Geneva: The Ukraine War and other Wars, Climate Emergencies, and the Still-Simmering Pandemic Push More People Into Crisis, Some Toward Famine, The UN appealed for record funds for aid next year.

According to the UN's annual Global Humanitarian Overview, 339 million people worldwide will require emergency assistance in the upcoming year — a startling 65 million more people than the estimate from the previous year.

According to UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, the figure is both phenomenal and depressing, and it means that "next year is going to be the biggest humanitarian programme" the world has ever seen. The third-largest country in the world, after China and India, would be home to all those in need of immediate assistance, he claimed.

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In addition, the updated estimate indicates that one in 23 people will require assistance in 2023 as opposed to one in 95 in 2015.
Griffiths characterised the humanitarian needs as "shockingly high" as the extreme events from 2022 continue into 2023.
He also mentioned the conflict in Ukraine, which "has turned a part of Europe into a battlefield," saying that deadly droughts and floods are wreaking havoc in communities from Pakistan to the Horn of Africa.

According to the annual appeal by UN agencies and other humanitarian groups, it would cost a record $51.5 billion to aid the 230 million most vulnerable people spread across 68 countries.
That was an increase from the $41 billion requested for 2022, even though the amount was revised up to around $50 billion throughout the year with less than half of that requested amount funded.
This appeal is a lifeline for those who are in danger, according to Griffiths.

The report painted a sombre picture of rising needs caused by a variety of conflicts, deteriorating instability, and a worsening environmental crisis.
Griffiths proclaimed, "There is no question that these on-steroids trends will continue after 2023."
The UN warned that the world is currently experiencing the "largest global food crisis in modern history" as a result of the converging crises.
By the end of this year, it was noted, 222 million people in 53 countries were anticipated to experience acute food insecurity, with 45 million of them at risk of starvation.

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We can confidently, regrettably, state that people are dying as a result in five countries where we already have what we call famine-like conditions, Griffiths said.
While some of the populations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Haiti, Somalia, and South Sudan have experienced "catastrophic hunger" this year, no official famines have yet been declared in those nations.
The number of people living as refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced has surpassed 100 million for the first time this year, accounting for more than one percent of the world's population, indicating that forced displacement is on the rise.

Griffiths pointed to outbreaks of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, Ebola, cholera, and other diseases as well as the destruction caused by the pandemic among the world's poorest people.
Numerous nations have suffered greatly as a result of conflicts, not least Ukraine, where Russia's full-scale invasion in February left millions in desperate need.
The global humanitarian plan aims to give 6.3 million people living inside the war-torn nation $1.7 billion in cash assistance, as well as $5.7 billion to help the millions of Ukrainians and their host communities in neighbouring nations.

Another eight million Afghans and their hosts in the area also require aid. In contrast, more than 28 million people are thought to be in need in drought-stricken Afghanistan, where the Taliban swept back into power last year.
For that combined crisis, more than $5 billion has been requested, and additional billions have been asked for to assist the many millions of individuals affected by the protracted wars in Syria and Yemen.

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The appeal also emphasised the dire circumstances in Ethiopia, where a two-year conflict in Tigray and a deteriorating drought have left nearly 29 million people in need of aid desperately.
Griffiths expressed his hope that 2023 would be a year of "solidarity, just as 2022 has been a year of suffering," in the face of such enormous needs.