The UN appeals for record humanitarian aid for 2018

The United Nations has appealed for a record 22 and a half billion US dollars  in humanitarian aid for 2018.

The global aid appeal aims to raise funds to help 91 million of the world's most vulnerable people, out of 136 million in need.

A just-released Un statement over 10 billion dollars are needed to address the humanitarian crises in Syria and Yemen alone.

It also said needs are rising substantially in a number of African countries with Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan in need of urgent aid to assist the most vulnerable,  most of whom have been displaced by conflict.

It specified that more than a third of the fund is requested to address the needs created by the devastating civil war in Syria which has caused over half a million displaced people.  

And Yemen, which has been wracked by fighting for the past three years,  is facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis with an estimated 2 and a half billion dollars needed to help  those most desperately in need.

The UN statement goes on to point out that that amount will cover the needs of only half of the 20 million people in Yemen who are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, including 11 million  children and 400,000 who are affected by severe acute malnutrition.