In the face of major cuts in global funding, humanitarians prepared for 2024 by taking difficult decisions about who, and what, to include and exclude from humanitarian appeals around the world. Based on in-depth needs analyses, targets were tightened and tough choices were made, resulting in a reduction in the global appeal by more than $7 billion from 2023 to 2024 and a reduction in people targeted of 57.4 million.
However, as of the end of May, underfunding and access impediments combined to have devastating consequences, which were particularly acute given the already narrowed focus of the 2024 appeals:
- With humanitarian operations globally just 16 per cent funded by the end of May, many humanitarian partners had to drastically reduce, and in some instances halt, critical programmes. While humanitarians were able to reach at least 39.7 million people with some form of humanitarian assistance in the first five months of the year, this represented just 27 per cent of people targeted. This comes on the back of a considerable reduction in people reached in 2023 (143 million), compared to 2022 (157 million), which coincided with a significant decrease in humanitarian funding.
- In many contexts, conflict and lack of respect for international humanitarian law (IHL)—including horrifying attacks against aid workers—as well as the imposition of bureaucratic impediments have hampered humanitarians’ ability to respond, and impacted people’s ability to safely access services and support. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), humanitarian operations were consistently hampered and constrained, while medical evacuation of critical patients was suspended when the Rafah offensive began. And in northern Mozambique, a fresh wave of attacks by non-State armed groups disrupted operations in multiple locations.
A similar story has played out across each of the sectors of humanitarian responses around the world, with life-threatening consequences for people in crisis:
Under-resourcing and attacks against water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure have exposed people to a heightened risk of disease
Globally, more than 100 million targeted people (42 per cent) have not received WASH assistance due to underfunding and attacks on infrastructure. In Afghanistan, insufficient funding has led to a surge in acute watery diarrhoea/cholera cases in high-risk areas, with over 26,500 cases in the first quarter of 2024, mainly affecting children under five. In Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazaar), half of camps are receiving drinking water below quantity and quality standards, compromising the health of residents. In OPT (Gaza), partners estimate that 67 per cent of water and sanitation facilities have been destroyed or damaged, leaving people to collect water from unreliable resources, which are contributing to elevated levels of disease. In Guatemala, about 95 per cent of people targeted, will not have access to basic WASH, increasing the risk of diarrhoeal disease and healthy development of children.
Rafah, OPT
Displaced persons collect water. In Gaza, partners estimate that 67 per cent of water and sanitation facilities have been destroyed or damaged, leaving people to collect water from unreliable resources, which is contributing to elevated levels of disease.
UNOCHA/Yasmina GuerdaCurtailed access to education is depriving children of their future
As wars and the climate crisis take their toll, attacks on education mount and education remains under-resourced, forcing millions of children out of school and jeopardizing their lives and their futures. In Ukraine, children’s education is significantly disrupted, with schools in some areas only operating if equipped with bomb shelters. In Yemen, over 4.5 million children remain unable to attend school and 1.3 million displaced children are forced to cope with overcrowded classrooms. In Cameroon, some 38,000 crisis-affected children and adolescents have not received the cash transfers needed to support their schooling. In Syria, reduced support for education costs and widespread disruptions and attacks have forced more children out of school, with over a million more at risk of dropping out. In OPT, over 600,000 children are missing out on formal schooling, with more than 76 per cent of schools in Gaza now requiring full reconstruction or rehabilitation. In Mali, 1.5 million out-of-school children are seeing their future economic opportunities evaporate, hindering long-term social cohesion and perpetuating the cycle of poverty. In Afghanistan, the country has passed the 1,000th day in which girls over the age of 11 have been banned from going to secondary school, decimating girls’ futures and leading to an increase in child marriage and early childbearing with dire physical, emotional and economic consequences.
Cuts in food assistance due to underfunding are leaving people at risk of starvation
As a result of underfunding, food security partners have had to reduce assistance to already vulnerable people, or abandon assistance to people experiencing acute levels of food insecurity (IPC 3). As a result, these people may go into emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC 4 and IPC 5, respectively). Due to lack of funding, around 3.5 million Afghans will lose access to their yearly wheat consumption, including 50,000 female-headed households, while in Burkina Faso, 1.3 million people will likely face acute food insecurity during the upcoming lean season (June – September 2024). In Zimbabwe, World Vision International was unable to provide 305,000 people with in-kind food assistance during the 2023-2024 Lean Season period. In South Sudan, WFP is providing only 70 per cent rations, including to Sudanese refugees in catastrophic hunger conditions (IPC5), and only 50 per cent to those in emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC4). In Yemen, about 17.6 million people will continue to suffer from acute food insecurity – this will be especially detrimental among the six million people already facing emergency food insecurity (IPC 4) and there is a risk that pockets of catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC 5) could emerge.
