The United Nations (UN) has reported that the world is facing its biggest humanitarian crisis since 1945. It has issued a to all nations to help avoid "a ". UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, warned that than 20 million people face the of starvation and in Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. He stressed there was an need for, "accelerated global to support UN humanitarian action on the ". Mr O'Brien told the UN Security Council: "We stand at a point in history. Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the of the UN."
The UN warned of a future for millions in the affected African countries and Yemen. It said: "Without collective and global efforts…people risk starving to death and succumbing to … [with] stunted , lost futures, mass displacements and reversed development ." While the natural El Niño weather phenomenon has brought little or no , a lot of the problems fuelling the crisis are man made. War and are displacing many in these countries and are hampering efforts to distribute . There are reports of aid being attacked. Mr O'Brien said: "It is possible to avert this crisis, to avert these famines, to avert these looming human catastrophes. It is all ."
