NEW YORK: Humanitarian needs will increase worldwide in the year ahead, Saudi aid experts warn, requiring solidarity among the international community and the continued support of donors within the UN, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.

Aqil Al-Ghamdi, the assistant supervisor general director for planning and development at the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, also known as KSRelief, said the areas worst affected by the escalating crisis will be the Horn of Africa, the Sahel region, the Great Lakes, Haiti and Ukraine.

Their situations will get worse because of factors such as economic disparity, climate change, food shortages, rising prices of fuel and fertilizer, the COVID-19 pandemic, ebola and cholera outbreaks, all of which will have crippling effects on the humanitarian situation.

He was speaking at a high-level meeting of the donor support group for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York on Wednesday.

Al-Ghamdi, who chaired the meeting, said the OCHA will have to confront greater challenges in 2023, which will require a united response and the continued support of the group. He gave details of the OCHA’s strategic plan for the period 2023 to 2026, and the office’s budget for coming year. He praised the progress it has made, especially with regard to setting priorities and establishing a budget steering committee to help allocate resources based on levels of need.

Joyce Msuya, OCHA’s assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, said the office appreciates the offers by members of the donor group to mobilize their support, especially in terms of funding, in light of the economic conditions that most countries are experiencing and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. She stressed the office’s efforts to use available resources efficiently.

Julie Billings, head of strategic planning, budgeting and finance at the OCHA, discussed the office’s 2023 budget and some of the steps it is taking. She said it constantly evaluates its bureaus around the world to establish financial needs, and reduces the support to areas in which the humanitarian situation has improved so that the funding can be transferred to address priority needs elsewhere.

Al-Ghamdi, the head of the donor group and the Kingdom’s representative on it, thanked the OCHA representatives and the members of the donor group for attending the two-day meeting and their valuable contributions. He invited them to the fourth meeting of the high-level group, which is scheduled to take place in Riyadh in February, alongside the Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum.