N’DJAMENA, Chad
Chad accommodates over one million refugees, constituting one of Africa's largest and rapidly growing refugee populations.
Ongoing conflict in neighbouring
Sudan has propelled hundreds of thousands across the border, exacerbating
humanitarian needs while resources to address them are diminishing.
Sudanese refugee numbers in
Chad have doubled in the last six months, paralleling the total arrivals over
the past two decades since the Darfur crisis in 2003. The refugee influx,
particularly from the recent surge near Darfur's border, intensifies tensions
between host communities and newcomers in a country grappling with multiple
crises.
Chad confronts acute food
insecurity and malnutrition, especially among children, worsened by climate
challenges, economic pressures, declining agriculture, and intercommunal
tensions.
The refugee crisis further
strains food-insecure communities, with 2.1 million people facing acute food
insecurity in 2023. Chad experiences its worst lean season in a decade, notably
in the east since the Sudan crisis. Malnutrition affects 1.36 million children,
with 8.6% under 5 suffering and 1.5% severely malnourished, particularly
concerning in refugee sites.
Emergency Food Security
Assessment in Eastern Chad reveals poor or borderline food consumption in 90%
of new refugees, 77% of pre-existing refugees, and 67% of local
communities.
The World Food Programme (WFP)
aims to aid 2.85 million people, including refugees, IDPs, and vulnerable
locals, through emergency interventions, school feeding, and malnutrition
prevention and treatment, including food and cash-based assistance for sudden
onset emergencies like floods.
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