OVERVIEW
Between January and August 2024, humanitarian partners reached 14.4 million people with at least one form of humanitarian assistance and up to 2.5 million people with three different types of sectoral support. Although this represents a broad reach in absolute terms, 65 per cent (9.3 million) of the 14.4 million people reached overall received food assistance, highlighting the extent to which food assistance continues to drive overall response figures, while also overshadowing the millions of people who will require multiple rounds of assistance throughout the year to ensure their needs are adequately met.
Response was enabled by a combination of new funding as of 25 August 2024 ($761.7 million) and funds carried over from 2023 ($412.5 million). However, $2.29 billion (75 per cent) of the $3.06 billion required to deliver humanitarian assistance remained unfunded in August 2024. At the same time, new needs continue to be generated by sudden-onset crises while simultaneously exacerbating underlying vulnerabilities.
The large-scale provision of humanitarian assistance, particularly food distributions and seasonal support, has continued in the first eight months of 2024. Looking ahead, partners will focus efforts on providing more integrated support in line with the nature and scale of multisectoral needs that is informed by a quarterly gaps analysis exercise, enhanced inter-sectoral reach calculations and greater transparency in reach data, including disaggregation of food security reach by rounds of assistance.
In a context of continued humanitarian needs and operational complexity, the humanitarian community’s ability to continue to stay and deliver life-saving assistance will be contingent on flexible funding, enabling financial systems, assurances of aid worker safety and principled humanitarian response. This includes ensuring that women are able to access the assistance and services they require, and that Afghan women humanitarian workers can participate in the response safely, meaningfully and comprehensively.
Disclaimer
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.