People in Gaza grabbing sacks of flour from a moving truck carrying World Food Programme aid. The decline in contributions from big countries like the US and Britain in humanitarian funds has left millions without essential assistance. — AP
Funding for humanitarian programmes in 2025 has dropped to its lowest level in a decade, leaving millions without access to food and medical care, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in the Global Humanitarian Overview 2026 report that was published recently, according to Russian news agency Sputnik/RIA Novosti.
"In 2025, humanitarian funding saw its greatest contraction in a decade, with donor cuts causing funding to drop below 2016 levels. The United States, traditionally the largest humanitarian donor – funded US$2.5bil (RM10.29bil) against the 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview (21% of total GHO funding), compared to US$11bil (RM45.31bil) in 2024," the report read.
The sharp decline in the US support came amid reduced contributions from other donors, including France, Germany, Switzerland, and Britain, Ocha said. These severe funding cuts have left millions without essential assistance, it added.
"While some form of humanitarian assistance reached nearly 98 million people in 2025, this represented just 65% of people targeted through country-specific plans. This is a stark reduction from 2024, when 123 million people – 25 million more than in 2025 – received at least one form of assistance," the office said.
The funding shortfall is impacting food aid and worsening acute hunger, which rose in 2025, the report read. Children face heightened risks of malnutrition and death due to cuts in nutrition programmes.
For instance, in Yemen, which is grappling with one of the world's worst food crises, 70% of aid needs are unmet, leaving around 450,000 children and mothers without emergency care each month, Ocha said.
"Health services for 52.6 million people were shuttered or reduced due to underfunding, significantly increasing the risk of preventable death. The funding cuts affected more than 6,600 health facilities across 22 countries (as of Sept 20, 2025), a third of which were forced to suspend operations," the report read.
Insufficient funding has also hindered efforts to provide temporary shelter for millions of displaced people worldwide.
Moreover, outbreaks of infectious diseases have become harder to prevent and control due to cutbacks in restoring water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure, the report said. – Bernama
