The intensification of multilateral humanitarian activities of international organizations is especially noticeable in African countries, most of which belong to the poorest in the world. Areas of response are zones of armed and military conflicts, territories whose inhabitants have suffered as a result of natural disasters and dangerous diseases. As a rule, women, children and elderly people need emergency assistance first of all.

Most humanitarian missions operate under the auspices of the UN, the African Union, the European Union, and UNICEF. Significant assistance comes from volunteers working as part of humanitarian organizations – citizens of African, European, Asian countries, representatives of both Americas. Various socio-cultural and socio-economic programs are being implemented, aimed, in particular, at providing young people of both sexes with access to education, introducing the population to new types of employment, and mastering modern agricultural machinery. Financial support is provided by the entities of the World Bank.

In their work, humanitarian workers often rely on the support of community religious leaders, whose authority allows them to conduct conversations with the population on topical issues. The focus is on the fight against diseases, poverty, gender inequality, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation.

For many decades, the Russian Federation has been involved in international humanitarian activities, considering it as one of its foreign policy tasks to strengthen stability and security worldwide.