Humanitarian Relief and War, what’s our choice? - EDITORIAL

As this year (2023) dawns, the number of people who will be in need of humanitarian relief has increased by almost a quarter. According to the United Nations (UN), the worst global food crisis in modern history is pushing millions to the brink.

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and its Emergency Relief Coordinator is on record saying 339 million people, an increase of 65 million over last year, will be suffering, as a result of 2022’s “extreme events” and will be in urgent need of assistance. In plain language, one in 23 people will require humanitarian aid this year (2023).
The UN and partner agencies are asking donors for US$51.5 bn to fund the relief effort, another record figure and a 25% increase on the beginning of 2022. They say while most donors have remained relatively generous, needs have ballooned.

According to the ‘Guardian’ A global relief fund of a US $ 51.5bn will be needed to assist 339 million people suffering because of 2022’s extreme events.
 Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the country continues to witness one of the world’s most extensive and most severe hunger crises. Acute food insecurity has surged in 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in a report. 

The hunger crisis is affecting 22.8 million people which is equivalent to more than half of the population, as a result of extended drought, conflict, and political stability. 
A staggering 9 in 10 households cannot meet their food needs, with those headed by women particularly vulnerable, according to the latest WFP assessment.
In August 2021, The World Vision reported up to 6 million people are expected to experience emergency levels of food insecurity by November 2022. About 1.1 million children under 5 are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and around 3.5 million people were displaced within the country as of December 31, 2021. 

Yet, for reasons best known only to the US, its government has frozen nearly US$9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank. It has also stopped shipments of cash to the nation as it (US) tries to keep the Taliban-led government from accessing the money, an administration official confirmed to ‘Bloomberg’.
In West Asia, UNICEF reports after eight years of conflict, Yemen remains as a nation with one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with around 23.4 million people in need of assistance, including almost 13 million children.

By late 2022, more than 17.8 million people, including 9.2 million children, lacked access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services. The country continues to experience regular outbreaks of cholera, measles, diphtheria and other vaccine-preventable diseases. To mitigate the situation, UNICEF has said it urgently requires US$ 484.4 million to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen in 2023.
On the African continent, - in Somalia, UNICEF reports the severe drought has put 8.3 million people at risk of food insecurity, while around 1.8 million children are likely to be acutely wasted by July 2023. An estimated 6.4 million people are facing acute water shortages across the country. The number of out-of-school children in Somalia has increased from 4.14 million to 4.84 million.

Since January 2022, 13,383 suspected cholera cases, including 73 associated deaths (CFR 0.5%), have been reported from 25 Districts. On December 2, UNICEF requested US$ 272.3 million to provide humanitarian services to 3 million people in Somalia, including 2 million children.
Our own country is facing an economic crisis created by our politicians, UNICEF estimates 13.5 million, or 61.1% of the population, are using food-based coping strategies. 47.7% of households use livelihood coping strategies because they do not have resources to buy food. Around 5.3 million people, or 24% of population, are reducing the number of meals so that children can be fed, with women being the last to eat in the household.

In response to the crisis, in June, the UN called for US$ 47.2 million to provide life-saving assistance to 1.7 million people worst-hit by the economic crisis. Sadly the UN has not been able to find sufficient funds to meet the requirements of global humanitarian crises.
However, finding funds to swell the coffers of escalating wars has faced no such problems. For instance, the US alone, has already poured in more than US$110 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia since February this year. 
In today’s strange and twisted global view, when it’s a choice between war and humanitarian relief, relief comes a distant second!