Millions of lives at risk due to lack of funding

OCHA, the UN agency coordinating humanitarian aid, is sounding the alarm about the urgent need to find funding to meet the food needs of tens of millions of people by 2025.

Of the $44 billion earmarked for the current year, only $5.6 billion had been disbursed by June, i.e. 13% of the total amount.

Meanwhile, international and humanitarian crises are multiplying, creating emergency situations for populations.

“We are going to help 66 million fewer people than before, whereas the initial plan was to bring aid to 180 million vulnerable people,” said OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke.

“People will lose their lives simply because they do not have access to the humanitarian aid they used to receive. It is a cruel irony that humanitarian needs are constantly increasing, while funds are decreasing”, he lamented.

For Jens Laerke, the equivalent of four days military spending can finance a whole year’s humanitarian action and save lives.