The Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) was established shortly thereafter by the Secretary-General, but in 1998, was merged into OCHA, which became the UN's main focal point on major disasters.

Its activities include organizing and monitoring humanitarian funding, advocacy, policymaking, and information exchange to facilitate rapid-response teams for emergency relief.

[5] OCHA is headed by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, since October 2024 by Thomas Fletcher.

[7] Major OCHA country offices are located in all continents, among others in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Palestinian territories, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and Zimbabwe, while regional offices are located in Panama City, Dakar, Cairo, Johannesburg, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur.

In OCHA's occasional policy paper Humanitarian Innovation: The State of the Art, they list the reasons why organizations are moving toward providing their own kind of humanitarian service through innovation: They also list potential challenges associated with these changes: The OCHA was assigned its own international calling code +888.