By 25 November, the financial requirements for 2024 had grown to $49.6 billion—up from $46.4 billion at the beginning of the year—aiming to assist nearly 198 million people in 77 countries.
The increase was primarily driven by the intensification of war in both Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), drought in Southern Africa, Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean and floods in Bangladesh, Nepal and Viet Nam. During the year, humanitarian requirements also increased in several countries, including Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. In Sudan, a Famine Prevention Plan was launched in April 2024, as the humanitarian community called for immediate action and resourcing in an attempt to avert the looming catastrophe.
Yet, despite enormous efforts made by humanitarians to tightly focus their response plans and appeals, funding did not keep pace with requirements in 2024. Some $21.2 billion—just 43 per cent of the amount required—had been received against the GHO requirements by 25 November 2024. These shortages have impacted crises worldwide, especially those that are globally neglected and chronically underfunded.
At the same time, humanitarians and the services they provide have come under unprecedented attack. 2024 has been the most dangerous year for aid workers, with 281 humanitarians killed—around 63 per cent in Gaza, OPT—and 525 subjected to major attacks. Local aid workers—serving their own communities on the frontlines of conflict—are most exposed to violence. Between January and November 2024, 96 per cent of all aid workers killed, injured or kidnapped were national/local staff. Attacks on medical personnel and facilities have also continued, with 2,135 conflict-related assaults on health facilities reported globally between January and October 2024—while attacks on education and military use of schools rose nearly 20 per cent in 2022 and 2023 compared to the previous two years. Arrests and detentions of aid workers, though less well-documented, are a rapidly growing concern. Humanitarians are also encountering increasingly complex challenges from misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, especially within conflict settings.
Appeal funding vs requirements | 2011 - 2024 (as of 25 November 2024)
Appeal funding coverage 2011 - 2024 (as of 25 November 2024)
Throughout 2024, underfunding, access constraints and attacks have forced humanitarians to scale back operations and reduce staff in many locations with tragic results. In the past year alone:
- Cuts in food and nutrition assistance have pushed millions toward starvation and left some at risk of death. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, more than 220,000 children with life-threatening severe acute malnutrition under age five went untreated by the end of 2024 due to underfunding. In Chad, insufficient funding has worsened food insecurity, with the number of people facing crisis-level hunger rising from 3.4 million to 4.6 million. Similarly, in Haiti, 2 million people already experiencing severe food insecurity now face the possibility of famine or famine-like conditions due to a lack of funding and support. In Afghanistan, funding cuts left entire districts without food assistance, while in Ethiopia, cereal rations were cut by 20 per cent by certain partners. Meanwhile, in Syria, the World Food Programme (WFP) reduced monthly food assistance by 80 per cent, serving only one third of the severely food insecure population.
- Dire underfunding for protection and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law have left millions of people exposed to violence, exploitation and in unsafe conditions. In Myanmar, 2.1 million people were unable to access protection services while 1.1 million children faced heightened risks of violence, abuse and neglect. In Yemen, funding shortages forced cuts to protection services across six governorates, affecting mine victim support, civil documentation, housing, land, property services and child protection case management. In OPT, movement restrictions on staff and goods meant that only half of the protection cluster’s targets were met.
Kachin, Myanmar
A new mother and her baby share a moment in an IDP camp.
UNFPA- Gaps in water, sanitation and health care have increased the risk of disease and death. In Uganda, strained resources left 11 out of the 13 refugee-hosting settlements unable to meet the minimum water standard of 20 litres per person per day, despite rising numbers of new arrivals and deteriorating infrastructure. In the Central African Republic and Chad, outbreaks of Hepatitis E and other water-borne diseases spread due to inadequate water and sanitation support. In Yemen, the cholera response has been critically impacted by the closure of 165 oral rehydration centres and 33 diarrhoea treatment centres, leaving only 14 of the latter expected to remain operational beyond December 2024.
- Women and girls bear the brunt of funding shortages, as their essential needs are often compromised first. In Syria, half of the 63 active emergency obstetric and newborn care centres face closure, risking the health and lives of 1.3 million women. In South Sudan, where maternal mortality rates are highest in the world, cuts to midwifery training programmes threaten to leave current and future generations without skilled birth attendants. In Venezuela, four out of five girls missed essential support to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV).
Aleppo, Syrian Arab Republic
In rural Aleppo, mobile clinics are a lifeline for many. These vital services bring health care to remote communities, ensuring that even the most vulnerable receive the care they need.
