Global Humanitarian Overview 2020

Humanitarian needs and requirements

Since the publication of the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) on 25 March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken hold in the 54 countries with ongoing humanitarian crises at varying scale, speed and severity levels. Based on their vulnerability and response capacity, an additional 10 countries were included in this update, bringing the number of countries covered by this plan to 63.

With the release of the GHRP July Update, COVID-19 financial requirements have risen from US$6.69 billion to $10.26 billion. This significant increase is due to a rapid evolution of humanitarian needs, the inclusion of the additional countries, increased cost of essential health and other supplies, and air and sea transportation. The additional requirements for the COVID-19-related emergency response compound the already significant funding gap for humanitarian response plans globally.

In December 2019, the UN projected a requirement of $28.8 billion in the GHO for its response to humanitarian needs in 2020. Drawing a parallel to the global crisis of 2008-2009, when humanitarian requirements grew by 54 per cent, all indications are that humanitarian needs will increase significantly by the end of 2020 due to the secondary impacts of COVID-19. Including requirements for COVID-19 response, overall humanitarian funding requirements now exceed $40bn.