UN asks for $406m in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan

The United Nations in Afghanistan has appealed for 406 million dollars in humanitarian aid “to meet the most acute needs this year,” a senior UN official said Wednesday.“Despite more than a decade of international and government development efforts, from a humanitarian perspective Afghanistan remains a protracted complex emergency where 5 million people need lifesaving assistance,” said Mark Bowden, the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan. “This does not include the many more millions who are suffering the effects of chronic poverty.” Bowden said the number of people in need of access to health care increased from 3.3 to 5.4 million in 2013, since the delivery of basic health services was disrupted by conflict.Around 10 million Afghans are food insecure, he said, among which 2.2 million people are “very severely food insecure,” in need of emergency assistance, dpa reported.An estimated 630,000 people remain internally displaced in Afghanistan due to conflict, he said.UNHCR Tuesday had said more than 124,000 people became internally displaced in 2013 alone.“Sadly, the conflict continues to be the predominant driver of humanitarian needs. It causes disruption of services, displacement and injury to civilians across the country,” Bowden said.