West and Central Africa face worsening humanitarian emergency

The United Nations and its partners are urgently calling for $5.1 billion to address the deepening humanitarian crisis affecting 24 million vulnerable people across West and Central Africa in 2026. This appeal is part of a broader $33 billion global humanitarian funding request to protect lives and livelihoods in the region.

Regional crisis intensifies: who is affected?

More than 42 million people in countries like Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chad will require urgent assistance in 2026. The situation remains dire, with families facing rising hunger, forced displacement, and escalating security risks, warns Charles Bernimolin, Head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for West and Central Africa.

The crisis is fueled by ongoing conflicts, persistent violence, and environmental disasters that continue to displace communities and strip them of access to basic needs such as food, shelter, and healthcare.

Escalating violence in the Sahel and Lake Chad basin

Instability in the Central Sahel—particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger—has spilled over into neighboring countries including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Mauritania. Concurrently, the Lake Chad basin remains volatile, while the conflict in Sudan continues to drive mass displacement.

Over 16.4 million people are now displaced across the region, including 12.7 million internally displaced persons and 3.7 million refugees and asylum seekers. Women and children make up the majority of those affected, many of whom have been forced to flee multiple times and face heightened risks such as gender-based violence, exploitation, and survival sex, including reports of rape.

Climate change worsens vulnerability

The climate crisis is deepening the humanitarian emergency. In 2025, severe flooding and extreme weather events impacted over 2 million people across 12 countries, destroying crops, damaging homes, and cutting off access to schools and healthcare. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was particularly hard-hit, with more than 830,000 people affected.

Funding shortfalls cripple emergency response

In the Central African Republic, the number of people receiving cash assistance dropped by 75% due to drastic funding cuts.

Despite global donor generosity in 2025, the humanitarian response in West and Central Africa has faced severe underfunding. Of the $7.8 billion requested, only $1.8 billion—just 24%—was received. These funding gaps have forced humanitarian agencies to scale back operations, leaving millions without critical support.

In the Central African Republic, the drastic reduction in cash assistance has left families struggling to meet basic needs. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where conflict has triggered new waves of displacement, 85% of people targeted for shelter aid received no support at all.

Despite these challenges, humanitarian partners remain committed to delivering life-saving aid. By the end of 2025, they had reached 19 million people with some form of assistance. However, millions more remain out of reach due to funding shortages, and the situation continues to deteriorate.