The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned that more than 11 million people could lose access to emergency humanitarian assistance this year due to a severe funding shortfall, with some of the worst-affected areas located in Africa.
The agency attributed this record figure to the significant decline in contributions from donor countries, particularly the United States.
This number represents roughly one-third of the people the UNHCR typically supports each year. In 2024, the agency provided assistance to around 36 million people in 135 countries. However, that figure is expected to drop sharply this year due to the dwindling support from international donors.
Among the most severely impacted locations are the refugee camps along the Chad-Sudan border, where approximately 12 million Sudanese have fled to eastern Chad to escape the war that has been ongoing for three years.
Devastated Areas
Jean-Paul Habamungu Samvura, UNHCR’s Regional Director, stated that what is happening in the refugee camps is unlike anything he has seen in 27 years of humanitarian work across Africa and Asia.
One of the Sudanese refugee camps currently hosts around 80,000 people, but humanitarian organizations are critically under-resourced and understaffed. There is only one permanent doctor serving at the camp’s hospital, where patients line up in long queues amid a severe shortage of medicines.
In these same camps, children are forced to drink contaminated water from ponds and river basins, which are also used as makeshift toilets due to the near-total absence of sanitation facilities.
UNHCR confirmed that only 23% of its required funding for this year has been secured, forcing the agency to scale back its operations. Women and children are the most affected groups in this growing crisis.