By Jane Kiiru
1 September 2024
Climate change, conflicts, political instability, diseases and economic shocks are driving humanitarian needs in the Southern and Eastern Africa region. At least 74 million people in the region require humanitarian assistance – that’s the highest number of people in need globally. But that number is expected to rise by the year’s end due to climate change and conflicts.
1. Three of the world’s five largest displacement crises are in Southern and Eastern Africa
Conflict and violence are displacing staggering numbers of people. Last year, 20.5 million people worldwide were forced to leave their homes and seek shelter within their country’s borders. Sudan topped the list followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia.
Approximately one in seven of the world’s internally displaced people is Sudanese. More than 10 million people in Sudan have fled their homes since that country’s conflict broke out in April 2023. They include 7.9 million people displaced within Sudan, more than half of them children, and more than 2 million people who have crossed into neighbouring countries.
Funding and humanitarian access restrictions are hindering efforts to reach more conflict-affected people. Despite this, more than 125 humanitarian partners in Sudan continue to provide life-saving support; between January and June they reached nearly 8 million people with at least one form of assistance.
2. Uganda is home to Africa’s highest number of refugees
Uganda hosts the highest number of refugees in Africa and the fifth largest globally. Almost 1 million of these refugees are from South Sudan, more than half a million are from DRC, and the number of people from Sudan is increasing. Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s refugee population passed the 1 million mark in March 2024.
Uganda’s refugee model is an inspiration as it gives refugees freedom of movement and the right to work, establish small-scale businesses, own property and access national services, including education and health care.
However, the lack of funding is hampering efforts to reach people in need. Since 2021, the World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to prioritize food assistance to only the most vulnerable refugees, with new arrivals receiving the largest share. Uganda was among the UN Refugee Agency’s top 13 underfunded operations globally in 2023.
Half of the world’s food crises are in Southern and Eastern Africa
Famine is now confirmed in ZamZam Camp, near El Fasher town in North Darfur, Sudan. Thirteen other locations are at risk of famine in Aj Jazirah, Darfur, Khartoum and Kordofan. A staggering 26 million people across Sudan are suffering acute hunger, including 755,000 people facing catastrophic conditions. Testament to this, women are reportedly being forced to trade sex for food.
In South Sudan, the number of people facing starvation will more than double this year. The country is also set to experience its worst floods in 100 years due to higher seasonal rains and the calculated release of water from Lake Victoria, which will further compound food insecurity. Across these contexts, women and girls are disproportionately affected by hunger, often eating least and last.
The situation is equally dire in DRC and Ethiopia, where high numbers of people are food insecure, and in Somalia, where between 3 and 4 million people still need food assistance.
In Southern Africa, the El Niño-induced drought has forced Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe to declare national emergencies. The Food and Agriculture Organization and WFP now list those countries among the world’s top 18 hunger hotspots.
To mitigate the impact of drought, the UN and partners are providing life-saving assistance, including food security, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. In Sudan, humanitarian partners are pushing against the odds to scale up famine response and prevention efforts, reaching nearly 2.5 million people since May in the worst hunger hotspots. And since December 2023, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated nearly US$25.4 million to UN agencies responding to El Niño-induced drought in Southern Africa. CERF also allocated $17 million to Ethiopia in March.
4. Southern and Eastern Africa have the highest number of cholera cases in Africa
Southern and Eastern Africa reported the highest number of cholera deaths and the second highest number of cholera cases globally, as of 28 July. All except two of the African countries listed in the statistics are in Southern and Eastern Africa. Ethiopia’s outbreak is the longest in decades, raging unabated since August 2022, while Somalia and Sudan are still reporting cases. This situation is exacerbated by people’s lack of access to clean water due to droughts and floods, and a critical shortage of oral cholera vaccines (OCV). In January 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified cholera’s global resurgence as a grade 3 emergency – its highest internal level for emergencies.
In response, WHO and partners are training health workers in surveillance, case management and risk communication in the affected countries, while UNICEF and its partners are providing WASH services and deploying experts. Despite the OCV shortage, about 2 million people in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe were vaccinated, with hotspot districts prioritized. In Somalia, close to 900,000 people were vaccinated, and in Zimbabwe the Government expanded oral rehydration points and educated communities on cholera prevention.
To facilitate the response and mitigate and control the spread of cholera, CERF allocated funding to Comoros, Mozambique, Somalia and Zambia.
5. Sexual violence is increasing in conflict-affected countries
In Sudan, 6.7 million people are at risk of gender-based violence (GBV), while 3.5 million women and girls need reproductive health-care services. Conflict-related sexual violence is now a gruesome hallmark of the conflict, including alarming reports of rape, forced marriage and sexual exploitation affecting women and girls of all ages. The number of children born out of rape is surging – as are suicide rates among survivors. The situation is exacerbated by people’s lack of access to GBV and emergency health-care services.
Sexual violence in DRC escalated sharply, with more than 61,000 cases reported in the first six months of this year – 11 per cent higher compared to the same period last year. At least 123,000 GBV cases were reported in 2023, with about 90 per cent of the survivors being women and girls. But given the significant underreporting of GBV, the real number of cases is presumably far higher.
The UN is scaling up its response and advocacy, focusing on the countries where sexual violence is rampant. This includes bringing the issue of sexual violence to the forefront and advocating for legal protection while creating a conducive environment to report GBV cases. The UN is also coordinating with Governments, civil society and partners to provide survivors with clinical health services, dignity kits, psychosocial support and safe spaces to access care and protection.
In Sudan, the United Nations Population Fund is leading the coordination of GBV prevention and response in 14 states through GBV Working Groups. More than 200,000 people received life-saving GBV response, psychosocial support, awareness and material assistance as well as referrals to appropriate services. Using the community-based structure, communities have received information sessions on GBV-related topics, including the referral system.
Despite the huge needs across the region’s different sectors, funding is desperately low. By the end of July, the six UN-coordinated humanitarian response appeals across Southern and Eastern Africa were less than 30 per cent funded, on average.
As global aid funding shrinks, humanitarians are prioritizing aid to the most vulnerable people, leaving many others unassisted. Response plans must be adequately funded to ensure no one is left behind.
*This story was originally published in OCHA Exposure.
