UNICEF Emergencies Director Ted Chaiban “says the dire humanitarian situations in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo are being overshadowed by the crisis in Syria,” VOA News reports. He “was part of an assessment mission to both African countries by the directors of emergencies for seven major U.N. agencies and two private organizations,” the news agency notes. Chaiban said 2.5 million people are internally displaced in DRC and in need of food and health care assistance, and “1.6 million [people in CAR] are estimated to be in dire need of food, protection, health care, water and sanitation and shelter,” according to VOA. He said the World Food Programme lacks resources to address the situations in Syria and central Africa, the news agency adds, writing Chaiban “says no one questions the need to support the millions of victims of Syria’s conflict.  At the same time, he says the mission is beginning to see how funding for Syria is impacting other crises” (Schlein, 10/25).