UN scales back global aid plan due to 'deepest funding cuts ever'

The United Nations on Monday said it was drastically scaling back its global humanitarian aid plans due to the "deepest funding cuts ever".

The UN's humanitarian agency said in a statement that it was seeking $29 billion in funding compared to $44 billion requested in December, in a "hyper-prioritised" appeal.

Under President Donald Trump, who assumed office in January, the United States -- the world's top donor -- heavily slashed its foreign aid, causing havoc in the humanitarian aid sector across the globe.

Other donor countries have cut back their contributions in the face of an uncertain economic outlook.

"Brutal funding cuts leave us with brutal choices," Tom Fletcher, the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in a statement.

"All we ask is 1 percent of what you chose to spend last year on war. But this isn't just an appeal for money -- it's a call for global responsibility, for human solidarity, for a commitment to end the suffering."

With 2025 nearly halfway through, the UN has received only $5.6 billion out of the $44 billion, a mere 13 percent, that it had requested while facing surging crises in Sudan, Gaza, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, among others.

"We have been forced into a triage of human survival," Fletcher said. "The math is cruel, and the consequences are heartbreaking. Too many people will not get the support they need, but we will save as many lives as we can with the resources we are given."

Under the new guidelines, OCHA aid will be directed so that it can "reach the people and places facing the most urgent needs" and support will be directed "on the planning already done for the 2025... This will ensure that limited resources are directed where they can do the most good -- as quickly as possible," the statement said.