Eastern Africa: Humanitarian Snapshot (As of March 2025)

Eastern Africa continues to experience multiple humanitarian crises driven by ongoing conflicts, political instability, economic shocks, disease outbreaks, and severe climate events such as droughts and floods, exacerbating the existing humanitarian needs and fuelling displacement.

The region has some of the highest numbers of displacements globally. By March 2025, the region hosted more than 24 million displaced people, including 5.7 million refugees and asylum-seekers and 18.8 million internally displaced people, with the conflict in Sudan driving the increase.

Food insecurity continues to escalate, with more than 56 million people across Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda projected to face crisis levels of food insecurity (IPC3+) from May 2024 to June 2025. South Sudan and Sudan have the highest prevalence of food insecurity with approximately half of their populations affected. In Sudan, famine has been confirmed in more than 10 locations.

High levels of acute malnutrition have also been reported, with over 8 million children and 1.3 million pregnant and lactating women affected.

Multiple disease outbreaks including cholera, measles and mpox, continue to pose significant public health challenges. Since January 2025, the region has reported over 36,000 cholera cases and 583 deaths, with South Sudan bearing the brunt of the outbreak, accounting for more than 25,000 cases. In the same period, six countries confirmed over 4,300 mpox cases, with more than 3,500 cases in Uganda alone. Ebola and Marburg were also confirmed in Uganda and Tanzania respectively.

Humanitarian partners continue to provide life-saving assistance reaching millions of people with some form of support. Approximately $12 billion is required to meet the needs of close to 47 million people, including refugees and asylum seekers in 2025. Of this, only $736 million representing 6 per cent has been provided.