Outlook of humanitarian aid in 2015 bleak: UN

The United Nations has envisaged a “very, very bleak” outlook for global humanitarian operations in the year 2015.

“It’s been a rapid deterioration through 2014 and sadly, as we move forward we’re expecting to face a tough year in 2015,” UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Director of Operations John Ging said on Monday.

“When we look back at where we were this time last year we had about 52 million people in humanitarian need and we are now ending the year with over 76 million people,” he added.

The UN official further said that in 2013 as much as USD 12.9 billion was needed to respond the humanitarian need across the globe, adding that now the amount has risen to USD 19.2 billion.

“The poor people who are affected by the crisis… are losing their lives in the hundreds of thousands, in the millions, in fact. And with tens of millions really subsisting in terrible misery and inhumane conditions, they certainly can’t afford for this situation to continue,” he said.

Ging further noted that the UN humanitarian agency has lost 85 of its staff so far in the year 2104 due to attacks on aid workers.

He also called some conflicts in the world manmade, expressing hope for the peaceful settlement of crises.

“We have to work to see an end to so many of these conflicts which have been raging on and intensifying. They are manmade conflicts so they can be ended. There is a basis there for progress if we can find a way to find political solutions,” Ging added.