US pledges additional $1.8 billion for UN humanitarian aid

The funding will be reserved for life-saving aid to victims of natural disasters, famine, and “people who are truly in critical need,” the U.S. envoy added. The money will be allocated over the coming year.

The Trump administration shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development last year, hampering humanitarian efforts by cutting spending. The U.S. continues offering the U.N. money to help fill the void left by USAID.

Waltz said the U.S. remains the “single largest national donor” to the U.N. out of any other country despite USAID’s absence.

The 193-member intergovernmental organization has raised $7.4 billion toward its goal of $23 billion in humanitarian funding for the year. Both donations made by the U.S. account for just over half of the money raised so far.

“This is an exceptionally tough time for humanitarians. We are overstretched, under‑resourced, and increasingly under attack. Yet we have shown that we can deliver – even under the most challenging conditions,” U.N. OCHA Under-Secretary-General Tom Fletcher said in a statement. “This second allocation builds on the urgent action already taken this year and will allow us to accelerate and expand that progress, protecting millions more lives when it matters most.”

Fletcher added that the new funding will “help save millions of lives.” He noted that after the previous $2 billion pledge, the U.N. set aside $1.68 billion for “principled, impartial, needs‑based humanitarian action across 18 crises, aiming to reach more than 22 million people with life‑saving support.”

The global body wants to reach 87 million people in need this year, far short of the 300 million people around the world that need humanitarian assistance.