A woman walks near a box for donations to Syrian refugees during the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, US, September 23, 2017/REUTERS

GENEVA: The United Nations launched a record annual humanitarian appeal on Friday, asking donors for $22.5 billion to meet the needs of 90.1 million in 2018, mainly because of wars in Africa and Middle East.

Needs are rising substantially in Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Somalia and Sudan, and remain exceptionally high in Nigeria, South Sudan, the Syria region and Yemen, which will remain the world?s worst humanitarian crisis, the UN appeal document said.