UNICEF Seeks $1 Billion For Overlooked Emergencies

The United Nations agency said it needed 17 percent more money in 2009 than last year because of increased needs in Africa.

UNICEF appealed on Tuesday for $1 billion to respond to overlooked emergencies that it said are causing worsening hunger, disease and poverty for women and children, especially in Africa.

The United Nations agency said it needed 17 percent more money in 2009 than last year because of increased needs in eastern and southern Africa, including Zimbabwe where a cholera outbreak and flood fears are compounding an economic crisis.

"Many countries featured in the report are silent or forgotten emergencies," UNICEF chief Ann Veneman said in an introduction to the appeal. "Women and children are dying every day due to disease, poverty and hunger, but sadly their deaths go largely unnoticed."

More than half of the funds sought would support relief work in five countries -- the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

UNICEF responds to an average of 276 emergencies a year, working with United Nations and other aid groups to help provide services such as food, water and medical care such as vaccines.

Humanitarian aid providers are working hard to secure funding this year alongside the global economic turmoil that has pinched many donor-country budgets.

In 2008 the governments that gave most emergency funding to UNICEF were the United States, Japan, the European Commission, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada.