Report: Aid System ‘Atrophy’ Blunting Humanitarian Response

Doctors Without Borders issued a stinging report Monday blaming risk aversion and bureaucratic bloat for what the global medical charity termed a dysfunctional aid system that is increasingly failing people in conflict and disaster zones, Agence France-Presse and The Guardian write.

The study, based on interviews with 116 aid workers, analyzes the international response to recent emergencies in South Sudan, Jordan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It contends the United Nations and big aid groups—including Doctors Without Borders itself—are too often inflexible, conservative, and more focused on fundraising than on-the-ground relief work, leading to “atrophy of the humanitarian system.”

“Humanitarian responses are slow and cumbersome, and lack impact. … Many agencies are concentrating only on the easiest-to-reach populations and ignoring the more difficult places,” states the review, which singles out the UN for particular criticism.

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said it would review the report. “We constantly look at ways to improve the way we work and we are viewing [Doctors Without Borders’] criticisms in that light,” spokesman Adrian Edwards said.