The United Nations has announced a $4.4 billion appeal to respond to the escalating risk of famine in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen in a move defined by strengthened coordination between development and humanitarian agencies.
United Nations Development Programme Administrator Helen Clark hailed the move as a “new way of working in crisis” that deals with short-term emergency needs as well as planning for a more sustainable future that would help avoid other disasters.
Aid workers are working across U.N. agencies and other multilateral organizations to respond to the short- and long-term needs of the 20 million people in the four countries that the U.N. has declared are on the “tipping point” of famine.