Eastern Africa: Humanitarian Snapshot (As of September 2024)

The Eastern Africa Region is home to some of the world’s largest and worst humanitarian crises driven by climate change, conflicts, political instability, diseases, and economic shocks. Nearly 67 million people are now in need of assistance including refugees and asylum seekers in Eastern Africa region, accounting for more than 21 per cent of the global humanitarian caseload.

Some of the world’s hunger hotspots are in Eastern Africa where more than 55 million people face acute hunger. Nearly 26 million of these are in Sudan where famine was confirmed in North Darfur’s Zamzam camp for internally displaced people. The food insecurity situation is also dire in Ethiopia, while in South Sudan the number of people facing starvation is projected to more than double this year. About 2.2 million children under age 5 face severe acute malnutrition in Ethiopia, Burundi, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.

Ongoing conflicts, mainly in Sudan, and the impact of climate change across the region continued to drive massive displacement. More than 26 per cent of the world’s 75.9 million people living in internal displacement is in the region and more than 10 million of these are in Sudan. El Niño-induced heavy rains and flooding affected 3 million people, nearly 900,000 of whom were displaced. In addition, nearly 5.4 million refugees are now hosted in the region and this is a more than fivefold increase in the last decade. Uganda hosts the highest number of refugees in Africa (nearly 2 million) and the fifth largest globally.

Diseases continue to stalk millions of people across Eastern Africa. Some 776 mpox cases have been confirmed in Eastern Africa including Burundi (739), Kenya (7), Rwanda (6) and Uganda (24) as of 26 September and response is ongoing. Cholera remains a major public health concern, affecting Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and Tanzania. The cholera outbreak in Ethiopia has been ongoing since August 2022. Measles outbreaks were also reported in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as well as in South Sudan where 41 related deaths were reported this year.

Humanitarian partners continue to provide life-saving assistance reaching millions of people with some form of support. Resource mobilization efforts alongside advocacy for unrestricted access are ongoing. By the end of September, an average of only 38 per cent of the $9.3 billion required in 2024 was provided thus affecting partners’ ability to scale up response.