The UK has pledged an extra £47 million of aid to provide food, water and shelter for vulnerable families hit by coronavirus, conflict and starvation around the world.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the funding would help prevent the crises from escalating into “widespread famine”.

The aid is expected to help more than 1.3 million people in some of the world’s most dangerous places, including across the Sahel, Syria and South Sudan.

Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Mozambique will also benefit from the assistance.

This extra emergency UK aid will mean people can feed their families and prevent these crises from escalating into widespread famine

The announcement comes a month after the Government’s decision to cut the overseas aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income in 2021.

Mr Raab said: “Hundreds of millions of people living in the world’s largest humanitarian crises are struggling to survive, threatened by conflict, starvation and coronavirus.

“This extra emergency UK aid will mean people can feed their families and prevent these crises from escalating into widespread famine.

“We hope to see other donors step up to the plate with some extra funding to prevent these global crises getting worse.”

UN data published earlier this month suggested that humanitarian crises are getting worse, with 235 million people expected to be in need of urgent assistance next year – up from 175 million people at the start of the year.