NGOs More Vital Than Ever In Helping With Venezuela's Worsening Humanitarian Crisis

HOUSTON, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — NGOs and other private philanthropic groups are increasingly critical in helping address the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, according to three diverse panels of leading experts recently convened in Houston via webinar by the Simón Bolívar Foundation.Panelists from the international development and humanitarian relief sector pointed out that while the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated Latin America, increasing poverty throughout the region, Venezuela’s suffering is dramatically worse due to the ongoing economic collapse that preceded the COVID outbreak. Hyperinflation, a shattered private sector, dwindling foreign exchange reserves and mass unemployment were all well entrenched prior to the pandemic. Venezuelan households now depend significantly on transfers, and not wages, to meet their basic needs.COVID-19 is a crisis within Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis. Fourteen million of the country’s 27 million citizens now struggle to meet basic humanitarian needs such as nutrition, health or economic subsistence. 95% of the population in is living in poverty and almost 70% of Venezuelans are experiencing extreme poverty. 5.2 million Venezuelans have left the country, fueling a refugee crisis in neighboring countries. The pandemic has hit Venezuelan refugees hard. Already among the most vulnerable population globally, COVID-19 has severely impacted refugees’ health, social…
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