Lack of funds hampers aid response in Pakistan, UN official says

A funding gap will keep food and medicine away from millions of needy people in Pakistan, a top United Nations aid worker said today as he called for stepped-up support from the international community.

“The international community’s response is inadequate. So far, the Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan, which requires more than $500 million for projects in 2010, is only 20 per cent funded,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan, Martin Mogwanja, told reporters in Islamabad.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has said that it has enough food for this month and the next, but not for June. Early recovery activities, such as school feeding, are also in jeopardy.

The agency distributed some 37,000 tons of food last month to more than 2.7 million people in conflict-affected areas of Pakistan. Some 1.3 million of people in the country remain displaced.

In another sign of how the financial gap is affecting humanitarian efforts in the country, some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are laying off staff, closing projects, and not implementing new ones, Mr. Mogwanja said.

“The funding response is not what we expected. Last year at this time the Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan was 40 per cent funded, double of what it is now.”