Attacks against health-care facilities and workers, and underfunding of health services increase maternal and child mortality, disrupt mental health and psychosocial support and heighten non-communicable disease risk
Globally, 516 attacks against health care facilities, assets and personnel in 12 countries and territories were recorded by the World Health Organization from January to May 2024. Meanwhile, underfunding is leaving millions of people without access to the health services they need to survive. In Ukraine, 3.5 million people will lose essential primary health care, worsening mental health and increasing non-communicable disease mortality. In Yemen, over 500,000 women will be unable to access vital reproductive health services and about 600,000 children will be deprived of crucial vaccination services and essential childcare. In Syria, just 63 per cent of hospitals and 52 per cent of primary health care facilities are fully functional due to a combination of conflict and under-resourcing, while hundreds of facilities and mobile medical teams are under threat of closure due to funding shortages, placing 14.9 million people at risk of interrupted access to health and nutrition services. In Myanmar, health partners have had to prioritize services for internally displaced people, leaving about 1 million non-displaced people who had been targeted for support without assistance. In Uganda, the number of health workers supported by refugee response partners was reduced by 28 per cent (from 2,652 to 1,918) and community health workers, who are critical for health promotion and disease prevention intervention, were reduced by 11 per cent, affecting the availability of vital health services for refugees and host communities. In Afghanistan, since January 2024, 183 static and mobile health facilities have ceased operations due to funding constraints, limiting primary health care access for approximately 2.1 million Afghans, including pregnant women, children and individuals with disabilities in remote areas.
Internally displaced persons, refugees and migrants are facing cuts in services and support
In Colombia, where massive displacement and climate shocks combine, underfunding has placed the response to vulnerable communities under strain and forced partners to reduce temporary accommodations for refugees and migrants in-transit, with available places in collective shelters expected to decrease from 2,000 to just 586 daily from June 2024. In Burkina Faso, due to both underfunding and access challenges, 52 per cent of people newly displaced (nearly 29,000 people) did not receive any assistance in the first quarter of 2024. In Lebanon, 115,500 refugee families will lose cash assistance from the joint United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees/World Food Programme (UNCHR/WFP) cash programme, representing a 40 per cent drop from 2023, even as more refugees in Lebanon fall below the poverty line. Similarly, in Jordan, the number of refugee families receiving UNHCR cash assistance for basic needs in urban areas has decreased by nearly one-third, while the amount of cash received has decreased by a quarter.
The bottom line – underfunding costs lives
The reality is: when people cannot reach—or be reached with—humanitarian assistance, protection and services, their lives and livelihoods are on the line. It is therefore imperative that there be an immediate step-change and a dramatic increase in global giving in order to ensure that the robust and tightly prioritized response plans and appeals prepared by humanitarian partners for 2024 are fully funded. It is equally critical that parties to conflicts—and those who support them—around the globe take immediate action to uphold international humanitarian law, including to protect civilians and ensure that aid workers do not have to risk their lives to save others.
Spotlight on nine of the most underfunded crises
At a time when humanitarian responses across the world are desperately under-resourced, some crises have faced an even greater struggle to galvanize resources. Over the last five years (2019-2023), Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Honduras, Mali, Myanmar and Sudan had yearly funding coverage that has been, on average, 15 percentage points lower than for the rest of the Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs). And there are direct consequences: despite being relatively consistent with other HRPs in terms of the number of people targeted, the percentage of people reached under these countries' plans and appeals has been lower than the rest of the HRPs, by an average of 16 per cent. This is despite the fact that six of the nine crises have seen major increases in humanitarian needs over the past year (Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Haiti, Myanmar and Sudan).
