UNICEF calls on donors for $9.4 bn in 2024

UNICEF on Tuesday launched an appeal to donors for $9.3 billion in funding for next year, amid what the United Nations agency called an "alarming surge" in children caught up in humanitarian crises around the world.

Afghanistan was the most expensive project listed, with UNICEF calling for $1.4 billion for 2024, as the agency calls for funds to reach some 94 million children in 155 countries.

Other projects listed in the funding drive included those in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, both operating in the face of "an alarming surge in the number of children facing unprecedented humanitarian crises worldwide."

UNICEF priorities in 2024 also include Syrian and Ukrainian refugee responses.

"Millions of children continue to be caught in humanitarian crises that are growing in complexity and scale, and that are increasingly stretching our resources to respond," Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement.

"Children should not be paying with their lives and their futures" for crises stemming from conflict, natural disasters and climate change, she added.

UNICEF also said the funding would allow it to reach 17.3 million children in need of measles vaccinations, 7.6 million children with acute malnutrition, and 19.3 million children lacking access to education.

At the same time, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- the UN's sexual and reproductive health agency -- called for $1.2 billion in funding "to address the mounting crises affecting women and girls globally in 2024."

"When crisis strikes, women and girls pay the steepest price," said Natalia Kanem, the agency's executive director.

"Unless we put them front and center in our humanitarian response, we will see more gender-based violence, more child marriage, and more pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths."

The agency is aiming in 2024 to reach 48 million women, girls and young people across 58 countries, including Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Ethiopia.