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OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
As of 30 September 2024, the East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes (EHAGL) region was host to 5.5 million refugees and asylum-seekers. Additionally, there were 21.3 million internally displaced in the region as a result of conflict and climate-related disasters. Some 330,000 refugees had been documented as having returned to their countries of origin since the start of the year.
The region continues to grapple with multiple crises. With the conflict in Sudan in its second year, the humanitarian situation continued to worsen with famine conditions in parts of the country and increasing internal and external displacement.
In response to unprecedented rainfall and flooding, UNHCR launched a flood appeal on 28 June for nearly $40 million to assist and protect 5.6 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced people and local communities in Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda, South Sudan and Sudan.
On 14 August, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the surge in Mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and their spread to neighbouring countries as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The dramatic increase in reported cases in 2024 has led to multiple national outbreaks across the continent, driven by the emergence and rapid spread of a new strain of the virus. Sudan and Uganda are considered high-to-moderate risk for Mpox transmission, while Ethiopia and South Sudan are at risk of importation. As a result of this outbreak, UNHCR is appealing for $21.4 million until the end of the year to urgently scale up critical response and prevention efforts for refugees in countries impacted by the mpox emergency. The appeal, launched on 11 September, aims to support 9.9 million forcibly displaced people and host communities in 35 countries across Africa.