Global humanitarian aid: UN chief makes record appeal for $7.4 billion

GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday launched its biggest appeal for relief funds, saying it needed $7.4 billion in 2011 to provide urgent humanitarian aid to over 50 million people in 28 countries.

“On behalf of millions of people needing urgent help and hundreds of organisations that have come together to devise these plans, I appeal for $7.4 billion to help some of the most vulnerable people in the world survive the effects of disaster and conflict,” said UN chief Ban Ki-moon in the foreword of the aid appeal.

The biggest share of the appeal – $1.7 billion – will go to Sudan, where millions have been displaced from troubled Darfur alone.

Much of the funds are budgeted for food and livelihoods, and the UN pointed out that aid efforts will continue “life-saving assistance,” but also help the country to strengthen its preparedness against future shocks.

The massive 2010 natural catastrophes in Pakistan and Haiti will also require close to $2billion in total.

Other countries or regions covered in the appeal include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Palestinian territories, Somalia, Kenya, Chad, Zimbabwe, West Africa, Yemen, Niger, Central African Republic, Kyrgyzstan and Djibouti.

“The overarching goal of this plan is to prevent excess morbidity and mortality and to enable flood-affected communities to return to their normal lives,” said the UN.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2010.