A boy in Beirut looks at the camera. Children can be seen in the background.
Adam, 5, left his village in southern Lebanon by bus to escape the bombing. "On our way to Beirut, an airstrike hit a car next to us. The windows of the bus exploded, and we were hit by flying stones. The shattered glass struck my grandfather."
Photo taken on 3 October 2024 in a shelter in Beirut. Photo: UNICEF/ Fouad Choufany

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More than 300 million people globally need humanitarian assistance and protection

At the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), we bring the world together to tackle humanitarian emergencies and save the lives of people caught in crises.

What we do

We mobilize aid, share information, support humanitarian efforts, and advocate for crisis-affected communities.

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Where we work

Our presence in crisis-affected regions, combined with our expert team, allows us to rapidly respond and provide support to those in need.

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How you can help

Nearly every humanitarian response is critically underfunded. Every cent counts, and saves lives. Contribute today!

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Current responses

A damaged ambulance in Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon is facing the largest escalation of conflict since the 2006 Lebanon War, with more than 1,000 people killed between 16 to 27 September, including 87 children and 156 women, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

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A man wearing an OCHA vest and helmet is helping upload an ambulance stretcher with a person lying on it into an ambulance, which has its back doors open. Another ambulance can be seen parked alongside it.

Occupied Palestinian Territory

The Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) faces a protracted political crisis characterized by more than 55 years of Israeli military occupation, internal Palestinian divisions, and recurrent escalations of hostilities.

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Displaced girl in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis with a serious risk of systemic collapse and human catastrophe.

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Inside a classroom, a boy standing behind a desk speaks into a microphone, which held by a woman, who is standing in front of him. Other children can be seen seated at their desks. Two blackboards are in view in the background.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso continues to face the worst humanitarian crisis in its history, with one in four Burkinabè now in need of humanitarian assistance.

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Karen Perrin, OCHA’s head of office in Cameroon, plants a tree in the Minawao refugee camp in the country’s northern border, as part of a reforestation project in response to the drought. Photo: OCHA//Bibiane Mouangue

Cameroon

Nine out of 10 regions in Cameroon are affected by three complex humanitarian crises: the Lake Chad basin conflict, the North-West and South-West crisis, and the Central African Republic (CAR) refugee crisis.

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Three women and a young man look at the camera. Some of the women are clutching a plastic sheet. A UN vehicle and tents can be seen in the background.

Chad

The humanitarian crisis in Chad is becoming more entrenched due to growing food insecurity and malnutrition, forced displacement, the effects of climate change, and political, socioeconomic, health and sanitation challenges.

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Children in a desert landscape

Eritrea

Following a border conflict with Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000, Eritrea experienced a prolonged "no-war, no-peace" situation and faced international sanctions for a decade.

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A woman, Esha Mohammed, walks along the dry landscape

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is facing multiple humanitarian emergencies due to climate change, conflict, disease outbreaks, poor macroeconomic conditions, and high commodity and food prices due to inflation.

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A woman sits inside an informal tent holding a baby in her arms.

Haiti

Haiti is enduring a severe crisis with political, economic and humanitarian challenges. The President's assassination in July 2021 left the country without a leader, and the economy has suffered from four years of negative growth.

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A woman in an OCHA vest talks to a woman facing her. They are standing in a verandah of a house.

Honduras

Honduras faces growing vulnerabilities, including political and social conflicts, climate change, forced displacement and migration.

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Children working with chalk and slates in classroom

Mali

Mali is beset by insecurity, conflict, the impacts of climate change and limited access to basic social services, all of which are causing severe humanitarian need.

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A woman stands with a pointer and watches as a child writes on a blackboard placed against a wall. Children are seated on the floor in front of the board. Soe bags can be seen placed against a dilapidated wall.

Mozambique

An estimated 945,000 people have been internally displaced by the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique, which continues to increase humanitarian needs. 

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A woman with a young boy tied to her back walks on an unpaved narrow path. A young boy and a man carrying water and bags walk behind her.

Myanmar

Two years since the military takeover, the humanitarian outlook for Myanmar remains bleak. Conflict is raging, public services are in disarray and inflation is having a devastating effect on people’s financial situations.

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A medical team from the NGO, Action Pour le Bien Être, with a patient in a camp for the internally displaced in Ouallam, Niger. A project financed by the OCHA-managed Regional Humanitarian Fund for West and Central Africa supports efforts to respond to gender-based violence, provision of emergency shelter, non-food items and healthcare service. Photo; OCHA/Michele Cattani

Niger

Niger continues to face an acute and complex humanitarian crisis marked by the impact of persistent insecurity, epidemics, food insecurity and floods.

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Falmata Goni and her baby at a stabilization centre managed by International Rescue Committee in Bama local government area, Borno State. 2 May 2023. The centre is supported by OCHA. Photo: OCHA/Adedeji Ademigbuji

Nigeria

There has been no reprieve in the humanitarian crisis in north-east Nigeria’s Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States, where armed conflict is now in its thirteenth year.

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A woman with baby in her arms stands in front of an informal tent. Two men and a woman in blue vests and clothing face her.

Somalia

Somalia is facing a rapidly unfolding humanitarian catastrophe, driven by the longest and most severe drought in at least 40 years.

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Children, women and men flee the conflict in Sudan in a bus headed for Maban, South Sudan.

South Sudan

The humanitarian situation in South Sudan is worsening, driven by the cumulative and compounding effects of years of conflict, subnational violence, food insecurity, the climate crisis and public health challenges.

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Aisha Alnour, cooking Kisra, a Sudanese flatbread, as a daily ritual with her colleagues to feed most of the people in a camp for people displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

Sudan

Clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in Khartoum on 15 April 2023. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured due to the conflict.

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UN staff inspect damaged residential areas in Dnipro, Ukraine, after an attack left civilians, including children, injured and civilian infrastructure compromised

Ukraine

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces in February 2022, the lives of countless women, men and children have been torn apart. Millions were forced to leave Ukraine and become refugees.

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A man in a white jacket with a stethoscope sits behind a desk - a woman with a baby in her arms and a young boy standing next to her sits across the desk.

Yemen

Eight years into the conflict, the crisis in Yemen remains severe, with more than 21 million people — two thirds of the population — in need of humanitarian assistance.

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How we respond

Humanitarian coordinate ina tent in Turkiye

We coordinate

During an emergency, at the request of the affected country’s Government, we coordinate the flurry of response efforts to ensure they reach the people most in need.

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A gray-haired man sits behind a desk speaking into a microphone . People are seated behind him and next to him.

We advocate

Through our public and private advocacy, we raise awareness of humanitarian crises and the needs of affected people. We advocate for the protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law.

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Meeting of dignitaries at the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment

We develop policy

We constantly update existing policies and develop new ones, as we strive to improve the way we deliver assistance to people in need.

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Olha and her children are kept warm in a shelter in a village in the Chernihiv Region, north Ukraine, as part of a winter campaign by aid workers.

We fund

We work with humanitarian partners around the world to identify the most critical humanitarian needs, plan responses and determine the budgets needed to address them.

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Information Management team at work

We inform

Accurate information and data are critical in informing a rapid, effective and principled humanitarian response. They are also vital for coordinating the response.

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World Humanitarian Day 2024

On World Humanitarian Day, celebrating humanitarian workers is not enough. We need those in power to act now to ensure the protection of humanitarians in conflict zones.

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A person in business attire looking at a destroyed city