2020: ‘Biggest international challenge’ ever taken on by UN humanitarians

UNOCHA/Olympia de Maismont

A school in Kaya, Burkina Faso, welcomes numerous children who have fled their homes due to violence.

27 December 2020

Humanitarian Aid

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the “biggest international challenge” since the Second World War, according to the United Nations and has been the focus of the work of the UN’s humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, throughout 2020.

Families flee violence in Idlib, Syria. (file), by UNOCHA

From Syria to Haiti, Vanuatu to Yemen and Lebanon to Niger, OCHA has continued to reach the world’s most vulnerable and poorest with humanitarian aid, which can make the difference between life and death for millions of people.

Some $17 billion dollars have been spent in 2020 and it’s estimated that $35 billion more will be needed in 2021 in more than 50 countries, where the continued impact of COVID-19 is driving more people into emergency situations.

Read more here about how OCHA has helped to coordinate the international response to global humanitarian crises in 2020. 

And see more photos from their photographers in the field.

https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1080722

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