People in need, targeted, prioritized and severity by location
Source OCHAPeople targeted
The Myanmar HNRP will focus on assisting 4.9 million of the most severely affected people, which constitutes a reduction of 27 per cent compared to 2025. The reduction is largely due to the major decline in humanitarian funding, resulting in diminished response capacity of humanitarian organizations in Myanmar. In 2026, the HCT will reinforce its approach to focus on life-saving and protection activities based on the severity of needs, taking into account the operational capacity of partners and the forecast on the availability of funding. Each cluster defined quantifiable thresholds at the township level and population categories to inform its priorities—accounting for people's preferences—while ensuring that targeting remains realistic and feasible. The response focuses on the 227 townships within the scope of analysis. Resilience, disaster risk reduction, prevention and basic social services-type activities are not included in this response plan. Any potential overlap between planned activities and caseloads identified in the UN Transitional Cooperation Framework (TCF) for 2026 has been eliminated.
People prioritized
The total number of people prioritized within the response (i.e. those people targeted who fall within intersectoral severity needs levels 4 and 5) amounts to 2.6 million or 53 per cent of the total number of people targeted. Prioritization has been conducted with severity of need as a primary driver, taking into account humanitarian access, operational capacity and funding outlook. The 2026 HNRP places an increased focus on IDPs, returned/resettled/integrated IDPs, and non-displaced stateless people and less focus on the “other shock-affected people” category. Specific attention will be placed on hard-to-reach rural areas and those people with the most severe needs, while remaining realistic about potential reach given access, capacity and funding constraints.
Mitigating against inclusion/exclusion errors
During the scope setting for the 2026 humanitarian response, the HCT initially identified two major shocks (conflict and earthquake) that guided the determination of the geographical coverage. Further analysis revealed one additional township with severe acute malnutrition classified at sectoral level 4, which led to its inclusion in the final scope of analysis, despite being initially outside the scope. Importantly, following in-depth analysis no areas were designated as ‘inclusion errors,’ meaning that no locations were excluded from the response due to extreme access constraints or insufficient partner capacity.
Operational capacity
Humanitarian organizations in Myanmar continue to face a range of challenges to their operational capacity, primarily pertaining to access, civic space, logistics, resources, and security. While the security situation does have an impact on presence, humanitarian organizations continue to have the ability to deliver using remote modalities, including cash response, limited primarily by resource availability. Local responders continue to lead the humanitarian response in remote and conflict-affected areas. Networks of key local interlocutors are further boosting operational capacity in areas with limited access, such as community- and camp-based staff, focal points in displacement sites, as well as faith-based and other networks. In 2026, coordination structure revisions will provide the framework for local organizations to expand their capacity and operate effectively in hard‑to‑reach and conflict‑affected areas.
More partners participated in humanitarian coordination efforts over the course of 2025 than ever before (347 organizations in 2025 compared to 286 in 2024), largely as the result of an increase in local organizations.
Operational logistics will continue to be challenged by limited infrastructure and equipment, and pipeline arrangements, frequently resulting in shortages and stock-outs at the subnational level. Administrative obstacles imposed on the import of adequate standard humanitarian supplies (such as for health and nutrition) from outside the country are affecting the response operation. For those supplies that can be imported or are being procured locally, challenges include physical roadblocks, confiscation of aid supplies, damage to key infrastructure by all parties to the conflict, and disasters.
Operational presence
In 2026
Operational partners by type
Access constraints
“We could not sleep at night, always fearing when the bombs would fall on us. Even the sound of strong winds made us afraid. We fled because staying meant waiting for our turn.”
— Displaced woman in the Northwest.
Humanitarian access in Myanmar remained severely restricted throughout 2025 due to ongoing armed conflict, bureaucratic impediments, and recurrent threats to humanitarian personnel and infrastructure. The access severity monitoring exercise conducted in Myanmar in October 2025 with international and national NGOs and UN agencies confirmed the scale of these challenges. Of the 330 townships assessed, 127 townships, or approximately 37 per cent, were identified as having extremely high access difficulties (level 3). In these areas, humanitarian organizations were able to reach only a small proportion of people in need as assessed by the 2026 HNRP. The highest concentrations of level 3 townships were in the conflict-affected regions of the Northeast, Northwest, Rakhine, as well as Southeast. These areas accounted for nearly 95 per cent of all level 3 townships. Sagaing alone represented around 24 per cent of the total. The monitoring exercise also found that nearly all townships across the country experienced at least some form of access constraint. Checkpoint restrictions, conflict-related impediments, and administrative hurdles ranked high among the most commonly reported barriers resulting in limitations on freedom of movement.
Between 1 November 2024 and 31 October 2025, humanitarian organizations reported more than one thousand access-related incidents countrywide. Restrictions imposed at checkpoints, along with harassment, sexual violence, intimidation, and extortion, frequently delayed or obstructed humanitarian movements. Rakhine recorded the highest number of incidents, accounting for 15 per cent of the total. This was followed by northern Shan with 14 per cent, Sagaing with 12 per cent, and southern Shan with 10 per cent. Active conflict in the Northeast, Northwest, Rakhine, and Southeast continued to impede humanitarian operations and often prevented civilians from safely accessing assistance. Military operations accounted for 57 per cent of all reported access incidents. The use of heavy weaponry, airstrikes, and frequent shifts in control contributed to delays and disruptions. In several areas, including parts of Chin, Magway, Mon, Rakhine, and northern Shan, humanitarian organizations were required to relocate personnel or temporarily suspend activities, which affected the continuity of essential services.
Administrative and bureaucratic impediments also significantly restricted operations. Travel authorization requirements, registration processes, and visa-related issues accounted for 25 per cent of all access incidents and continued to generate substantial delays. In Rakhine, where the highest number of incidents was recorded, humanitarian and early recovery activities were further constrained by ongoing hostilities and heightened safety risks. Since November 2023, Sittwe has remained the only township directly accessible for UN agencies with authorization from the State authorities, while access to Arakan Army-controlled townships has remained limited. The continued interruption of phone and internet services since January 2024 has further hindered access to information and complicated coordination.
People targeted
Operational access
Response trends
Humanitarians are working to deliver a complementary, life-saving humanitarian response via a range of modalities, addressing needs through diverse and flexible access approaches in partnership with local actors. The response is increasingly locally-led to ensure that assistance reaches people in conflict-affected and remote areas. By the end of 2025, 5.7 million people (or 85 per cent) are expected to have been reached with some form of assistance at least once. Heavy access constraints, significant underfunding, bureaucratic obstacles, and attacks on aid workers and assets continue to undermine these efforts and, as a result, the response is not as deep or as sustained in conflict areas as intended. Massive funding shortfalls have left enormous gaps in the response. Despite the high level of needs, as of 1 December 2025, the Myanmar HNRP has received less funding in 2025 ($373 million)—with a significant part of this ($183 million) for the Earthquake Response Addendum—than throughout the entire year of 2024 ($402 million). Politicization of humanitarian assistance by all sides is making field operations much harder and is risking the safety of aid workers assisting people in need. Restrictions on civic space have also significantly reduced the operational capacity of many organizations. Humanitarian workers in Myanmar must be allowed to operate free from restrictions and harassment, in line with all the protections afforded to them under international humanitarian law. In line with global practice, the humanitarian community continues to talk with all parties to the conflict to facilitate access for the delivery of assistance to vulnerable people in need and to advocate for their protection.
