Attachments
Highlights
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El Niño has affected populations across Burundi, with 29 reported dead, over 297,746 affected and over 47,739 displaced since September 2023.
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Cholera continues to rise due to floods and displacement, with 1,954 recorded cases and 11 deaths since the outbreak was declared in Jan 2022. Bujumbura area remaining the spot of the epidemic.
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UNICEF scaled up its child protection interventions providing 3,685 children, including 1,934 girls and 1,751 boys, with psychosocial support, representing an increase of 387 children in comparison to the number of children reached in April 2024.
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UNICEF provided 365 households with hygiene kits in the Matyazo site in Mubimbi commune of Bujumbura and provided 6,255 households with improved access to water in cholera-affected areas in the Rubirizi and Tenga communities.
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UNICEF and its partner Safe Inclusion supported mass screening for acute malnutrition in Makamba province, reaching 11,662 children aged 6 to 59 months.
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UNICEF organized an orientation session with its 19 humanitarian response implementing partners (national and international NGOs) to strengthen their capacity in promoting positive behaviors in their communities to safeguard vulnerable groups, particularly children and women of displaced populations.
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UNICEF currently has a funding gap of 67 per cent, and urgently requires additional funding to meet the needs of those most vulnerable.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Burundi bears the brunt of climate-change related natural disasters and is amongst the least prepared countries to respond to climate change induced shocks. Since the rainy season which commenced in September 2023 and typically lasts until the end of May, El Niño has exacerbated the consequences of human induced climate change across Burundi. The provinces along the Lake Tanganyika have been the hardest hit by floods and landslides (Bujumbura Rural, Bujumbura Marie, Rumonge, Makamba and Bubanza). Provinces which are considered to be cyclically impacted by climate change in Burundi, have not gone unscathed this past rainy season. Both Cibitoke and Bubanza provinces in the Northwest of the country, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, experienced devasting heavy rainfalls which ruined crops, damaged homes, schools and infrastructures. Kirundo, a northern province bordering Rwanda, has historically experienced a mix of floods and drought, experienced heavy floods this rainy season.
El Niño has resulted in 29 recorded deaths, of which some are a consequence of exposure to wildlife in flood-prone zones. Over 175 have been reported as injured, over 38,356 houses and over 220 classrooms have been destroyed, this is in addition to damage caused to roads, hydraulic and sanitation infrastructure. The impact of El Niño exacerbated floods and heavy rains has been most significantly felt since the start of 2024, with more than 239,781 people affected and more than 36,907 forced to flee because of flooding and landslides. Fortunately, rains have slowed down since mid-May but are expected back in September.
The damage to agriculture in a context where over 80 per cent of households depend on agriculture for their livelihoods combined with a precarious overall nutrition status, is worrying. There is an anticipated nutritional deterioration in the overall status of children and their families in the months to come. Some 40,000 hectares of fields were damaged, against a total of approximately 400,000 hectares resulting in 10 per cent loss of crops in the 2024A harvesting season.
The level of the Lake Tanganyika has plateaued, for now due to limited rainfall in the past weeks. This is a welcome reprieve to communities to make their livelihoods along the Lake. While the flood waters commence to recede, the Government of Burundi took the decision to relocate 2,000 households (approximatively 12,000 individuals) who were living in the flood-prone zone of Gatumba. The relocation of 904 households has taken place, to a site in Mubimbi. UNICEF alongside sister agencies and other actors are providing assistance. Longer term and more durable solutions are being considered, given the frequent and cyclical nature of the Lake flooding due to climate change. The littoral of the lake remains at risk of floods.
Concurrently with the floods and heavy rains driving displacement and misery across the country, multiple epidemics are ongoing in Burundi. As of epidemiological week 21, there were 2,002,507 cases of recorded malaria, representing an increase of 24 per cent during the same period last year. Cholera cases continue to rise, with a current cumulative recorded case of 1,954 (since the beginning of the 1 Jan 2023 outbreak declaration). In contrast, for the reporting period of 1 January to the 26 May 2023 versus that of 2024, there is a recorded increase of 13.13 per cent in cases in 2024, with weekly increments showing no break in the chain of transmission.
While the response is ongoing to reach children and their families who have been directly affected by floods and landslides over the past rainy season, due consideration and planning is already commencing with regards to the impact of the next rainy season, expected in September.