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The Fall 2024 issue of the Wilson Quarterly is entitled “Confronting Unprecedented Humanitarian Needs.” A dozen articles by former and current leaders of USAID, UN, IOM, ICRC, and humanitarian organizations address the evolution of the humanitarian response to natural and complex disasters. Taken from the issue:

  • More than 310 million people at this moment need urgent humanitarian assistance and more than 120 million people are forcibly displaced, the highest levels ever – Syed Imran Ali
  • 120 active armed conflicts, with an estimated 195 million people living in areas under the control or influence of armed groups – Fabrizio Carboni
  • “At some point, when 80% of humanitarian assistance needs are caused by manmade conflicts and wars, we have to acknowledge that these issues won’t be resolved through airdrops but through negotiations.” -Rob Jenkins
  • Since the 1980s, famines have all but disappeared (except for the great North Korean famine of the 1990s that killed perhaps as many as 2.5 million people). – Andrew Natsios

Mark Green, former USAID Administrator and current President and CEO of the Wilson Center, describes in the introduction his intimate familiarity with humanitarian crises, the added complexities of mental health pressures, demands of maternal and newborn health, nutrition, and gender-based violence, while mitigating climate impact and strengthening resilience, all topics addressed in the issue. The articles also cover the use of drones, broader collaboration and localization as well as the volunteer spirit that is essential to the humanitarian response.

Andrew Natsios, another humanitarian, former USAID Administrator, and currently Executive Professor at the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M, contributed an analysis that notes that deaths from famines have significantly declined due to globalization, the Green Revolution and the spread of democracy in holding governments more accountable. USAID has become the leading disaster response agency spending billions on humanitarian assistance. Systemic innovations such as local food purchasing rather than importing it from the U.S. and cash distribution have proven to be effective. Natsios cautions that the demands will be unrelenting but the continued evolution of the response must not lose sight of accountability and sustainability.

Read the Fall 2024 issue of The Wilson Quarterly here.

 

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