On Saturday, May 2, CARE’s President and CEO Michelle Nunn, spoke with Carl Nasman of BBC News about the wider implications of the Iran war on global humanitarian assistance and the increased suffering of millions of people in the region but also across Africa and Asia. Below are a few quotes from Michelle’s interview.
“It is having enormous human consequences and we are very concerned. It is like an earthquake that has gone off from a humanitarian perspective in the region itself. We are seeing over a million people in need of assistance in Lebanon where CARE is responding at this very hour, but it ripples out far beyond that and it is like shockwaves, everywhere from Somalia to Bangladesh. Literally it means that we can’t get the supplies and food where they need to go as easily and as cost-effectively.”
“The dramatic cuts to aid have been hugely impactful on what we are able to deliver. Let me give you a concrete example. In Somalia, for instance, all US funding has stopped. This is a country that has significant humanitarian needs, millions of people facing hunger. From a CARE perspective, it means that what we were able to do with 300 severely malnourished children, we are now only able to deliver that immediate therapeutic feeding to 88 children. That is emblematic of what this means throughout the world.”
You can watch the full segment below or directly on YouTube.