INTERVIEW: UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien
“At the end of the day, every life saved is an achievement in itself.”
09/21/2015. Stephen O’Brien has hit the ground running since taking up his post a couple of months ago as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, having seen first-hand the devastation wrought by ongoing conflicts in South Sudan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria.
The British national with more than 20 years of experience in international development and public health understands the many complexities of humanitarian assistance, which range from ensuring food, shelter and safe drinking water to appreciating the psychological trauma experienced by those affected and the importance of providing hope.
We try to save 80 million lives a year and need to raise about $20 billion to do it. So you can see the scale of what has to be done is absolutely vast…
Read the interview on the UN website
Related Articles
Haiti marks 10 year anniversary of earthquake amid worsening food insecurity
01/09/2020. Malteser International currently runs community gardens and livestock programs that directly address Haiti’s food crisis.
Sudan: More aid for conflict-hit families as ICRC reaffirms commitment
03/18/2015. Hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan still face great hardship, particularly in the conflict-stricken Darfur region.
Better serving people in need through cooperation with the World Economic Forum
01/19/2016. The ICRC and the WEF focus on collaboration and dialogue between sectors and operate both from Geneva, with a global perspective.
