Humanitarian assistance and international development

In conjunction with other organizations, such as the Red Cross, the UN provides food, drinking water, shelter and other humanitarian services to populaces suffering from famine, displaced by war, or afflicted by other disaster. Major humanitarian arms of the UN are the World Food Programme (which helps feed more than 100 million people a year in 80 countries), the High Commissioner for Refugees with projects in over 116 countries, as well as peacekeeping projects in over 24 countries. At times, UN relief workers have been subject to attacks (see Attacks on humanitarian workers).

The UN is also involved in supporting development, e.g. by the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the largest multilateral source of grant technical assistance in the world. Organizations - like the WHO, UNAIDS, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - are leading institutions in the battle against diseases around the world, especially in poor countries. The UN Population Fund is a major provider of reproductive services. It has helped reduce infant and maternal mortality in 100 countries.

The UN annually publishes the Human Development Index (HDI), a comparative measure ranking countries by poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, and other factors.

The UN promotes human development through various agencies and departments:

• World Health Organization (WHO) eliminated smallpox in 1977 and is close to eliminating polio.
• World Bank / International Monetary Fund (IMF) Note: The World Bank and IMF were formed as separate entities from the UN through the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944. Subsequently, in 1947, an agreement was signed that established the post-Bretton Woods organizations as independent, specialized agencies and observers within the UN framework. Here is the World Bank page clarifying the relationship between the two organizations.
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF)
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

On 9 March 2006, Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for those in the Horn of Africa threatened with starvation.

UN also had an agency called the World Food Council with the goal of coordinating national ministries of agriculture to help alleviate malnutrition and hunger. It was suspended in 1993.

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