The humanitarian aid of United Nations and its results

                  The humanitarian aid of United Nations and its results

In the XXI century, the time of wide globalization, rapid climate changes and worldwide financial problems, humanity and philanthropy play a great role in our modern society. Millions of people everywhere on Earth have serious issues, which they cannot solve themselves, therefore humanitarian aid is a major factor in solving those issues. In other words, humanitarian aid is material and logistical assistance to people in need. The primary purpose of it is to save lives, reduce suffering and display respect for human dignity.

There are many intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations in modern international community, whose main mission is to provide humanitarian support all over the world. The most reputed of them is the United Nations.

United Nations was founded after the Second World War, when the organization started rendering humanitarian assistance in Europe in connection to the destruction and massive displacement of people during the war. After that, the international community entrusted the responsibility for liquidation of the aftermath of disasters and catastrophes, which cannot be solved by governments.

In 1991, the General Assembly of United Nations established the United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which role was to step in in case of humanitarian crises. OCHA is the part of the United Nations’ Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort. OCHA's mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies. Additionally, OCHA advocates the rights of people in need, promotes preparedness and prevention, and facilitates sustainable solutions.

But all of this cannot be achieved without the support from the many donors and philanthropists who contribute to the organization’s cause. OCHA receives voluntary contributions from a diverse set of donors. Their generous contributions and constant active support allow OCHA to grow and to develop innovative ways to deal with the challenges facing the global humanitarian community. OCHA values donors’ efforts to fund them year after year and counts on their continued support during these times of multiple and complex humanitarian crises.

One particularly important emerging driver of vulnerability is the volatility of international commodity prices, particularly prices of food and fuel. In June 2008, the prices of basic foods on international markets reached their highest levels in 30 years, threatening the security of the poor worldwide. Prices are still high and the structural problems underlying the vulnerability of developing countries to international price increases remain.

At the policy level, OCHA works to support UN system efforts to reduce the immediate impacts of food insecurity and address the underlying causes through its participation in the Secretary-General's High Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis. This includes working with their partner agencies to monitor and analyze the humanitarian impact of high food prices and ensure appropriate mitigation and response actions can be taken.

Acute hunger or starvation is often highlighted on TV screens: hungry mothers too weak to nurse their children in drought-hit Ethiopia, refugees in war-torn Syria queuing for food rations, helicopters airlifting high energy biscuits to earthquake victims in Haiti or Pakistan.

These situations are the result of high profile crises like war or natural disasters, which starve a population of food. Yet emergencies account for less than eight percent of hunger's victims.

Daily undernourishment is a less visible form of hunger, but it affects many more people, from the shanty towns of Jakarta in Indonesia and the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to the mountain villages of Bolivia and Nepal. In these places, hunger is much more than an empty stomach.

For weeks, even months, its victims must live on significantly less than the recommended 2,100 kc that the average person needs to lead a healthy life.

The body compensates for the lack of energy by slowing down its physical and mental activities. A hungry mind cannot concentrate, a hungry body does not take initiative, a hungry child loses all desire to play and study.

Hunger also weakens the immune system. Deprived of the right nutrition, hungry children are especially vulnerable and become too weak to fight off disease and may die from common infections like measles and diarrhea. Each year, almost seven million children die before reaching the age of five; malnutrition is a key factor in over a third of these deaths

 

One of the famous examples of UN’s humanitarian aid is supporting Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The increased frequency of natural disasters, such as cyclones and floods, lean season crises and droughts likely to undermine poverty reduction efforts. Coping strategies adopted by the poor like reducing food intake, withdrawing children from school and selling productive assets increases the vulnerability of low-income households and worsens people’s prospects for escaping the poverty cycle.

UN supports the Government to improve the nutritional status of children and women and to break the intergenerational cycle of under nutrition. The Improving Maternal and Child Nutrition program combines targeted supplementary feeding and nutrition behavior change communication. It takes a community-based approach to ensure wide coverage and activities are carried out through Government health structures to safeguard ownership and sustainability.

To reach the common goal of universal primary education, UN works with the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education to provide biscuits fortified with vitamins and minerals to pre-primary and primary school children in particularly disadvantaged areas. In an accompanying learning package, children, their parents, and other community members learn about social challenges, vegetable gardening, health and nutrition as well as hygiene practices.

To improve communities’ resilience to natural disasters and the effects of climate change as well as to strengthen their agricultural production, UN works with the Local Government Engineering Department and local stakeholders to strengthen joint preparedness and response capabilities.

International community greatly benefits from the UN’s humanitarian aid. Different programs of UN saved millions of lives across the globe and contributed to the increased level of education of third world countries. Due to UN’s and its donors’ efforts, the world is taking a leap in eradicating world’s hunger and the mass devastation caused by it.