The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that more than 24 million inhabitants of the Sahel are in a "critical situation of humanitarian need," according to its latest analysis of this African strip.
The head of OCHA for West and Central Africa, Charles Bernimolin, stressed in a statement that "the population of the Sahel is not foreign to a global crisis, but rather finds itself at the epicenter of one of the most serious and neglected emergencies in the world," when presenting the 2026 Sahel Humanitarian Needs and Response Overview Report.
The document, which examines in detail the situation in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, the Far North of Cameroon, and Northeast Nigeria, notes that "violence in the central Sahel is spreading beyond its traditional borders in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, and is rapidly propagating towards the coast of West Africa, making the Sahel one of the main epicenters of violence in Africa."
According to OCHA, "this violence and instability are overflowing borders, affecting local economies, and displacing vulnerable populations," while "armed groups have expanded their influence throughout the central Sahel and the Lake Chad basin, uprooting communities, closing schools and health centers, and leaving entire areas without any form of government or protection."
The impact on education is especially severe: the agency specifies that "nearly 12,900 schools remain closed due to insecurity, depriving more than 2.3 million children of education and exposing them to exploitation and forced recruitment."
To the escalation of violence are added the effects of the climate crisis, with floods and prolonged droughts. The organization recalls that "in 2025 alone, 590,000 people in the Sahel were affected" by "devastating" flood events, while desertification and lack of rainfall "are destroying the farmlands on which millions of people depend for their livelihoods."
The note also warns of the worsening hunger in the coming months: "during the next lean season, which runs from June to August, it is projected that 15.4 million people will face critical levels of food insecurity or even worse." Furthermore, "more than 1.5 million could fall into a state of emergency, meaning they would not be able to meet their basic food needs without urgent external assistance."
OCHA warns that "these figures could increase even further," as "the ongoing conflict in the Middle East is driving up global prices for fuel, fertilizers, and staple foods, with direct consequences for families in the Sahel, who are already at their limit."
Despite the magnitude of the crisis, the agency denounces that "humanitarian funding for the Sahel has plummeted to its lowest level in a decade." "In 2025, only 29% of the necessary funds were received, forcing aid organizations to suspend services, withdraw from some areas, and make impossible decisions about who receives aid and who does not," the body laments.
"Every funding shortfall has a human cost," emphasizes regional director Charles Bernimolin. "When we cut a program, a child loses their food, women and girls lose their protection, a family loses hope. We cannot allow a financial collapse to become a death sentence for millions of people."
Along these lines, Bernimolin calls for "greater political will" and "funding to address the magnitude of the crisis," and makes "an appeal to donors, governments, and regional institutions to act urgently." "The people of the Sahel cannot wait," he concludes.