How Covid has hit humanitarian aid programs

11 December

Adam Tooze, the director of the European Institute, shared an article on how the initial funding of $29bn to curb the coronavirus pandemic surged to $39bn in mid-November to support nearly 265 million of the 441 million people across 64 countries.

The Global Humanitarian Overview for 2020 found that donors gave approximately $17bn to inter-agency plans towards the end of November 2020.

However, despite the generous contributions, the gap between requirements and funding has never been larger, approximately $22bn.

The overview for 2021 further revealed that 235 million people will need humanitarian assistance in the year ahead, indicating 1 in 33 people need help globally compared to 1 in 45 people in the previous year.

The United Nation (UN) and partner organisations are working towards protecting almost 160 million people across 56 countries with funding requirements of approximately $35bn.

Despite the pressure of the pandemic on donor economies, additional funding was secured on several occasions, the article detailed.

However, humanitarian organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) continue to be underfunded and have been unable to carry out activities planned in 2020.