OCHA/Sevim TurkmaniDespite facing overwhelming challenges, humanitarian partners—in support of community-led responses—worked tirelessly to deliver life-sustaining and life-saving assistance. Nearly 116 million people received at minimum one form of humanitarian assistance in 2024:
- Some 72 million people were reached with food security interventions, including 58 million who received food assistance and 21 million with agriculture and livelihoods support, through Food Security Cluster partners. In OPT, nutrition services were delivered at 300 supplementary feeding sites. In Venezuela, over 480,000 children received balanced school meals, while in Mozambique, 445,000 women and children benefitted from nutritional aid.
- Nearly 23 million people across 29 countries gained improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, including 5.8 million people in frontline regions of Ukraine. In Somalia, coordinated health and WASH efforts successfully contained cholera outbreaks, improving health outcomes and reducing acute malnutrition in affected areas.
- At a time of dramatically rising protection threats, humanitarian protection services reached at least 16.2 million people in 24 countries. Global efforts to address GBV provided critical support to 5 million women, children and young people. Children affected and displaced by conflict received tailored services. Mental health and psychosocial support was provided to children and caregivers, including over 11,700 individuals in Lebanon. Child protection services reached 190,000 children in Burkina Faso and 934,000 in Myanmar.
Mogadishu, Banadir, Somalia
Farxiya and her one-year-old son Abdirahman at Banadir Hospital in April. The child, treated for cholera, has shown marked improvement.
UNICEF- Over 26 million children and women accessed primary health care with the support of humanitarian partners. Children at risk of polio received vaccinations even in some of the world’s most complex crises, including in Gaza, OPT.
- Emergency shelter and relief items were provided across multiple crises, particularly during harsh winter months. In Lebanon, over 269,000 relief items—including mattresses, blankets, and sleeping mats—were distributed to displaced families. In Haiti, 100,000 people received emergency shelter kits and essential non-food items. In Syria and Ukraine, more than 1 million people in each country were assisted with winter support, including shelter repairs and cash assistance.
- Education support remained a cornerstone of humanitarian efforts. Globally, UNICEF and partners ensured that 9.7 million children in crisis accessed formal or non-formal education, including 1.5 million children in Yemen and 544,000 children in South Sudan.
- Humanitarian partners delivered cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in highly complex and volatile emergencies, demonstrating its adaptability and effectiveness. After the conflict in Haiti escalated in March 2024, 20 organizations collaborated to provide CVA. In Yemen, the proportion of CVA funding allocated to multi-purpose cash rose significantly, from 19 per cent in 2022 to 32 per cent in 2023, and reached 95 per cent by October 2024. In Gaza, OPT, preparedness measures enabled cash assistance to be deployed within days of the war’s onset in October 2023.
Tanzania
A refugee student engages with his teacher in a classroom at Nyarugusu Camp.
UNHCR/Maimuna Mtengela- Humanitarian partners stepped up to assist unprecedented numbers of people who sought safety across borders, through nine regional plans. More than 849,000 Afghan refugees received assistance in Iran and Pakistan, while in Chad, humanitarians delivered critical support to nearly 800,000 people who fled conflict in Sudan. Under the Syria 3RP, partners provided 1.5 million Syrian refugees with monthly cash transfers, and in Cox’s Bazar, educators taught more than 315,000 Rohingya children across 33 refugee camps and schools. In Northern Central America, where migrants converge with host communities and refugees, teams distributed educational kits to children in transit in Guatemala and connected over 6,000 migrant children and adolescents in Honduras to education while on the move.
- Local and national actors played a vital role in the collective response, while partnership with the private sector continued. In Chad, local and national actors delivered nutritional services to over 80 per cent of people in hard-to-reach areas. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 85 per cent of partners addressing GBV were local. Refugee- and migrant-led organizations comprised a third of the regional response in Venezuela. In Ukraine, 70 per cent of the more than 600 organizations involved in the response were national NGOs, while in Ethiopia, 61 per cent of emergency shelter and NFI partners were national NGOs. Effective collaboration between humanitarians and private actors continued, enabling 2.6 million people to receive humanitarian assistance through private partnerships in 16 emergencies.
- Significant strides were made to place affected people at the center of humanitarian action, though substantial progress is still needed. Globally, about 5.5 million people shared their concerns, questions and complaints, helping to improve aid and steer humanitarian decision-making. The Flagship Initiative—piloted in Colombia, Niger, the Philippines and South Sudan—focused on shifting the drivers of humanitarian action and organizing assistance around the priorities of crisis-affected communities rather than the priorities of aid providers.
Funding of 2024 response plans
By region (2024)
By cluster
By organization
References
- In some cases, the financial requirements changed because at the time of launch of the GHO 2024, figures from 2023 were used in calculations while the 2024 figures were finalized in-country. The figures were updated directly in HumanitarianAction.info upon the release of the relevant plans. In other cases, the plans were revised through the course of the year to adjust for changes in the context with heightened conflict and/or climate shocks, among others.