The United Nations (UN) response plan for 2024 includes 413.4 million dollars for Mozambique, which aims to help 1.7 million people out of a total of 2.3 million in need. With the global humanitarian outlook remaining “bleak”, the UN launched its appeal for 2024, asking for 46.4 billion dollars to help 180.5 million people in the world through “life-saving assistance and protection”.
For this year, the United Nations had requested 512.9 million dollars for Mozambique – the only Portuguese-speaking country targeted in the appeal – but this request was only 36% funded, according to a report released this Monday, December 11. However, by 2024, almost 300 million people around the world will be in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, due to conflicts, climate emergencies and other factors, and 74.1 million of these people are in East and Southern Africa.
According to the organization, the crisis in Sudan is responsible for almost 40% of this total, since the internal needs of the country, and the entire region, have increased since the conflict broke out in August 2023.
“Sudan is experiencing a vertiginous increase in needs, from 15.8 million people in 2023 to a staggering 30 million people in 2024. In West and Central Africa, 65.1 million people are in need, and the crises in Burkina Faso and Niger have expanded and intensified, driving the increase in needs compared to 2023,” explained the UN in its “Global Humanitarian Overview 2024” report.
Nevertheless, conflicts, climate and natural disasters – such as those that have hit Mozambique hard – and economic factors are the three main drivers of these needs which, combined, have made acute food insecurity a reality for 258 million people in 58 countries, according to the UN.
