People die or suffer tremendously when humanitarians cannot respond. If basic services and lifesaving aid can not be delivered then people do not receive food and access to health care is limited. Hygiene becomes a challenge due to poor water and sanitation facilities, and camps become even more crowded without adequate shelter. The future prospects of children dwindle as education programmes shut down and women and girls go without access to sexual and reproductive health.
Inaction, such as this, is primarily linked to underfunding – and 2023 is likely to be the first year since 2010-2011 when humanitarian funding declined compared to the previous year. By 24 November 2023, nearly $20 billion had been received against the GHO 2023 requirements, amounting to barely 35 per cent of requirements. This contrasts with $24.1 billion received at the same time in 2022. All evidence indicates that funding in 2023 will not reach the level of 2022, despite requirements that are more than $5 billion higher.
This has had direct consequences: in 2023, humanitarian partners reached 128 million people with at least one form of assistance, but this was less people than in 2022. This was particularly clear in 26 countries that received less funding in 2023 than in 2022, consequently less people were reached. Humanitarian partners reached just 62 per cent of the people they aimed to assist in 2023, while in 2022 they were able to reach 79 per cent of the people targeted (157 million people), as more funding was available.
People reached in 2023
Underfunded crises are likely to expand and deteriorate. Cuts in services frequently result in more people needing assistance later. And in 2023, underfunding affected all areas of humanitarian action.
Cuts in food assistance left people at risk of starvation
In Afghanistan, the number of people receiving food assistance drastically decreased from 13 million people in May, to 3 million in November. In Syria, the World Food Programme (WFP) had to halve food rations to many people and decreased the number of people receiving assistance from 5.5 million in the first half of the year, to 3.3 million by November. WFP estimates that for every one per cent cut in food assistance 400,000 people risk being pushed towards the brink of starvation. By mid-year, food assistance rations had been reduced for refugees in Kenya. In parallel, cash-based interventions also declined, with some families only being able to afford one meal a day (UNCHR).
A lack of funding for shelter caused people to live in inadequate and undignified conditions
In Haiti, over 300,000 people have been forced to live in undignified conditions or remained exposed to natural disasters. In Myanmar, over half a million people are facing inadequate living conditions due to 90 per cent of the required shelter activities (construction, reconstruction and repair) not being implemented as a result of resource and access constraints.
Under-resourcing of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) have exposed people to a heightened risk of disease
In Mali, over 1 million people are expected to face increased epidemics and water-borne diseases without WASH assistance at scale. And in Yemen, over 80 per cent of people targeted for humanitarian response had to go without improved water and sanitation in 2023, as estimated by UN Habitat. In Chad, WASH is a particular challenge in all new refugee sites (four so far, with a total population of more than 140,000 refugees) with only 4 to 7 litres of water per person per day, well below the standard of 20 litres per day per person.
Food ration cut in the Rohingya refugee camps: What does this look like in the kitchen
Since March 2023, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have faced a 33% cut in food aid.
Meagre resources limited access to health care services and mobile clinics, increasing health risks for families and leaving people in hard-to-reach areas without access to health services
In Ethiopia, the Health Cluster and partners only managed to reach 36 per cent of people targeted. Many people in remote and underserved communities did not receive assistance as partners did not have sufficient funding to deploy mobile health and nutrition teams, especially due to the high costs of fue. Only 97 (out of 794) of targeted woredas were reached. And skilled health personnel were only able to attend 53,000 births instead of the target of 1.9 million births. In the DRC, nutritional treatment was not available for 600,000 children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition. And approximately 14,000 Syrian refugees living in Egypt risk being left without essential medication or hospital care due to poor funding. In Afghanistan, approximately 172 static and mobile health facilities have had to discontinue health service provision, impacting access to primary health care services for approximately one million people, including pregnant women, children and those with disabilities in underserved and hard to reach areas. In Myanmar, 10,000 children below 5 years of age are estimated to have died in the absence of life-saving treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) throughout 2023.
Lack of investment in protection, including preventing and responding to gender-based violence (GBV), has left survivors of violence and violations, as well as those at greatest risk, without access to vital services.
In Honduras and Nigeria, only 3 and 2 per cent of the UNFPA target populations, respectively, received sexual and reproductive health services and GBV prevention. Across six country operations, only 53 per cent of targeted women and girls were able to access GBV services provided by UN Women. Lack of funding for the Venezuela HRP left approximately 400,000 women and girls without the necessary support to prevent and respond to GBV. And in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, only 7.2 million people (or 72 per cent of the projected target) were reached with one form of aid. Cuts to food aid and other assistance have been linked to increased gender-based violence.
Jillab IDP site, Garowe, Somalia
Displaced people collect water. The site was established in 2012 to host people displaced by drought in the neighbouring Nugaal region. The site has a functioning health centre, however, the site’s school has closed due to lack of funding.
OCHA/Basma OurfaliCurtailed access to education is depriving children of their future
The loss of educational opportunities is particularly poignant for refugee families as they rebuild their life away from home. As estimated by UNHCR, in Egypt, 31,000 Syrian refugee children may lose school enrolment while 11,000 Sudanese refugee families would not receive education grants. This compounds the already-difficult economic conditions facing these refugee families: due to inflation, in 2023, only about 15 to 25 per cent of overall education costs can be covered through a grant. In Uganda, nearly 400,000 refugee learners are without education materials. And in Venezuela, 1.5 million girls and boys did not receive educational assistance through the HRP, impacting the quality of education and school attendance.
Lack of access to critical support services has fueled protection risks for forcibly displaced people
In Chad, two new refugee sites that could host up to 100,00 refugees could not be established. This has left highly traumatized refugees living in a huge, spontaneous overcrowded site near the border (UNHCR) – a situation which augments GBV risks in particular for women and girls. In Nigeria, underfunding in the CCCM Cluster threatens to derail the provision of the much-needed site monitoring and coordination services to an estimated 2.3 million people, including IDPs, returnees and members of the host community. The most direct and immediate impact would be the absence of reception services for newly arrived displaced people, which will likely increase misinformation about services and with that, increase the risk of fights and instability.
In 2024, it is imperative that the robust and tightly prioritized response plans and appeals prepared by humanitarian partners are fully funded. The lives and livelihoods of millions of people impacted by crises depend upon the galvanization of these resources.
At the same time, there needs to be a clear and immediate step-change by development actors to focus their support on people who are left the furthest behind. With humanitarians focusing their work on the most life-threatening needs of people in areas hardest hit by emergencies it is all the more critical that development action urgently tackles chronic needs, particularly among marginalized communities and in fragile settings. Without this, needs in these communities will become increasingly severe.
References
- Data in this article was provided directly by country operations, clusters and UN agencies.
- Due to a difference of the date when data was analysed, the GHO 2024 abridged PDF lists the number of countries that received less funding as being 23. Data as of 24 November indicates this is 26 countries and has been updated for this article.
- With funding available as of October 2023, only 21,352 individuals received access to improved water and sanitation instead of the targeted 116,760 individuals (UN Habitat).
- 262,706 women and girls accessed critical protection services, as well as learning and livelihood opportunities, instead of 495,000 (UN Women)
- WFP, The Cost of Inaction: The consequences of not being able to reach those most in need in Eastern DRC, 13 November 2023