Yemen to face worst humanitarian crisis of 2019: UN

04/01/2019

Some 132 million people in 42 countries will need assistance next year, with Yemen topping the list, UN says.

by Barbara Bibbo
Dec. 4, 2018

Some 132 million people in 42 countries will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2019, with Yemen topping the list of most-desperate nations, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Funding requirements next year will amount to $21.9bn with Yemen facing the worst humanitarian emergency followed by Afghanistan, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

Presenting the Global Humanitarian Overview for 2019, Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said the UN and its partner organisations aim to assist some 93.6 million of the most vulnerable with food, shelter, healthcare, emergency education, protection and other basic assistance in 2019.

“Most of the humanitarian crises we have seen in 2018 will continue into 2019 because there has been little progress in addressing the root causes,” Lowcock said while addressing the media in Geneva.

“We need to make it a bigger priority to address the underlying causes: Conflicts, poverty, climate change, food insecurity, development programmes’ failure,” he said.

Lowcock said the figure of $21.9bn needed for 2019 does not include the financial requirements for Syria, which will be confirmed upon finalisation of the 2019 Syria Humanitarian Response Plan in February.