It documents how many people have unmet humanitarian needs and the funding that is needed by humanitarian agencies to meet them.
Over the years the annual editions have identified rising needs, insufficient spending, and patterns of violence towards humanitarian healthcare staff.
Global Humanitarian Overview documents global trends in humanitarian aid including conflict, climate events, disease, food insecurity, and compliance with international humanitarian law.[3] The report tracks patterns of humanitarian needs, aid spending and the gap between them.[4][5]
In 2017 the report documented the closure of eleven healthcare facilities in Sudan due to a funding shortfall.[5] Areas with high needs also included Libya, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, with the total funding needed to meet all needs being $22 billion.[5]
The report documented the needs of 134 million people in 42 countries and a 40% gap between the cost of meeting their needs and the funding provided.[7]
The 2019 recorded a record level of attacks on healthcare workers and predicted dire circumstances for people living in poverty as a consequence of the climate emergency and armed conflict.[3] It reported that compliance with international humanitarian law was falling, putting healthcare workers in dangervand reducing their ability to meet health needs.[3] It reported a need for humanitarian workers must collaborate with international development workers to increase community resilience to volatile situations.[8]
In 2020 the report documented the highest number of people in need in decades, with the number of people with humanitarian needs reaching 168 million.[9] The report called for $28.8 billion of funding.[9]
$35 billion of needs were identified,[10] significantly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. One in 33 people globally had unmet humanitarian needs, up from one in 45 in 2020.[11]
A record level of $41 billion worth of needs were identified, with 183 million people in need of life-saving assistance.[10] Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Yemen were identified as the countries with the highest needs.[10] Climate change, conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic were identified as the key causes of unmet needs.[12]
