The world faces a global health crisis unlike any in the 75-year history of the United Nations — one that is spreading human suffering, crippling the global economy and upending people’s lives. COVID-19 is threatening the whole of humanity – and the whole of humanity must fight back. Global action and solidarity are crucial.
On 25 March, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will launch a COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan. The Secretary-General will be joined by the UN’s Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock, WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
During the unprecedented challenge of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, IASC members are still working and prioritizing support to the most vulnerable people--who need us now more than ever.
UN Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock today released US$15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help fund global efforts to contain the COVID-19 virus.
The announcement came as the World Health Organization (WHO) upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to "very high" – its top level of risk assessment. The WHO has said there is still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission is broken.
IAHE. This report presents the results of an Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluation (IAHE) of the drought response in Ethiopia between 2015 and 2018. An IAHE is an independent assessment of the collective humanitarian response of Inter-Agency Standing Committee member organizations to a specific crisis or theme.2 The global IAHE Steering Group identified the drought response in Ethiopia as a priority, and the Emergency Relief Coordinator formally launched the evaluation in late 2018.
On this website you can find information and guidance from WHO regarding the current outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that was first reported from Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019. Please visit this page for daily updates.
WHO is working closely with global experts, governments and partners to rapidly expand scientific knowledge on this new virus, to track the spread and virulence of the virus, and to provide advice to countries and individuals on measures to protect health and prevent the spread of this outbreak.
Chair of the IASC Emergency Directors Group, Rheena Ghelani, describes her mission to the country with one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the world.
Since 2019, Burkina Faso has become one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the world. The number of internally displaced people has increased tenfold within a year, from 60,000 in January 2019 to almost 600,000 in January 2020.
"9.4m people are in need in 2020, compared to 6.5m last year." Mr. Toby Lanzer DSRSG, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan: briefing IASC members in New York on the operational update on "The Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan."
On 5 December 2019 the Executive Heads of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) met in Geneva, Swtizerland to address key issues on system-wide importance for humanitarian action.
The Committee discussed a number of critical humanitarian crises and the required support to meet urgent humanitarian needs, including in Syria, the Sahel Region, Afghanistan, and Sudan.