The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed global aid needs to a record $ 35 billion by 2021, says the UN

Transportation Security Administration staff and travelers observe COVID-19 transmission prevention protocols at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York’s borough of Queens. AP

Geneva: The UN said Tuesday that $ 35 billion would be needed for aid in 2021, as the pandemic leaves tens of millions more in crisis and at risk of multiple famines looming.

The world body’s annual Global Humanitarian Outlook estimated that 235 million people around the world will need some form of emergency assistance next year, a staggering 40 percent increase in the past year.

“The increase is due almost entirely to COVID-19 “United Nations emergency aid coordinator Mark Lowcock told reporters.

Next year, one in 33 people worldwide will need help, according to the report, which emphasizes that if they all lived in one country, it would be the fifth largest nation in the world.

The annual appeal from UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations generally paints a depressing picture of the growing needs brought on by conflict, displacement, natural disasters and climate change.

But now, he realized, the coronavirus The pandemic, which has killed more than 1.45 million people worldwide, has disproportionately hit those “already living on the razor’s edge.”

“The picture we present is the bleakest and bleakest outlook on humanitarian need in the period ahead of us,” Lowcock said.

The money requested in the appeal would be enough to help 160 million of the most vulnerable people in 56 countries, the UN said.

‘The alarm bells are ringing’
For the first time since the 1990s, extreme poverty will increase, life expectancy will decline, and the annual number of deaths from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria could potentially double.

“Possibly most alarming … is the threat of the return of famines, potentially in multiple places,” Lowcock said.

With only one true famine so far in the 21st century, in Somalia nearly a decade ago, the mass famine seemed to have been “assigned to the dustbin of history,” he said.

But now, he warned, “the red lights are flashing and the alarm bells are ringing.”

By the end of 2020, the number of acutely food insecure people worldwide could rise to 270 million, an 82% increase over the COVID-19 number.

Conditions in Yemen, Burkina Faso, South Sudan and northeastern Nigeria indicated that they are already on the brink of famine, while other countries and regions, including Afghanistan and the Sahel, were also “potentially very vulnerable,” he said.

“If we get through 2021 without major famines, it will be a significant achievement.”

Tuesday’s appeal shows that war-torn Syria and Yemen top the list of countries most in need of humanitarian assistance.

The UN seeks about $ 6 billion to help millions of Syrians inside and outside the country ravaged by a decade of conflict.

And he’s asking for nearly $ 3.5 billion to help nearly 20 million Yemenis caught up in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

‘Darkest hour’
Other major crises requiring substantial funding include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.

Raising the $ 35 billion needed at a time of global economic crisis could meanwhile be a daunting task, the amount is more than double the $ 17 billion raised so far this year.

That amount is already a record, but it’s still well below the nearly $ 29 billion requested during last year’s appeal, even before the pandemic loomed.

“The crisis is far from over. Humanitarian aid budgets face severe deficits as the impact of the global pandemic continues to worsen,” UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

“Together we must mobilize resources and stand in solidarity with people in their darkest hour of need.”

Meanwhile, Lowcock insisted that while the total dollar amount requested seemed high, it was actually small compared to the amounts rich countries are pouring in to rescue their stagnant economies.

“What is at stake is the lives of a large number of vulnerable people, and the cost of safeguarding their lives is really very small relative to all the other challenges we face.”