March 17, 2017 - 12:48 PM
OTTAWA - Canada has answered the UN's call for urgent humanitarian aid to avert the prospect of starvation for some 20 million people in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.
A look at some of the numbers behind Friday's announcement:
— Canada will contribute $119.25 million: $27 million for Nigeria, $21 million for Somalia, $37 million for South Sudan and $34 million for Yemen.
— An estimated 8.5 million Nigerians are in need of humanitarian assistance, 5.1 million of them facing severe food insecurity.
— Roughly half the population of Somalia, more than six million people, require humanitarian assistance.
— In February, the UN declared a famine in parts of South Sudan, affecting an estimated 100,000 people. Up to one million are at risk of starvation.
— An estimated 10.3 million Yemenis require immediate life-saving assistance, according to aid organizations.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2017