The United Nations today announced that it will allocate $55 million to bolster operations in eight countries with neglected humanitarian emergencies.

Afghanistan, Cameroon, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Sudan will all receive funds from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help provide food, water, health and other basic services.

“These CERF grants provide critical funding. The money will save lives by helping aid agencies reach people in desperate need,” said the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, said in a news release. “I hope this funding will also serve to draw attention to their situation, as millions more people are still in need.”

Launched in 2006 and managed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), CERF enables the fast delivery of life-saving assistance to people affected by natural disasters and other crises worldwide. It is funded by voluntary contributions from Member States, non-governmental organizations, regional governments, the private sector and individual donors.

The new allocations will bring the total amount allocated by CERF to more than $158 million this year, as 13 countries were given nearly $104 million in January.

Each year, a third of all CERF funds are earmarked for underfunded emergencies to help improve the balance of global humanitarian aid distribution. Since 2006, nearly a third of the $2.6 billion allocated from CERF has gone to neglected crises in more than 40 countries.