Mark Lowcock, a United Nations (UN) emergency relief official, said today, Tuesday, that 235 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection next year, an increase of nearly 40% from 2020 due to COVID-19.
He called for $35 billion to meet humanitarian needs across the world next year.
A number of the poor nations were hit fiercely by the deadly virus.
Lowcock explained that the global health crisis has greatly affected people already suffering from conflict, record levels of displacement, and climate change shocks and that the situation is "hopeless" for millions.
The United Nations report indicated that while the wealthiest countries have invested about 10 trillion dollars in averting an economic catastrophe from the recession caused by Covid-19 and can now see "a light at the end of the tunnel, the same is not the case in the poorest countries."
The UN official added that aid funding is needed to "stave off famine, poverty, and struggle, and to preserve children who have been vaccinated and in school."
Funds from the United Nations Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) will also be used to address the growing violence against women and girls associated with the epidemic.
Lowcock also highlighted the impact of climate change and rising global temperatures.
He contributed to the bleak outlook for humanitarian needs in 2021, and according to the UN Secretary-General, old and new conflicts also contributed to an increase in needs, pointing to “a new escalation of conflict in places that were previously more peaceful.”
"We have seen this clearly recently in Nagorno Karabakh, Northern Mozambique, and Western Sahara, and at the moment, tragically, we see it in northern Ethiopia," he said.
Lowcock emphasized that the size of the challenges facing humanitarian workers in the coming year is enormous and increasing.
“If we pass 2021 without major famines, that would be a great achievement,” he stressed.
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