United Nations’ Agency Seeks Improved Humanitarian Aids

The United Nations on Thursday issued a warning that the urgent need for humanitarian aid has reached an alarming rate worldwide.

The UN pointed to the menace of Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and communal crisis as global issues that could lead to famine.

To this end, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA on Thursday appealed for a record $41bn to help 183 million people who are the most in need of life-saving assistance – up from the $35bn requested for 2021 and double the amount sought four years ago.

OCHA is part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies.

The number of people in need “has never been as high as this”, Martin Griffiths, the head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Rights Affairs (OCHA), told a news conference on Thursday.

“The climate crisis is hitting the world’s most vulnerable people first and worst. Protracted conflicts grind on, and instability has worsened in several parts of the world, notably Ethiopia, Myanmar and Afghanistan,” Griffiths said.

The United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA on Thursday appealed for a record $41bn to help 183 million people who are the most in need of life-saving assistance – up from the $35bn requested for 2021 and double the amount sought four years ago.