COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A leading advocacy group for refugees says that with half of 2019 gone, humanitarian organizations have received only 27% of the money needed to provide relief to people affected by crises worldwide this year.

Jan Egeland, the Norwegian Refugee Council's secretary general, says "the current lack of funding is alarming."

Egeland said Monday that a total of $26 billion is required this year to provide relief for around 94 million people in need. However, donor countries have contributed only $7 billion, or $2 billion less than for the same period last year, he said, citing the U.N.'s financial tracking service.

The NRC singled out the crises in Cameroon and Congo as examples of regions in need, and said "even funding for Syrian refugees is drying up."