This Global Humanitarian Overview Mid-Year Update therefore shines a spotlight on these nine crises, which are amongst the most neglected in the world:
Funding coverage (per cent) - 9 underfunded crises vs other Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs)
People targeted - 9 underfunded crises vs other Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs)
People reached - 9 underfunded crises vs other Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs)
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso continues to experience the worst humanitarian crisis in its history, with an estimated 10 per cent of the national population (more than 2 million people) internally displaced due to violence and insecurity. Food and nutritional security has been significantly constrained by limited access to productive activities and functioning markets, basic social and protection services. Humanitarian access has significantly deteriorated and is of particular concern in the north and east, especially in over 30 municipalities that are under the control of non-State armed groups. Yet, the HRP is only 15.8 per cent funded ($148 million received out of $934 required). Without concerted efforts by the international community, the situation could deteriorate even more.
Cameroon
In Cameroon, the prices of foodstuffs, fuel and fertilizers continue to rise with the 2024 lean season is fast approaching. One million people are internally displaced while the country is also hosting nearly half a million refugees and asylum seekers. Conflict continues around the Lake Chad basin as well as the socio-political crisis in the north-west and south-west of the country. Yet, the HRP has only received $70.2 million, or 18 per cent of requirements. Should the HRP remain at current levels of funding, more than 330,000 children will not receive school feeding programmes; more than 777,000, people including 11,000 persons with disabilities, will not receive essential health care; over 18,000 unaccompanied and separated children will be left without alternative care and/or family reunification; and 10,000 survivors of gender-based violence will not have access to life-saving services.
Chad
With nearly a third of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, Chad has seen a dramatic influx of refugees since conflict erupted in Sudan in April 2023, whilst insecurity and climate change have driven rising needs, particularly in Lac province. However, Chad’s HRP is only 12.4 per cent funded ($140 million out of $1.1 billion). Without concrete and urgent action: the number of people experiencing acute food insecurity (IPC 3 and above) is expected to worsen to 3.7 million people during the upcoming 2024 lean season (June-August); malnutrition rates–which are already at a nine-year high–will aggravate; close to 250,000 forcibly displaced people will not receive shelter, forcing them to continue living in overcrowded and unplanned settlements; more than 1.3 million people will not have access to safe water and will lack adequate sanitation undermining the health of women, men, and especially children, and without resources to support targeted programs for host communities, frustration and tensions over resources are likely to escalate.
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
The DRC has seen a major upsurge of violence and displacement over the last year, with a particularly worrying rise in gender-based violence. Violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict are at alarming levels, particularly in North Kivu, Ituri and South Kivu provinces. Despite being amongst the world’s most devastating humanitarian crises, with the highest number of people in need of aid in the world—25.4 million people—DRC’s 2024 HRP is only 23 per cent funded ($593.5 million). If nothing is done, it is estimated that around 1.1 million children aged six to 59 months will suffer from acute malnutrition; 9.4 million displaced and returning people will not be able to regain dignified living conditions and will continue to live in extremely precarious conditions; and—even after reprioritizing—WFP will only be able to provide vital assistance to one out of every seven acutely food-insecure people in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.
Haiti
In Haiti, armed violence in and around the capital, Port au Prince, combined with economic and political crises, have driven a massive increase in need, while generating enormous access challenges for the delivery of aid. There has been a record rise in food insecurity and displacement, totaling 580,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) as of June 2024, and the health system is on the verge of collapse, with only 20 per cent of primary hospitals functioning. Yet, Haiti’s HRP is only 23.2 per cent funded ($156.4 million). Without additional support: more than 43,000 people will not receive shelter and non-food items, forcing households to live in makeshift and overcrowded shelters, exposing them to multiple protection and health risks; 823,000 children under five and pregnant and lactating women will be at risk of acute and severe malnutrition; and the crucial air and maritime services provided by the logistics cluster may falter, impeding the mobility of humanitarian assets and personnel and leaving hundreds of thousands of people unassisted.
Honduras
Honduras was, proportionally, the least funded HRP in 2023 with only 16.5 per cent coverage and, in 2024, it has only received 20.5 per cent of its funding requirements ($41.6 million). Honduras is one of three countries facing a protection crisis—driven by mixed human mobility and the impacts of violence and compounded by the effects of climate change—in Northern Central America, with the other two being El Salvador and Guatemala. These crises highlight the intersection of successive disasters, poverty, gang-related violence and mass migration. Without urgent additional funding, the gaps in humanitarian access in Honduras will increase rapidly, affecting approximately 75 per cent of people in need (more than 400,000 people).
