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Humanitarian needs increase in Burkina Faso/Mali/Niger

A recently displaced mother with her son at a UN-supported settlement in Barsologho in the north of Burkina Faso. Credit: OCHA/Giles Clarke

Escalating violence and insecurity have sparked an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and western Niger.

The number of internally displaced persons has risen to more than 750,000, a tenfold increase since 2018.

The crisis is affecting extremely vulnerable families, compounding the impact of food insecurity, malnutrition and epidemics. About 1.8 million people are currently food insecure and some 400,000 children are severely malnourished.

This year, 6.1 million people in the affected regions need urgent assistance, including 3.9 million people in Mali, 1.5 million people in Burkina Faso, and 700,000 people in western Niger.

The UN and humanitarian organizations, in support of national and local authorities, are scaling up food aid, therapeutic nutrition programmes, emergency shelter and non-food items, health care, water, sanitation and hygiene, education, and protection services.

Some US$717 million is required to assist 4.7 million people in the three countries, but only 47 per cent of the funds had been received as of October.