Bleak picture of world as UN asks for more aid money than ever

The UN asked for a record-breaking amount of aid funding for 2023 on Thursday to cope with soaring humanitarian needs. Humanitarian agencies at the United Nations (UN) face mammoth costs to tackle a looming famine in east Africa caused by climate change and the fallout from the Ukraine war. The UN needs 49.6 billion euros next year -- up 25% from the previous year.

This funding will allow the organisation to finance its programmes, helping around 230 million of the most vulnerable people in 68 countries. However, this will still fall short of what is needed, with a total of 339 million people globally expected to require emergency assistance next year. The largest sums are needed in Afghanistan, followed by Syria, Yemen, Ukraine and Ethiopia. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths described the required amount of money as "a shocker", pointing out that "the gap between needs and funding is going to grow". "Next year will ... be the largest humanitarian programme, ever launched globally," he added. "339 million people ... that's a huge and depressing number." According to the UN, the funding gap will force humanitarian organisations to make the sad choices between aiding certain populations and not others. At least 222 million people in 53 countries will face acute food insecurity by the end of 2022, while 45 million people in 37 countries are at risk of starvation. (Source Euronews)