Mali
Despite facing recurring violence, insecurity and drought, as well as increasing protection concerns, Mali’s HRP funding coverage has steadily declined from 51 per cent in 2019 to its lowest-ever funding coverage of 31 per cent in 2023. The 2024 Mali HRP has been tightly defined and prioritized in order to sharpen the response’s focus on the areas experiencing the most significant shocks, yet it is only 14 per cent funded ($99 million). Continued under-funding for Mali will have major consequences: over 2 million people will be deprived of life-saving nutritional assistance; 2.2 million people will not receive a WASH response, particularly in IDP sites where the risk of epidemics and water-borne diseases threatens more than a million people; 1.5 million children will not have access to education, which could exacerbate social tensions; and more people could be pushed into catastrophic levels of food insecurity, particularly in Menaka circle were more than 2,500 people are already in a food catastrophe (IPC 5).
Myanmar
Escalating conflict across Myanmar is driving surging displacement, worsening food insecurity, grave human rights violations and deadly protection threats to civilians. The country is now littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance from aerial bombardments. However, despite the rapid rise in needs, financial support for Myanmar severely dropped from 2022 onward and the 2024 HRP is among the three least funded HRPs, at only 11 per cent funded ($114 million). Continued lack of funding will mean that: education partners will no longer be able to provide educational support to more than 1 million learners and educators; more than 700,000 IDPs and stateless people and 800,000 prioritized people from host communities will not receive food assistance; shelter and non-food item partners would need to de-prioritize ‘other crisis-affected people’ (in contrast to IDPs), leaving up to 75 per cent of them without support; and more than 2 million people will not have access to essential WASH if affected by disease outbreaks or natural disasters.
Sudan
After years of a protracted crisis, Sudan plunged into a horrifying conflict of alarming scale in mid-April 2023. Fourteen months on, the conflict has triggered the largest internal displacement crisis in the world and a massive deterioration in humanitarian and protection needs in most parts of the country. More than 80 per cent of health facilities are not functioning in some of the worst affected areas. Hunger is skyrocketing: almost 18 million people are in acute food insecurity and there is a growing risk of famine in parts of Darfur and Khartoum as the country enters the lean season. Women and girls are particularly impacted: 7,000 new mothers could die in the next few months if they do not get access to food and health care. Despite these staggering needs, the Sudan HRP is just 16 per cent funded ($441 million). Without an immediate injection of resources, food security and nutrition outcomes will likely plummet, putting millions of lives at risk. And if farmers do not immediately receive the certified seeds they need for the planting season, the food security situation will worsen further.
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References
- By year-end 2023, the GHO 2023 requested $56.1 billion to assist 245.2 million targeted people. By end of May 2024, the GHO 2024 is seeking $48.7 billion to assist 187.8 million targeted people.
- Data in this article was provided directly by country operations, humanitarian partners/NGOs, clusters and UN agencies. For more country-specific information on cost of inaction/gaps consult the following documents on Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen.
- Data as of 14 June 2024, UNOCHA OPT, Humanitarian Situation Update #179
- Data as of 14 June 2024, OCHA OPT, Humanitarian Situation Update #179
- For more information on overall trends in attacks on education, see Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, Education under attack 2024 (20 June 2024).
- Education Cluster, Save the Children and UNICEF, Verification of damages to schools based on proximity to damaged sites - Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Update # 4 (3 June 2024)
- Defined as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)/Cadre Harmonise (CH) Phase 3 or above or equivalent. For more information see IPC Acute Food Insecurity Classification
- World Health Organization, Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care, Data retrieved 19 June 2024
- The nine countries were identified as the most underfunded through a ‘layered’ methodology. The first layer of analysis comprised an examination of funding trends as reported through the Financial Tracking Service (FTS) over the last five years, focusing exclusively on crises with an HNRP/HRP for 2024, and seeing, year-on-year, which crises received the least amount of funding. This yielded a long-list of 16 countries or so; the list was further refined by cross-checking with countries that had received an allocation under CERF’s Underfunded Window (as a sign of lack of donor support); comparing with more ‘qualitative’ or nuanced lists from ECHO, CARE and NRC; taking into account the crisis development over 2023/outlook for 2024; absence of high-level pledging events/high-level meetings and finally, aligning with the IASC Advocacy Pilots.
- In absolute terms, Honduras received $46.3 million (out of $280 million required) in 2023, making it the second lowest funded HRP in terms of absolute funding received.