The United Nations today, Thursday, launched an appeal for $51.5 billion, a record amount, in humanitarian aid in 2023 to help 230 million people around the world.
"Next year will witness the largest humanitarian program" to be launched worldwide, Martin Griffiths, Humanitarian Affairs Officer at the International Organization, told reporters.
UN humanitarian agencies will need $51.5 billion next year to fund their programs to help 230 million of the most vulnerable people in 68 countries.
However, the United Nations does not provide assistance to all those in need, as it is expected that 339 million people in the world in total will need emergency aid next year, compared to 274 million in 2022.
Griffiths said 339 million people are a "huge and frustrating number", lamenting that humanitarian needs, which peaked in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, have not diminished since then.
"Deadly droughts and floods have caused devastation ... from Pakistan to the Horn of Africa, and the war in Ukraine has turned part of Europe into a battlefield," he said.
He added that "more than 100 million people have been displaced in the world," noting that all this "adds to the devastation inflicted by the epidemic on the poorest in the world."