Attachments
Appeal highlights
- In 2025, 2.6 million people, including approximately 1.5 million children, require urgent assistance in the Niger due to ongoing conflicts, environmental crises and large population movements, with 929,247 displaced people recorded as of 31 December 2024, primarily due to conflict.
- UNICEF's strategy focuses on delivering integrated, multisectoral interventions to address the needs of vulnerable children and women. Through partnerships and a humanitarian–development–peace approach, UNICEF aims to strengthen social protection systems, enhance community resilience and ensure timely and accountable emergency responses.
- UNICEF requires US $101.7 million to provide multisectoral life-saving assistance to vulnerable children and women (including people living with disabilities) affected by humanitarian crises. The nutrition, education, health, child protection and WASH sectors make up 81.2 per cent of this funding requirement.
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND NEEDS
In the Niger, about 21.5 million10 people are living in multidimensional poverty, with their challenges exacerbated by food insecurity, epidemics, natural disasters, malnutrition, displacement, climate change and a security crisis. These crises are straining vulnerable agropastoral households, reducing food availability, increasing displacement, heightening tensions over scarce natural resources and eroding trust in the state's capacity to respond.
In 2025, 2.6 million11 people, including 1.5 million children,12 require urgent assistance amid ongoing conflicts, environmental crises and migration challenges. As of 31 December 2024, the Niger had recorded 929,2479 displaced people, a majority displaced by conflict.
Catastrophic floods in 2024 affected more than 1.5 million people. Floods destroyed infrastructure and exacerbated cholera outbreaks. As a result, nearly 1.7 million people, including more than 950,000 children, remain at risk due to poor WASH services, impacting their survival and well-being.13
Floods increased the number of malaria cases, with 5.6 million14 confirmed cases recorded in 2024. Population movements are placing a further strain on healthcare services. Epidemics of cholera, diphtheria, measles, meningitis and malaria have surged, alongside cases of dengue and Rift Valley fever. Health coverage remains at 55.5 per cent,8 leaving around 6 million children without regular access to care, particularly in rural and insecure regions including Tillabéry, Diffa, Tahoua and Maradi.
Malnutrition persists as a critical issue, with, in 2022, 42 per cent of children under age 5 stunted, 12 per cent wasted and 55 per cent with anaemia.15 Wasting prevalence exceeds emergency thresholds in most regions and is driven by floods, insecurity and limited access to basic services, and an estimated 1.8 million16 cases of wasting are projected for 2025. Nutrition programmes reached more than 6.2 million17 children with vitamin A supplementation in 2024, but gaps in funding along with supply chain challenges hinder delivery.
Of the 507,438 people displaced by conflicts, 304,463 are children.7 This has placed children at risk of acute stress and increased their exposure to violence, exploitation and abuse, including recruitment by armed groups, child marriage and other forms of physical, sexual and emotional violence. Rapid protection evaluations highlight widespread psychological distress, with 40 per cent of households reporting stress symptoms. UNICEF plans to address these needs with tailored emergency services and by mobilizing humanitarian partners in nutrition, health, WASH, education and child protection to ensure rapid delivery of life-saving interventions.
Structural challenges in education have been worsened by insecurity, epidemics and floods. Nearly 779 schools remain closed due to insecurity, affecting more than 66,000 children and 1,700 teachers.18 Floods damaged 5,52019 classrooms and delayed school openings as facilities were used as shelters. Inadequate infrastructure and lack of learning materials continue to threaten equitable education access.