Attachments
SITUATION IN NUMBERS
- 7,000,000 Children in need of humanitarian assistance
- 16,000,000 People in need of humanitarian assistance
- 252,300 forcedly displaced (1)
HIGHLIGHTS
- The first half of 2024 has seen further regionalization of insecurity in the Central Sahel and important geopolitical shifts, with Mauritania receiving 86,000 Malian refugees in the first half of the year, projected to rise to 112,000 refugees by end of 2024.
- Flooding continues to devastate West and Central Africa in 2024. The Republic of Congo struggled with unprecedented flooding in late 2023, whilst others such as Liberia and Chad were already experiencing floods from the 2024 rainy season by mid-year, with hundreds of thousands impacted.
- Disease outbreaks have continued to be a critical concern in West and Central Africa in 2024. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea have seen confirmed measles outbreaks in the first half of the year, and six countries have confirmed cases of Polio. In addition, Mpox cases were on the rise in several countries, in particular the Democratic Republic of Congo.
SITUATION OVERVIEW & HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
West and Central Africa continues to be one of the regions most impacted by emergencies around the world. The extreme impacts of climate change, both in droughts and floods and their associated risks, combined with protracted conflicts, recurrent disease outbreaks, and political instability, severely inhibit the lives and wellbeing of children. The present report focuses on UNICEF’s Regional Humanitarian Action for Children Appeal in 2024, covering nine countries.
The protracted conflict in the Central Sahel took on a different dynamic in 2024, with the departure of the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA and an intensification of military offensives in both Mali and Burkina Faso. Escalating conflict has forced more people across borders, with 86,0002 people displaced from Mali to Mauritania in the first half of 2024. After many years of conflict and displacement, refugee camps on the border, such as the M’Berra camp set up to support 70,000 people, are already home to 104,000 people, with further arrivals hosted within the local community. The strain on public services, in addition to the specific needs of refugees fleeing conflict and destitution, has created a debilitating and life-threatening situation for children in the region.
UNICEF continues to work with governments and local organisations across West and Central Africa to address recurring outbreaks of diseases impacting children in the region. So far in 2024, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Mauritania, and Sierra Leone have all experienced Polio outbreaks, with Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Equatorial Guinea also impacted by Measles. Public health emergencies, compounded by the impacts of climate change and displacement are one of the critical threats facing children in West and Central Africa and, as is the current case of Polio in several countries, can quickly spread across borders. In addition to response activities, West and Central Africa also remains on high alert in preparedness for Ebola, Marburg and mpox, amongst other illnesses, with frequent outbreaks in recent years. Mpox cases are rising particularly fast in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with risk of spillover into additional countries.
Strong emergency preparedness remains essential across all major risks in West and Central Africa. With unprecedented flooding in the Republic of Congo at the end of 2023, UNICEF and partners faced severe restrictions in reaching the more than 336,560 people in need in early 2024. Through the use of strategically pre-positioned stocks in the regional warehouse in nearby Cameroon, as well as expanding local partnerships and working closely with local authorities, UNICEF was able to reach more than 136,000 people with humanitarian assistance across health, WASH, nutrition, child protection and education services.
The end of 2023 and start of 2024 also saw elections in many countries in the region, with protests and political instability in several countries. The severe impact of political unrest on critical social services, particularly the continuity of education and healthcare, as well as the child protection concerns that can arise, require UNICEF and partners to extensively plan, test and pre-position to ensure response activities remain possible in even the most constrained of environments. Despite many elections passing peacefully, disputed results and communal tensions, including reported attempted coups, left several countries in a delicate and as-yet-unresolved postelection period.
UNICEF West and Central Africa Regional Office also continued to support large-scale emergency responses in countries with a standalone or multi-country HAC appeal (Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad – including Sudan refugee response, and the Coastal Countries of Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Benin). Beyond direct support, the Regional Office also establishes bilateral and multilateral exchanges between countries experiencing similar challenges on a frequent basis, such as DRC and Mali on the withdrawal of UN missions or between Sahel countries on the access constraints faced in each context.
UNICEF continues to lead coordination mechanisms at both country and regional levels, looking for a more effective and coordinated response to emergencies. This includes leadership of child protection, education, nutrition, resilience, risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) and WASH working groups at regional level.
ENDNOTES
(1) UNHCR RBWCA - Monthly Statistics - June 2024: https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/110038 ; https://data.unhcr.org/en/countries/