UN needs to adapt in face of US funding cuts

GENEVA, Feb 21(AFP): United Nations aid agencies need to adapt and become more efficient, the UN humanitarian chief said on Thursday, in the face of a funding freeze by the US, the system's largest donor.

UN aid agencies have been left reeling by the shock decision by US President Donald Trump to freeze nearly all foreign aid funding.

The US had been the largest contributor to the UN and the largest aid provider in the world.

"The postwar international system faces the greatest test since its creation. The humanitarian community confronts a massive funding, morale, and legitimacy crisis", Tom Fletcher, the head of the UN's main humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement Thursday.

The statement came after the UN's main agencies held an emergency meeting on Wednesday in Geneva on how to deal with the funding crisis.

Saying the cuts will have a "devastating" impact on the agencies' work, Fletcher said the system had to adapt.