Around the world, the UK is releasing new emergency aid worth £47m to help over 1.3 million vulnerable people who face daily threats of hunger, conflict, and the repercussions of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Life-saving food, nutrition, water, childhood vaccinations, and shelter will urgently help families caught in some of the largest humanitarian crises, including across the Sahel, Syria, South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Mozambique.
Humanitarian crises are getting worse, according to UN data published earlier this month, which have been compounded by the pandemic. It is expected that as many as 235 million people will be in need of urgent assistance next year, compared to 175 million people at the start of 2020.
In September, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced a Call to Action to prevent famine, and appointed Nick Dyer as the UK Special Envoy on Famine Prevention And Humanitarian Affairs to drive this effort.
“Hundreds of millions of people living in the world’s largest humanitarian crises are struggling to survive, threatened by conflict, starvation, and the coronavirus,” Raab said, “We hope to see other donors step up to the plate with some extra funding to prevent these global crises getting worse.”
The extra UK aid announced, on Wednesday, will help continue momentum and pressure other Donors to step up with additional financing. The country is combining its humanitarian expertise with its diplomatic power to build back stronger from the coronavirus.
Using its seat on the UN Security Council to call for life-saving humanitarian access for everyone who needs it, the UK also seeks to hold countries to account on their international legal obligations to allow aid workers to operate impartially in conflict zones and support the protection of civilians.
