Cameroon Humanitarian Needs Overview 2025 (January 2025)

Cameroon continues to be affected to various extents by three complex humanitarian crises: the conflict in the Lake Chad Basin (Far North region), the crisis in the North-West and South-West regions (NWSW), and the impact of the presence of hundreds of thousands of Central African Republic (CAR) refugees in the eastern facade regions.

In 2025, 3.3 million people will need humanitarian and protection assistance. Violence and conflict, natural disasters and epidemic outbreaks continue to affect local populations in crisis-affected regions. Humanitarian needs are compounded by structural development weaknesses and chronic vulnerabilities. As of 30 September 2024, more than 1 million people are displaced and 700,000 have returned to their home, mainly in the Far-North, North-West and South-West regions.

Cameroon also hosts generously nearly 422,000 refugees and asylum seekers, including around 281,000 refugees from the Central African Republic and over 124,000 from Nigeria. More than 2.5 million people in crisis-affected regions are facing acute food insecurity (phase 3-Crisis and 4-Emergency). This represents an increase of 9 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. Food insecurity is coupled in some areas with acute malnutrition. More than 390,000 children, between 6 and 59 months old, are suffering from acute malnutrition and require urgent treatment.

Protection risks remain high in areas affected by natural disasters or violence. Among children (under 18 years old), most of the victims are girls. Approximately 54,000 women and girls received specialized protection services for GBV, as of September 2024. Out of those, 7 per cent of reported cases were sexual assaults and abuse; and 3 per cent were child marriages, highlighting the high level of vulnerability faced by children in crisis-affected areas. More than 60 per cent of adults affected by protection incidents are men. More than 17,000 individual and 600 community protection incidents reported in the Far North and NWSW, from January to October 2024. In the Far North, the most reported violations are against rights to property, followed by violations of physical and/or psychological integrity. In the NorthWest and South-West regions, abductions, arbitrary arrests and detentions remain high, and include enforced disappearances, and cases of extrajudicial and summary executions.

Limited access to services affects people’s well-being, living conditions and livelihoods. Access to primary health services for instance is significantly limited by insecurity and physical constraints in some areas, as well as lack of resources. This is exacerbated by the restriction on the freedom of movement imposed by frequent lockdowns imposed by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in the NWSW.