UN launches record $22.2 bn aid appeal for 2017

The United Nations (UN) on Monday launched a record $22.2 billion humanitarian appeal in 2017, to help almost 93 million people globally hit by conflicts and natural disasters.

UN launches record aid appeal of $22.2bn for 2017 AJENews https://t.co/QD6gcEedBN

— Barbara Garattini (BGarattini) December 5, 2016

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), most more than half of the money will be used to address the needs of people caught up in crises in South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

“As we speak, more people have humanitarian needs, not least because of protracted crises lasting longer and longer,” U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien wrote in the introduction to the appeal, which covers 33 countries.

He added that 80% of the needs arose from man made conflicts such as those in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria and South Sudan.

Several countries including, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Afghanistan have issued emergency appeals almost annually for the past 25 years, and some faced worsening crises in 2017, the UN said.

The political crisis in Burundi will see the number of people in need of urgent support triple to about 3 million.

Last week, UN doubled its appeal for north east Nigeria to $1 billion in a bid to reach about 7 million people hit by the Boko Haram Insurgency.

Estimates indicate that the amount of humanitarian funds requested by the UN has surged dramatically in recent history, rising by about 400 % in the last decade alone.