Lake Chad Basin: Humanitarian Snapshot (as of 23 May 2024)

The Lake Chad Basin continues to be an epicentre of crisis in the Sahel, with multiple interlinked crisis drivers exacerbating a complex and multi-faceted cross-border crisis.

The number of security incidents in Cameroon and Nigeria has fallen from a peak around the end of 2023 but in Cameroon it remains notably higher than the historical average for the last five years. Overall there were 415 security incidents between February and April 2024, while the number of people killed was 521. These figures compare to 363 incidents and 415 people killed in December 2023 and January 2024.

There is increasing displacement in the region, with the number of internally displaced persons increasing by 2 per cent relative to the previous reporting period to 2.9 million, including 2.1 million in Nigeria. The number of refugees has risen by 4 per cent to 266,893. Vulnerable people in the region continue to face severe food insecurity and malnutrition, while access to basic services has deteriorated since the last reporting period with 549 non-functional schools, driven notably by the number of non-functional schools in Chad increasing from 8 to 134 since the last reporting period.

Despite the difficult operating context, 257 humanitarian organisations are present in the region and aim to provide assistance to 6 million vulnerable people. As of 21 May, these organisations had received US$362 million - 12 per cent of the funds needed to implement their plans for 2024.