Southern and Eastern Africa

Regional overview

The Southern and Eastern Africa region is home to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with Sudan alone accounting for ten per cent of the global total of people in need. Climate change, conflict, political instability, disease, and economic shocks are driving humanitarian needs across the region. In 2026, more than 56 million people are estimated to need humanitarian assistance, representing 24 per cent of the global humanitarian caseload and a decrease compared to 2025, mainly as flash appeals in the region expired. The number is expected to rise in 2026 due to the ongoing conflicts in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Mozambique, protracted climate hazards, deteriorating economies and exacerbating food insecurity and diseases. Funding cuts have massively affected the humanitarian response, leading many humanitarian organizations to scale or shut down operations and make tough choices to reprioritize people they target. In 2026, more than $7 billion is required to meet the needs of more than 34 million people targeted for assistance.

Conflict

Conflicts continue to escalate, becoming more fragmented in nature, threatening to destabilize the entire region. Humanitarian space is constrained by expanding and intensifying conflicts, as the reduced humanitarian footprint shrinks. With some of the peacekeeping missions as well as partner presence scaling down, mainly in Eastern Africa, the operating environment will likely become more restricted. In Sudan, escalating conflict has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, resulting in 9.5 million¹ people internally displaced and 4.3 million refugees. In South Sudan, unresolved political tensions and violence risk tipping the country into large-scale catastrophe. In 2025, the country has been ranked as the second² most dangerous country to be an aid worker. Meanwhile, conflict continues in Ethiopia’s Amhara and Oromia regions, while tensions in Tigray risk worsening the humanitarian situation. The spillover effects of the war in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have led to an increase in refugees and asylum seekers in Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda. In Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, violence has forced over 200,000 people to flee their homes in 2025.

Group of children seated under a shelter while two individuals stand at the front, one holding a large illustrated board, during an outdoor educational or awareness session in a rural setting.

Malakal, South Sudan

South Sudanese who recently returned from Sudan, reside in Bulukat transit centre, receiving an awareness session on nutrition by a local partner.

OCHA/ Basma Ourfali

Climate

The region continues to be adversely affected by the impact of climate change with three of the ten³ most impacted countries in the world (Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia) in Eastern Africa. In 2025, Southern Africa is still recovering following the 2024 El Niño–induced drought. Tropical Cyclones caused heavy rains, flooding, infrastructure damage and displacement. Across several countries, agricultural production fell below average, while high food prices eroded household purchasing power. The climatic projection for the October–December and January–March periods indicates above-average rainfall, which is favorable for agriculture but may also result in flooding and disease outbreaks amid projections of increased cyclonic activity.

At the same time, Eastern Africa has experienced severe flooding. In South Sudan, floods affected over 1 million people and caused widespread damage, while landslides in Kenya and Uganda resulted in multiple deaths and destruction of homes. The forecast for the October–December (OND) 2025 rainfall season indicates a high likelihood of below-normal rainfall across much of the eastern and southern sectors of the Greater Horn of Africa region (including southern Ethiopia, eastern Kenya, central to southern Tanzania, and much of Somalia), raising concerns about possible drought and food insecurity.

Disease

The region continues to grapple with major diseases, including cholera, malaria, mpox and measles. More than 52⁴ per cent of the global cholera caseload is in the region, with Eastern Africa alone accounting for more than one-third of global cases. South Sudan recorded the highest number of cases in the region, followed by Sudan and Angola. Also, mpox cases continue to be reported in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, with Burundi accounting for the highest mpox caseload in the region. With impacts on international funding used to bolster health services and systems, Governments will increasingly be left to respond independently to disease outbreaks and health crises using basic service networks with incomplete reach to people in need.

Mozambique

Current People in Need

2.4 million
Current People Targeted

1.7 million
Current Requirements (US$)

$534.3 million
Current People Hyper Prioritized

0.9 million
Current Hyper Prioritized Requirements

$265.3 million

Go to plan details (HNRP)

GHO estimates at launch (8 December 2025)

People in Need

1.6 million

People Targeted

1.1 million

Requirements (US$)

347.6 million

People Hyper Prioritized

919.5 thousand

Hyper Prioritized Requirements (US$)

265.3 million

Crisis overview

Mozambique is facing a deeply neglected crisis where humanitarian needs are rising rapidly amid worsening violence and repeated climate shocks. In 2025, Mozambique continued to face the compounded impact of protracted armed conflict in Cabo Delgado, with two incidents of violence against civilians every day, and growing insecurity spreading beyond the province. Over the year, the humanitarian situation deteriorated sharply as non-State armed groups expanded their operations across 17 districts of Cabo Delgado and into parts of Nampula and Niassa Provinces, carrying out increasingly coordinated attacks and triggering new waves of displacement.

Violence against civilians surged to record levels, reaching its highest point since 2023. More than 208,000 people were newly displaced by mid-October 2025, in the heels of cyclone Chido having devastated the province in December 2024, overwhelming local response capacities. While some families sought refuge in displacement sites, most were hosted by already vulnerable communities or hid intermittently in nearby forests to escape attacks, thus creating a pendular displacement movement.

