 157 million people. This includes food aid for 127 million people; enough clean water for nearly 26 million people; livelihood support for 24 million people; mental health and psychosocial support for 13 million children and carers; maternal health counseling for 5.2 million mothers; and healthcare services for 5.8 million refugees and asylum seekers.
According to the UN agency, humanitarian aid workers have negotiated careful access to communities in need, most recently in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince to deliver water and food rations. And the Black Sea Grain Initiative has been renewed, ensuring a continuous flow of food from Ukraine to global markets.
National and local organizations are members of 80 percent of all humanitarian country teams and provide essential guidance and leadership. And from Afghanistan to the Central African Republic, local organizations led by women are doing humanitarian planning and programming.
The UN agency said donors have provided a generous $24 billion in funding by mid-November 2022, but needs are growing faster than financial support. The financing gap has never been larger, currently 53 percent. Humanitarian organizations must therefore decide who to target with available funds.
HT
Source: ANI