ABU DHABI, 18th June, 2026 (WAM) — Sajeda Shawa, Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the UAE, underscored the importance of leveraging technology and artificial intelligence to strengthen proactive humanitarian action, helping to anticipate humanitarian crises and disasters and mitigate their impact.
She noted that around 300 million people worldwide currently require humanitarian assistance.
Speaking to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of a panel discussion on strengthening proactive humanitarian action, Shawa said that OCHA’s Global Humanitarian Overview report highlights the growing scale of humanitarian needs worldwide at a time when humanitarian workers face increasing challenges, including funding shortages, difficulties in accessing affected populations, attacks on humanitarian personnel, and obstacles to delivering aid.
She explained that participants discussed ways to exchange expertise and experiences, and explored how artificial intelligence, innovation and unconventional thinking could help alleviate the suffering of affected communities, anticipate humanitarian needs before crises occur, and improve the efficiency of aid delivery during disasters.
Shawa praised the growing partnership with the United Arab Emirates, stressing that the cooperation has evolved beyond the traditional donor-humanitarian organisation relationship into a new model based on joint thinking and collective efforts to develop innovative solutions to humanitarian challenges.
She emphasised that preserving human dignity remains the primary objective of all humanitarian efforts, noting that enhancing tools for forecasting humanitarian needs and improving the effectiveness of response and aid delivery contributes to safeguarding the dignity of those affected, particularly during conflicts and disasters.
Source: Emirates News Agency