A pandemic wave of fans in humanitarian needs in 2021, the UN says

GENEVA – The UN Humanitarian Office says assistance needs have increased to unprecedented levels this year due to COVID-19, predicting that a staggering 235 million people will require help in 2021.

This is the result of the coronavirus pandemic and global challenges including conflict, forced migration and the impact of global warming.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, expects a 40% increase in the number of people in need of such assistance in 2021 compared to this year, a sign that the pain, suffering and torment caused by the outbreak coronavirus and other problems could worsen even as hopes for a vaccine rise.

OCHA made projections in its latest annual global humanitarian overview on Tuesday, saying its hopes of reaching 160 million people in need will cost $ 35 billion. This is more than double the $ 17 billion record donors have provided so far for the international humanitarian response this year – and a target figure that is almost certain will not be met.

“The picture we are painting this year is the darkest and darkest perspective on humanitarian needs we have ever established, and this is because the pandemic has reaped carnage in the most fragile and vulnerable countries on the planet,” said the UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, who directs OCHA.

“For the first time since the 1990s, extreme poverty will increase, life expectancy will decrease, the annual death toll from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria is set to double,” he said. “We fear almost doubling the number of people at risk of hunger.”

Lowcock said at a UN briefing in New York on the overview that he thinks the UN appeal is likely to raise a record $ 20 billion by the end of the year – $ 2 billion more than last year. But he said the gap between needs and funding is growing and the UN is looking for “new players” to enter the scene in 2021, including the new administration of US President-elect Joe Biden.

The UN aims to reach about two-thirds of those in need, with the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations trying to satisfy the rest, Lowcock explained.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said humanitarian aid budgets are now facing severe shortages as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen and said that extreme poverty has increased for the first time in more than a generation.

“The lives of people in every nation and corner of the world have been disrupted by the impact of the pandemic,” he said in a video statement. “Those already living on a tightrope are disproportionately affected by rising food prices, falling incomes, disruption of vaccination programs, and school closures.”

The overview, which is touted as one of the most comprehensive views of the world’s humanitarian needs, put together nearly three dozen individual response plans for a total of 56 “vulnerable” countries.

Lowcock said the biggest problem is in Yemen, where there is now the danger of “a large-scale famine”, saying one of the main reasons is the lack of funds from the Gulf countries which were the main donors. in the past which has led to cuts in aid and the closure of clinics.

He said the biggest financial demand is for the Syrian crisis and its spread to neighboring countries where millions of Syrians have fled to escape the conflict that has lasted more than nine years.

OCHA said other countries in need include Afghanistan, Congo, Haiti, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela. Newcomers on this year’s list are Mozambique, where extremist activity has increased in the north, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Lowcock said it is not the pandemic, but its economic impact that has the greatest effect on humanitarian needs.

“All of these have hit the poorest people the hardest in the poorest countries,” he said. “For the poorest, the after-effects of the pandemic will be long and hard.”

Lowcock said at the launch of the overview, speaking virtually from New York, that the world faces a clear choice.

“We can let 2021 be the year of the great reversal – the unraveling of 40 years of progress – or we can work together to make sure we all find a way out of this pandemic,” he said.