Humanitarian Funding

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that aid shortages are taking a growing toll on Somalia's most vulnerable people, leaving them without access to vital healthcare, nutritional support, and safe water. The brutal funding cuts are devastating for severely malnourished children, who have already lost or will soon lose access to life-saving treatment.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that more than 41,000 people in central and northern regions of the Central African Republic (CAR) will lose access to vital healthcare services by June due to funding shortfalls. The UN's primary health partner, the International Medical Corps, which assists displaced individuals in these regions, is expected to cease operations due to a lack of funding.

Major funding cuts and shrinking humanitarian access are pushing Yemen closer to a catastrophic health and hunger crisis, with aid organizations warning that millions of people are at immediate risk due to aid agencies' inability to provide lifesaving support. These warnings come as Yemen continues to suffer from one of the world’s largest and most complex humanitarian crises.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that critical funding shortfalls, severe operational restrictions and continued Israeli military operations are compounding the humanitarian emergency across Gaza and other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), leaving millions grappling with acute hunger and limited access to essential services. Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office released a report on Monday detailing war crimes, crimes against humanity and potential genocide in Gaza.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) World Vision reports that health facilities across Somalia supported by the NGO have recorded a sharp increase in the number of children admitted with severe malnutrition. In the first three months of this year, more than 3,500 children were diagnosed with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) — marking a 60 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025, when just over 2,000 cases were reported.

Amid continuing uncertainty over the impact of deep cuts in United States funding for humanitarian work worldwide, the head of the United Nations program coordinating the fight against HIV/AIDS warned on Monday that an additional 6.3 million people will die over the next four years if support is not restored. Several UN agencies have also recently warned that the radical cut in US support - on top of chronic underinvestment in humanitarian work worldwide - is putting millions of lives at risk across the globe.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, despite severe funding shortages, the UN and its humanitarian partners are continuing to respond to urgent needs in southern Syria, where they are delivering vital aid to communities amid harsh winter conditions. The US$3.2 billion humanitarian response plan for Syria is currently only 30 percent funded, with $953 million received as of mid-December.

The World Food Programme (WFP) issued a dire warning on Friday, highlighting that millions in Somalia are at risk of worsening hunger and malnutrition due to critical funding shortages. These shortages have forced the United Nations agency to reduce its emergency food assistance support by over two-thirds. By November, the WFP will only be able to provide assistance to 350,000 people, down from 1.1 million in August.

As global humanitarian funding plummets due to extreme funding cuts by the United States, the United Nations on Thursday released US$110 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to scale up life-saving assistance in ten of the world's most underfunded and neglected crises in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In total, more than 307 million people around the world are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued an urgent warning about the humanitarian situation in Cameroon. A massive funding gap threatens to derail lifesaving assistance for hundreds of thousands of displaced and vulnerable people. The warning comes as the country struggles with a neglected humanitarian crisis marked by overlapping emergencies.

United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) Martin Griffiths has today called for expanded humanitarian access and increased funding to assist the 18 million people in need of aid across Myanmar. The call comes as Myanmar’s overall humanitarian and human rights situation has deteriorated to alarming levels, exacerbated by the military’s strategy to prevent life-saving humanitarian aid from reaching those who desperately need it.

Two leading United Nations agencies are warning that more than a million Sudanese refugees in Chad face immediate and life-threatening cuts to food, water, shelter, protection, and health care as the conflict in neighboring Sudan approaches the three-year mark. Earlier this week, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that they will drastically scale back essential assistance to refugees in Chad unless the US$428 million funding gap is filled.

The United Nations warns that the lack of humanitarian funding is endangering the lives of millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). Many aid agencies have been forced to scale back their operations, which has disrupted critical services for those in desperate need. The UN humanitarian office is calling on the international community to take urgent action to address these severe funding gaps and "stave off a humanitarian tragedy."

The ongoing political instability and armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC) have devastated food production and distribution systems, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the non-governmental organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned today that extreme levels of violence, hunger, and displacement receive “scant funding, media apathy, and neglect”, as recent months have brought a dramatic deterioration in the situation in the eastern part of the country.

The United Nations in Lebanon issued an appeal on Friday for an additional US$331.5 million to provide assistance to 1.4 million people from June through August. The appeal comes amid escalating Israeli attacks and expanding displacement orders, which are taking a heavy toll on Lebanese civilians. The revised Flash Appeal brings the total request from March through August to nearly $640 million to sustain life-saving efforts.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that an escalation in fighting is devastating communities in Yemen that are already struggling to survive after more than a decade of conflict. According to humanitarian agencies, approximately 34,000 people have been displaced in the governorates of Taiz and Al-Hodeidah since Thursday, when hostilities escalated. Civilians are reportedly among those killed and injured as clashes intensify.

A network of international and national humanitarian organizations issued a stark warning Monday that Yemen is reaching a "dangerous tipping point.", as escalating hunger, eroding resilience, and collapsing humanitarian funding pushes millions of people deeper into crisis. This warning comes as an estimated 22.3 million people, nearly two-thirds of Yemen's population, are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has issued an urgent appeal to the UN Security Council, warning that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is worsening due to rising needs, operational restrictions, and severe underfunding. During her briefing on Monday, OCHA Director Edem Wosornu emphasized that sustained international support and adherence to the humanitarian exception are essential for averting famine and safeguarding vulnerable populations, especially women and girls.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there were 122.1 million forcibly displaced people by the end of April 2025 — up from 120 million at the same time last year, but down from the record high of 123.2 million at the end of 2024. In a report released Thursday, UNHCR stated that the number of people displaced by war, violence, and persecution worldwide is "untenably high," especially given the drying up of humanitarian funding. The only bright spot is a pickup in some returns, notably to Syria.