Op-Ed by Emily Thompson
Our world today is rife with conflict and mass suffering. Citizens of modern Western civilizations are far more protected and live a much better life than most people living in third-world countries. For this reason, many people living with the comforts of North America and Western Europe are often not acutely aware of the hardships less fortunate people in poorer countries endure on a daily basis.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in 2024, nearly 300 million people around the world need humanitarian assistance and protection, due to conflicts, climate emergencies and other drivers.
And according to humanitarian organization Concern International, some of the world’s greatest humanitarian crises are taking place today in Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia.
Other organizations such as the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children International and UNICEF, all agree that these crises warrant full attention and require dedicated solutions as soon as possible.
For instance, UNICEF is working with other partner organizations to prevent the collapse of Afghanistan’s healthcare system. This includes paying salaries and providing essential supplies to thousands of health workers and treating children who are at risk of malnutrition.
UNICEF’s water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) program is tackling big challenges with small but sustainable solutions. The organization installs solar-powered water pumps that make clean water accessible to entire communities.
UNICEF also lists several other African countries as requiring immediate humanitarian assistance, including Chad, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Somalia, and South Sudan.
As per OCHA, 74.1 million people will need humanitarian assistance in East and Southern Africa. The crisis in Sudan accounts for almost 40 per cent of this total.
Humanitarian needs for Sudan, and the whole region, have increased since the conflict erupted there in August 2023, with a massive emigration of people to neighboring countries.
In Sudan alone, a staggering 30 million people are in need of assistance. In West and Central Africa, 65.1 million people are in need, and the crises in Burkina Faso and Niger have expanded and have intensified.
In the Middle East and North Africa, 53.8 million people require assistance, with the crisis in Syria resulting in 32.5 million people in need, both inside Syria and neighboring countries.
In Asia and the Pacific, 50.8 million people are in need, of whom 30.6 million is due to the Afghanistan crisis. In Myanmar, needs have risen as the crisis deepened.
The Latin America and the Caribbean regions are now home to 38.9 million people in need, 15.9 million of whom are impacted by the Venezuela crisis and in Eastern Europe, 16.8 million people are still in need because of the war in Ukraine.
According to OCHA, the three main drivers of these needs are conflict, climate change, and economic factors.
The world is experiencing more conflicts, which are more entrenched, with devastating consequences for civilians. Almost 1 child in every 5 around the world is living in or fleeing from conflict zones.
The climate crisis is spiraling, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. Concurrent climate disasters, from Tropical Cyclone Freddy in Southern Africa to the wildfires in Europe and the devastation wrought by Storm Daniel in Libya all point to a changing planet, causing massive internal displacement.
These environmental factors exacerbate food and water insecurity, while health crises, such as epidemics, strain already fragile health systems.
Economic dynamics overlap with conflict, climate disasters, infectious disease outbreaks and others, as a significant driver of humanitarian need, and are either a primary driver, or strong contributor, to rising needs in several crises, including Afghanistan, Syria and Venezuela.
The UN and partner organizations are appealing for $46.4 billion to assist 180.5 million people across 72 countries.
The persistent humanitarian crises in many African countries are driven by several important factors. Historical legacies of colonialism have left deep scars, including arbitrary borders that group diverse ethnicities together, leading to internal conflicts. Economic challenges are exacerbated by a reliance on primary commodities and limited industrialization, making economies vulnerable to global market fluctuations.
Severe problematic governance issues, such as corruption and weak institutions, prevents any progress and hinders any real development. This is compounded by political instability and frequent conflicts, which disrupt social and economic structures.
On top of all these issues, population growth currently outpaces economic growth, leading to high unemployment and putting pressure on resources.
All of these factors create a cycle of vulnerability and crisis that many African nations struggle to break.
By removing at least some of these challenges, first and foremost government corruption, many of these countries would see immediate improvement and would reduce some of the pressure on humanitarian organizations to assist the millions of civilians who have been neglected by their leaders.
Image: Brownstone Institute
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