HIGHLIGHTS
- WFP reports 5.6 million food-insecure people in the region
- UN announces $31 million in emergency funding to assist vulnerable households
- Violence forces humanitarian actors to temporarily suspend response interventions in Chad
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
- Attacks and raids by armed group Boko Haram continue to disrupt agricultural production and constrain economic activities throughout the Lake Chad Basin, affecting Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. The UN World Food Program (WFP) estimates that 5.6 million people in the region are in need of emergency food assistance—a 19 percent increase in the food-insecure population since October 2015.
- Between December and January, the UN—in coordination with host country governments—released the 2016 humanitarian response plans for Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria. The plans, which target nearly 4.8 million people across the three countries for humanitarian assistance, require approximately $1.1 billion to implement critical food security, health, protection, and shelter interventions. The funding requirement represents a 10 percent increase from the total amount requested in the countries’ 2015 plans, reflecting increased humanitarian needs across the region.
- The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is providing $31 million in emergency assistance to address the increased needs of nearly 1.7 million people in the Lake Chad Basin region affected by Boko Haram-related violence. The UN has allocated $10 million to support affected populations in Nigeria and $7 million each for Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. The funds will provide vulnerable households with critical emergency assistance—including health care, nutrition, protection, sanitation, and shelter support.