The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on Friday appealed for nearly two billion dollars to provide lifesaving assistance to more than 24 million boys and girls across West and Central Africa in 2024.
The agency warned that 46.7 million children in the region are projected to face another year of humanitarian need mainly due to ongoing conflict and insecurity, including in the central Sahel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and massive displacement into Chad sparked by the war in Sudan.
“West and Central Africa is home to a large number of critically underfunded emergencies, and some of the most neglected humanitarian crises in the world for children,” said UNICEF Regional Director Felicité Tchibindat.
The $1.89 million appeal aims to reach roughly 24.1 million children next year, up from 23.5 million in 2023.
Aid will include lifesaving nutrition supplies, clean water, education and child protection services, as well as humanitarian cash transfers for households.
More than a third of the funding will be used to address malnutrition, as the prevalence of wasting in children under five remains high. The Sahel countries are most affected, with several areas of Burkina Faso, Mali and northwest Nigeria showing emergency levels of child wasting.