The United Nations’ Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has released $110 million to address underfunded humanitarian crises in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as global aid levels continue to decline.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, stated that over 300 million people worldwide urgently require assistance, yet funding shortages have left critical needs unmet.
“Brutal funding cuts don’t mean humanitarian needs disappear; today’s emergency fund allocation channels resources swiftly to where they’re needed most,” Fletcher said.
A third of the allocated funds will support Sudan and neighboring Chad, which has seen an influx of displaced Sudanese. Other beneficiaries include Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Honduras, Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, Venezuela, and Zambia. Part of the funding will also support life-saving initiatives against climate-related disasters.
Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, warned that reduced aid from donor countries was severely limiting the UN’s ability to assist millions of vulnerable children.
“These cuts come at a time of unprecedented need. Millions of children affected by conflict require vaccinations against diseases like measles and polio, as well as access to education and healthcare,” Russell said, stressing that the funding gap threatens millions of lives.
UNICEF, funded entirely by voluntary contributions, has made significant strides in reducing child mortality since 2000, but Russell urged donors to sustain critical aid efforts.
Meanwhile, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric highlighted Afghanistan’s worsening crisis, citing decades of conflict, poverty, and rising threats to women and girls. He noted that more than half the country’s population—about 23 million people—urgently need humanitarian aid, with millions of children and pregnant women at risk of acute malnutrition.
“Funding cuts are already constraining the humanitarian community’s ability to provide assistance to those most in need,” Dujarric warned.
The UN continues to call for urgent donor support to prevent further deterioration in these crisis-hit regions.
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