In 2025, an estimated 22.9 million people in Afghanistan will require humanitarian assistance to survive, yet funding remains critically low.
Recent US government cuts to international aid have exacerbated the situation, resulting in 9 million Afghans losing access to vital health services.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is experiencing one of the world’s most prolonged and severe humanitarian crises. Ongoing conflicts have displaced over 7 million people who are facing outbreaks of diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, measles and malaria, yet have limited access to essential services.
Yet these complex humanitarian emergencies (CHEs) are often exacerbated by historical injustices, such as colonialism, and rarely make headlines.
CHEs are crises that persist for years or even decades, leaving communities in cycles of poverty and dependence. They typically involve ongoing conflict, violence, economic collapse, displacement, food insecurity and unstable governance.
Despite the scale of these crises, the pattern remains the same: a disaster strikes, funding surges, media attention peaks, then headlines fade and so does the support. The story of long-term recovery struggles to gain traction, particularly when funding is limited, and this reduces local communities’ capacity to recover in the longer-term.
US and UK government cuts to international aid are making the situation even worse. Budgets are stretched thin, and the lack of global humanitarian funding is only deepening. If ever there was a time to rethink how we fund humanitarian responses, it is now.
