Record value for aid needed in 2021

The United Nations launches a humanitarian appeal to raise $ 35 billion

One of the UN aid warehouses in Sudan.

Reuters

Yesterday, the United Nations launched a humanitarian appeal to collect aid with a record value of up to 35 billion dollars for the year 2021, to address the repercussions of the emerging corona virus (Covid-19), which plunged hundreds of millions of people into poverty, at a time looming on the horizon of several famines. .

According to the humanitarian response plans coordinated by the United Nations, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the world in 2021 will rise to a new record number of 235 million people, which will increase by 40% compared to the year 2020. The Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for Humanitarian Affairs and Relief said, Mark Lowcock, in a press conference, "Almost all of the increase is caused by (Covid-19)."

He added, "The picture we are presenting is the most bleak and darker of all about the humanitarian needs in the coming period."

The funds requested by the United Nations and its partners aim to help about 160 million people (out of 325 million) in 46 countries, who are the most vulnerable, facing hunger, conflict, displacement, the repercussions of climate change and the epidemic.

The United Nations confirmed that the global health crisis has caused disturbances in everyone’s lives, all over the world, noting that “people who were already living on the edge have been severely affected, and disproportionately, due to the increase in food prices, the collapse of incomes, the disruption of vaccination programs, and the closure of schools. ».

For the first time since the late 1990s, extreme poverty increased.

Life expectancy has fallen sharply worldwide, and the number of deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria may double.

• 235 million people need humanitarian aid next year.

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