Attachments
Highlights
- The situation in Myanmar continues to worsen amid escalating conflict, climate shocks, public health emergencies, widespread explosive ordnance, and landmine contamination, and diminishing access to critical life-saving services.
- A total of 2,321,404 individuals received emergency assistance across sectors, including WASH, Education, Nutrition, Health, Child Protection as per UNICEF Core Commitments for Children. This number includes 301,471 people in hard-to-reach areas and 39,809 displaced persons who were supported with multisectoral services under the emergency rapid response.
- During this year over 2 million children under 5 years were screened for malnutrition. This includes 146,103 children with severe acute malnutrition who have been provided with life-saving commodities and other package of multisectoral services. In addition, 441,628 pregnant and lactating women with children from 0 to 23 months received counselling on optimal infant and young child feeding practices in emergency settings including IDP sites.
- In the six most-affected regions: North, Centre-North, East, Centre- East, Sahel and Boucle de Mouhoun, 165,643 people (including 86,134 children) have gained access to drinking water
- 207,240 persons including 188,861 children (104,327girls) and 18,379 caregivers (10,108 women and 82,71 men) benefited from community based psychosocial support
- 296,451 out the 405,175 targeted Children vaccinated against measles supplemental dose 291,974 out of 750,642 targeted Children have gained access to formal or non-formal education, including early learning
- Burkina Faso has received only 15% of the required funding for the Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) 2024 by end of December 2024. This is already affecting the speed and scale of the humanitarian response for the most vulnerable children
SITUATION IN NUMBERS
3,400,000 Children in need of humanitarian assistance
6,300,000 People in need of humanitarian assistance
2,062,534 Internally displaced populations
5,319 schools closed as of the end of March 2024
FUNDING OVERVIEW AND PARTNERSHIPS
UNICEF appeal for the Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) 2024 received by end of December 2024 is US$ 30,304,436 (only 15% per cent of the US$239 million required). Individual humanitarian contributions have been received from the Governments of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan and Norway, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the European Commission/ECHO; USAID; the UNICEF National Committee of Germany; the United States Fund for UNICEF; The French committee for UNICEF and the Consolidated Funds from NatComs.
SITUATION OVERVIEW AND HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
Burkina Faso in 2025 was affected by various crises, including armed conflict, floods, drought and epidemics. According to the HRP, 6.3 million people, including 3.4 million children, needed humanitarian assistance in 2024 as a result of these crises.
The security situation was characterized by ongoing developments throughout the country, indicating an escalating trend in armed conflicts in various regions.Clashes involving the Forces de Defense et de Securité (FDS) and les Volontaires pour la defense de la patrie (VDP) against various armed groups were reported during the whole year. The frequency of armed incursions into rural villages has significantly increased, severely impacting local populations through human casualties, material losses, and civilian displacements. Presence of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in several parts of the country were reported.In response to this situation, the Forces of Defense and Security (FDS) are intensifying their security operations within a collaborative framework involving the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) countries.
The humanitarian situation in Burkina Faso remains a serious concern, with access constraints affecting both local populations and humanitarian actors in some areas. The intensification of security issues have resulted in an increase in the number of accessconstrained localities, with an estimated 1.1 million people living in these enclaved regions.
Despite unavailability of official updated data on the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the government, the Groupe de Coordination Opérationnelle de la Réponse Rapide (GCORR) reports 365,061 people displaced , representing 48,822 households following 94 alerts in 2024. Compared with last year, the number of displaced persons decreased by 48% representing 735,036 IDPs, with 117 alerts. The regions most affected are the Nord, Est, Boucle du Mouhoun, Sahel and Centre-Nord.The government is facilitating the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their places of origin and ensuring the availability of basic social services. According to government estimates, approximately 1,136,000 people will have returned to their homes by December 31, 2024.
Additionnaly, Burkina Faso also experienced during the year, natural disasters affecting more than 16,000 people, including 3,884 women and 10,258 children due to flooding in nine regions, mainly the Sahel, Centre-Nord, Est and Boucle du Mouhoun. Concurrently rainfall shortage has also affected food security, people’s livelihoods, and the socio-economic situation.Between June and August 2024, 2.7 million people, or 12% of the total population, including 442,940 children under the age of 5, required immediate assistance.
The humanitarian situation in the Sahel region has not changed significantly during this year. Attacks by armed groups continue, and insecurity limits access to the most vulnerable children and populations. Population displacement continues, with increasing needs leading to the emergence of numerous hotspots throughout the year. In addition to significant losses of defense forces and civilians, these incidents have created massive population displacements. It is further noticed numerous attacks on villages, threats of evictions, robberies in rural areas. All these incidents have led to numerous population movements, mainly from rural areas to the main cities or their outskirts, where security seems to be improved. Also a rise in the number of improvised explosive devices IED-related incidents, which have resulted in several women and children being killed near water points, markets and mosques around their home areas, as it was the case in Djibo. The rise in security incidents has increased the number of communities inaccessible by road, limiting access to children and people in need. Escorted supply convoys continued to be the only means of supplying these communities. Except the city of Dori, where convoys are regular (2 to 3 convoys per month), other localities such as Djibo, Sebba, Gorgadji and Arbinda only benefited from one of two convoys during the year, which increases difficulties faced by the populations as they lack the. Difficulties to access these areas considerably reduces humanitarian space leading to the use of the UNHAS by humanitarian organizations for their interventions in such localities. It should be noted that 14 of the 39 localities with access constraints in Burkina are in the Sahel region and 92% of the communes are in severity 4 (24 communes out of 26).
In the Centre-Nord region, the security situation has had its ups and downs, characterized by violence against civilians and a health crisis due to the hepatitis E epidemic. The region was heavily affected by the deadliest attack against the civilian population in Barsalogho, resulting in the deaths of 165 people, including humanitarian workers, and nearly 200 injuries. Many displacements have been recorded in Pissila, Kongoussi, Bouroum, Bourzanga, Dargo, Yalgo, and Barsalogho. Communities continue to face access challenges, significantly delaying the delivery of humanitarian actions and impacting the implementation of programs for populations in need. Theft of livestock and property, harassing shootings at villages, arson of concessions, and the use of improvised explosive devices on the roads, sometimes followed by ambushes and irregular controls leading to kidnappings and killings, are prevalent.
Faced with the rise in the level of alert, security operations are underway, particularly in cities and on roads. Unlike the first eight months of the year, which were characterized by an intensification of violence (confrontations between armed groups and attacks on civilian populations), the last three months were marked by fewer incidents. Movements and regroupings of elements of armed groups have been reported in several areas, followed by attacks (Yalgo, Taparko, Tougouri, Bouroum, Bourzanga, Namissiguima, etc.).