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UNICEF issues alert over growing needs and shrinking resources for 2024

At a time where humanitarian and protection needs “have never been greater”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is concerned that their ability to meet these needs will be under increasing strain in 2024 amid a funding crunch.

“Earlier this week, UNICEF launched the $9.3 billion emergency funding appeal to reach at least 94 million children in 155 countries,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, briefing journalists on Friday at the UN in Geneva. “Yet at a time where humanitarian needs and protection needs have never been greater, we are approaching 2024 facing an increasingly bleak funding forecast. Flexible funding, which allows us to respond that speed, scale and nimbleness, is shrinking, restricting our ability to respond quickly.”

Around 300 million people desperately need humanitarian assistance as devastating earthquakes, climate-related disasters, disease outbreaks and new and surging conflicts have left tens of millions of children and their families reeling. Through its 2024 Humanitarian Action for Children appeal, UNICEF aims to continue assisting children with life-saving interventions.

“Among the most critically underfunded emergencies right now, we have Sudan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Haiti, Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Bangladesh,” said Mr. Chaiban.

The UNICEF official recalled that for humanitarian organizations, the “work has rarely been as important, and may never have been more complex. The horrendous situation in Gaza, which shakes us to the core of our humanity, exemplifies this.”

“What we're seeing is increased need in a fiscally tight space […] increasing the instability because of conflict and climate, the overhang of COVID and the economic consequences of COVID,” he said. “It's a triple threat that children around the world are facing.”

Using funds requested for 2024, UNICEF plans to vaccinate more than 17 million children against measles, enable more than 19 million children to access formal and informal education, support 26.7 million children and their caregivers in receiving mental health care and psychosocial support and provide 52 million people with access to safe water, among other programmes.

Mr. Chaiban said it was crucial that immunization “continues to be available, that primary health care continues to function, that children have access to treatment against severe acute malnutrition, and that some of the basics around child protection, psycho-social support, mental health, addressing grave violations against children, recruitment of children by armed groups, as well as education, which is a life-saving intervention in emergencies, that all those continue to exist.”

The UNICEF official stressed that “beyond the headline-grabbing areas affected by conflict and other crises, there are other children suffering as well”, combined with a rise in climate-related disasters, disease outbreaks and displacement, meaning that children continue to endure the unimaginable impact of protracted crises and emerging threats.

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UNICEF emergency funding appeal 2024 - 15 December 2023

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