The UN and its humanitarian partners, in support of the authorities in Niger, have released this year’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. It calls for $674 million to support 2 million people in the country, where insecurity, forced displacement and climate shocks have left 3 million people in need of aid.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for urgent funding to scale up life-saving aid in Burundi. The country is under intensifying humanitarian pressure as it hosts over 90,000 refugees who have escaped conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past three months.
In Madagascar, the Government reported at least 52 deaths following Tropical Cyclone Gezani that made landfall earlier this month near Toamasina on the eastern coast. More than 800 people have been injured, nine remain missing and some 470,000 people have been impacted by the cyclone.
In Gaza, the UN and its aid partners coordinated 10 humanitarian missions with the Israeli authorities on Wednesday to collect incoming food, vaccines, fuel and health supplies from the Kerem Shalom/Kerem Abu Salem and Zikim crossings. The UN Development Programme began removing solid waste from a dumping site in Gaza City.
In Madagascar, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that another cyclone is expected to make landfall tomorrow. This comes on the heels of Tropical Cyclone Fytia, which touched down on 31 January. The Central Emergency Response Fund has released $3 million to help pre-position staff and supplies.
In Somalia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that severe drought conditions continue to displace people across the country. According to authorities and UN agencies, nearly half a million people have now abandoned their homes since September 2025.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that Madagascar is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis in the Grand Sud and Grand Sud-Est regions. The impact of the recent El Niño drought and cyclone season, along with a malaria outbreak and strained health systems, has left communities with little ability to recover.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, while traveling from Cairo to Rafah, spoke of how vital that route is as a lifeline for aid going into Gaza. He stressed the need for all the crossings to open to allow for a massive scale-up and start turning the situation on the ground around.
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that women, children and displaced families are hardest hit by Haiti’s prolonged crisis, which is driving hunger and malnutrition. A record of 5.7 million people - 51 per cent of the population - are experiencing acute levels of hunger, a 3 per cent increase from last year.
