Mali Assistance Overview - December 2024

CONTEXT

• Recurrent climatic shocks—including drought and seasonal floods—and protracted conflict continue to generate high levels of humanitarian need across Mali. According to the UN’s 2024 Mali Humanitarian Response Plan, an estimated 7.1 million people in the country are likely to require humanitarian assistance during 2024.

• Sustained armed conflict and intercommunal violence, as well as flooding and other climatic shocks, had internally displaced approximately 331,000 people in Mali as of May, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Additionally, Mali hosted more than 123,000 refugees as of October, the majority of whom left from neighboring Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mauritania in recent years, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports.

• The number of people in need of emergency food assistance is likely to increase through May 2025, with as many as 750,000 people likely to require assistance between January and May, particularly individuals in conflict zones, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and populations in inaccessible areas of southeastern Mali’s Ménaka Region, according to an October Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report. Ménaka will continue to experience Crisis—IPC 3—or worse levels of acute food insecurity that will potentially deteriorate into Emergency—IPC 4—conditions starting in April, with a proportion of households in inaccessible areas likely facing Catastrophe—IPC 5—levels of acute food insecurity. Additionally, IPC analysis estimates that approximately 1.6 million children ages six to 59 months and more than 85,100 pregnant and lactating women (PLW) will experience acute malnutrition between June 2024 and May 2025; this includes nearly 425,000 children likely to experience severe acute malnutrition.

• Armed conflict and intercommunal violence have generated insecurity and hindered humanitarian access, particularly in eastern Mali’s Gao and Ménaka regions, contributing to high levels of unmet need, the UN reports. Decreased household incomes, high food prices, and a lack of access to markets have contributed to deteriorating food security conditions, disrupted livelihoods, and impeded access to basic goods, according to FEWS NET.