Humanitarian organizations warn that the war in the Middle East has severely compromised their ability to deliver food and medicine to millions of people in need around the world, and that suffering will worsen if the violence continues.
Not only has the conflict cut off vital shipping lanes, causing a global energy crisis, but it is also disrupting the supply chains of humanitarian organizations, forcing them to take more expensive and longer routes.
Key transport routes such as the Strait of Hormuz were virtually closed, and routes from strategic hubs like Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi were also affected. Transport costs skyrocketed due to rising fuel prices and insurance premiums, meaning fewer supplies could be delivered with the same budget.
The World Food Programme reports that tens of thousands of tons of food are severely delayed in transit. The International Rescue Committee has $130,000 worth of medicines destined for war-torn Sudan stuck in Dubai, and nearly 670 cartons of therapeutic food for severely malnourished children in Somalia are stuck in India. The United Nations Population Fund reports delaying shipments of supplies to 16 countries.
The drastic cuts made by the United States in foreign aid had already crippled many humanitarian organizations, which say that the war is exacerbating the problem.
The United Nations reports that this is the most significant disruption to the supply chain since COVID-19, with transport costs increasing by up to 20% and delays due to the rerouting of goods. The war is also creating new emergencies, such as in Iran, but also in Lebanon where at least one million people have been displaced.
"The war against Iran and the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz risk pushing humanitarian operations beyond their limits," said Madiha Raza, deputy director of public affairs and communications for Africa at the International Rescue Committee.
Even when the fighting stops, the shock to global supply chains could continue to delay life-saving aid for months, she added.
Longer and more expensive routes
The war forced organizations to find new ways to transport goods, with some bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal to send ships through Africa, which lengthened delivery times by several weeks.
Others use a combination of transport modes, including land, sea and air, which increases costs.
Jean-Cedric Meeus, head of global transport and logistics for UNICEF, said his agency was using a combination of land and air routes to send vaccines to Nigeria and Iran in order to get them there in time for vaccination campaigns, but that costs had skyrocketed.
Before the war, UNICEF sent vaccines to Iran by plane directly from suppliers around the world. Now, it transports the vaccines by plane to Turkey, then by road to Iran, which has increased costs by 20% and lengthened the delivery time by 10 days, he explained.
Save the Children International, which usually ships its supplies by sea freight from Dubai to Port Sudan, will now have to transport goods by truck from Dubai via Saudi Arabia, then by barge across the Red Sea, it said. This route adds 10 days and increases costs by about 25 percent, at a time when more than 19 million Sudanese are facing acute food insecurity. This delay puts more than 90 primary healthcare facilities across Sudan at risk of running out of essential medicines, it said.
Soaring prices also mean that organizations must choose their priorities.
“Ultimately, we either sacrifice the number of children we help… or we sacrifice the number of items we can afford to buy,” said Janti Soeripto, president of Save the Children USA. The organization indicated that it has stocks in the countries where it operates, but some of these could be depleted within a few weeks.
The increase in costs also affects people's ability to receive treatment in their own country.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stated that rising fuel prices in Somalia—where some 6.5 million people are facing acute food insecurity—have increased transportation and food costs, making access to healthcare more difficult. In Nigeria, the IRC reports that fuel prices have jumped by 50% and clinics are struggling to power equipment such as generators, while mobile medical teams have scaled back their operations.
The food crisis could worsen
One of the main concerns relates to the impact of the war on world hunger.
The WFP warns that if the conflict continues until June, an additional 45 million people will suffer from acute hunger, adding to the nearly 320 million people already affected by hunger worldwide.
Approximately 30% of the world's fertilizers transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and with planting season approaching in regions like East Africa and South Asia, small farmers in poor countries will be severely impacted. Sudan imports more than half of its fertilizers from the Gulf, and Kenya around 40%, according to humanitarian organizations.
The UN Secretary-General has established a working group to facilitate trade in fertilizers—modeled on the Black Sea Grain Initiative. But humanitarian organizations say this will not be enough. If there is no ceasefire, governments must provide more funding to organizations to cope with rising costs, they argue.
Humanitarian experts indicate that the international response to fund aid has been slower during this war compared to previous conflicts such as the one in Ukraine, which could reflect increasing pressure to invest in security rather than aid at a time when the world is in turmoil.
"They are making difficult choices between defense security and humanitarian aid," said Sam Vigersky, an international affairs researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations, who has written about the impact of the war on humanitarian aid.
He explained that when the United States goes to war, it generally has aid provisions in place, but it has not "activated" them. "It's not a question of capability, it's a political decision," he said.
Tommy Pigott, senior deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said the United States had been "the most generous country in the world" in providing humanitarian aid.
The department indicated that it was releasing an additional $50 million in emergency aid to Lebanon, including to the World Food Programme, and that it was working closely with the United Nations and other actors to address humanitarian needs.
