The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned of a sharp deterioration in humanitarian conditions across the Sahel, reporting that approximately 29 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid and protection.
The report covers Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger, as well as northern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria.
It stresses that a severe drop in humanitarian funding is jeopardizing the ability of aid agencies to respond to mounting needs.
Data reveals a significant rise in the number of affected people since early 2024, with the refugee population increasing by 6%, and the number of internally displaced persons growing by 20%. The region now hosts around 2 million refugees and 6 million internally displaced persons.
The report attributes the deepening crisis to a complex mix of factors including widespread insecurity, extreme poverty, political instability, and the growing impact of climate change.
According to UN estimates, around 12 million people in the region are projected to face acute food insecurity between June and August 2025.
The report also highlights the severity of the security situation in 2024, particularly in central Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, where violence has resulted in nearly 17,000 deaths.
This violence and insecurity have led to the closure of nearly 1,000 health centers and 10,000 schools, with over half of them located in Burkina Faso alone.
The UN has issued an urgent appeal to international donors to step in and provide adequate funding, warning that continued underfunding will put millions of lives at immediate risk in what is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
