UN seeks $4 bn aid fund
July 23rd, 2011 - 12:52 am ICT by IANSNew York, July 22 (IANS/WAM) The UN needs $4.3 billion in the next six months to carry out humanitarian work, the world body says.
Valerie Amos, the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said Thursday that donors have made available just 45 percent of the funds requested at the start of 2011.
She said the UN had asked for $7.4 billion in 2011, but that figure has since risen to $7.9 billion due to a severe humanitarian crisis in some parts of the world, like the Horn of Africa, where droughts affected 11 million people.
About $3.6 billion has been received so far, she told reporters in Geneva after presenting a mid-year review of the status of humanitarian funding to member states.
More than 100,000 malnourished children had been treated in 800 nutrition centres throughout Somalia between January and May 2011. A total of 554,000 children in southern Somalia are suffering from malnutrition, she added.
Other drought-affected countries that require humanitarian assistance are Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. South Sudan, Yemen, and Libya, among others, also require help this year, she said.
–IANS/WAM
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Tags: bn, djibouti, donors, droughts, geneva, horn of africa, humanitarian affairs, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian crisis, humanitarian work, libya, malnourished children, malnutrition, member states, secretary general, six months, south sudan, southern somalia, valerie, yemen