Somalia

Current People in Need

4.8 million
Current People Targeted

2.4 million
Current Requirements (US$)

$852 million
Current People Hyper Prioritized

1.6 million
Current Hyper Prioritized Requirements

$350 million

Go to plan details

GHO estimates at launch (8 December 2025)

People in Need

4.8 million

People Targeted

2.4 million

Requirements (US$)

850 million

People Hyper Prioritized

1.6 million

Hyper Prioritized Requirements (US$)

350 million

Crisis overview

Somalia continues to face severe humanitarian challenges driven by climate shocks, conflict, and disease outbreaks. In 2025, a prolonged drought in northern regions due to below-average Gu rains (April to June), has resulted in worsening food insecurity, severe water scarcity, lack of pasture, increased migration of pastoralists and heightened protection risks. Forecast of below-average Deyr rains (October to December) are expected to further heighten needs into early 2026.

According to the 2025 post-Gu IPC analysis, 4.4 million people are projected to face acute food insecurity, including 921,000 in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), a 35 per cent increase from 2024. Key drivers of food insecurity include conflict, climate shocks, high food prices, and reduced humanitarian assistance.

Disease outbreaks remain critical with 46,000 measles, 81,000 cholera, and 483,000 malaria cases reported up to October 2025. Nearly 3 million people are vulnerable to measles due to low immunization and poor living conditions. Cholera transmission persists in Banadir and Kismayo; diphtheria surged with 140 cases in September. Funding shortfalls are reducing response coverage and exacerbating vulnerability.

South Sudan

Current People in Need

9.9 million
Current People Targeted

4.3 million
Current Requirements (US$)

$1.46 billion
Current People Hyper Prioritized

4.1 million
Current Hyper Prioritized Requirements

$1.04 billion

Go to plan details

GHO estimates at launch (8 December 2025)

People in Need

10 million

People Targeted

4.3 million

Requirements (US$)

1.5 billion

People Hyper Prioritized

4.1 million

Hyper Prioritized Requirements (US$)

1.0 billion

Crisis overview

South Sudan is facing a complex, multi-layered convergence of humanitarian, economic, political, security, health and environmental crises. Civilians are caught in relentless cycles of violence and neglect, as the emergency intensifies with extreme levels of acute food insecurity, climate shocks, disease outbreaks, mass displacement, and cross-border pressures from the Sudan crisis. The humanitarian crisis, with over 10 million people in need, representing two-thirds of South Sudan’s population, is inseparable from the country’s unresolved political turmoil. Over 7.5 million people (53 per cent of the analysed population) are projected to face crisis or worse levels of hunger (IPC Phase 3 or above) during the 2026 lean season from April to July. Malnutrition remains critically high and continues as a persistent challenge. Some 2.1 million children aged 6–59 months are expected to suffer acute malnutrition and be in urgent need of nutrition services and treatment up to June 2026. Additionally, around 1.1 million pregnant and lactating women are at risk of malnutrition and in need of treatment during the same period, a 4 per cent increase from the previous year.

Since 2019, annual flooding has affected communities, with over 1 million people impacted each year. As of November 2025, over 1 million people were affected by floods across six of the ten states. An estimated 2.6 million people remain internally displaced, many of whom have endured protracted displacement for over a decade. In 2025 alone, over 675,000 people have been newly displaced due to renewed conflict between Government forces and opposition groups, intercommunal conflict, and floods. The Sudan crisis continues to impact South Sudan, with a cumulative 1.3 million people arriving in South Sudan as of November, and many more expected in 2026 if the Sudan crisis remains unresolved. South Sudan is facing the worst cholera outbreak in its history, with over 95,000 cases recorded since September 2024. While nearly 1,600 people have died, more than 94,000 (98%) of all cases have recovered.

Sudan

Current People in Need

33.7 million
Current People Targeted

20.4 million
Current Requirements (US$)

$2.87 billion
Current People Hyper Prioritized

14 million
Current Hyper Prioritized Requirements

$2.14 billion

Go to plan details

GHO estimates at launch (8 December 2025)

People in Need

33.7 million

People Targeted

20.4 million

Requirements (US$)

2.9 billion

People Hyper Prioritized

14 million

Hyper Prioritized Requirements (US$)

2.1 billion

Crisis overview

Well into its third year, the conflict in Sudan continues to fuel a humanitarian and protection crisis of catastrophic proportions. Civilians are being systematically targeted and terrorized, as horrific atrocities—including mass killings, summary executions, ethnically-motivated violence, abductions and indiscriminate attacks—are reported at chilling scale. Conflict-related sexual violence remains rampant and relentless, while children are recruited, abducted and subjected to other grave violations.

Civilian objects such as hospitals, schools and markets continue to be attacked. Landmines and explosive ordnance litter large parts of the country, posing tremendous risks to the civilian population. As of October 2025, 2.6 million people have returned since November 2024—mainly to Khartoum and Aj Jazirah—while 9.6 million people remain internally displaced in Sudan, many of whom live in extremely precarious conditions. Across the country, communities report an urgent need to scale up protection, mental health, psychosocial support and other services due to the widespread trauma inflicted by the ongoing violence.

Malakal, South Sudan

Global Humanitarian Overview 2026