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Families across East Africa are currently facing one of the most complex humanitarian disasters in decades. While the region struggled through a historic drought (2020–2023) and devastating floods (2024), a new severe drought began in late 2025 and has intensified into March 2026. This, combined with the catastrophic war in Sudan, has pushed the number of people in need to record levels.
More than 50 million people across Eastern Africa are now in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.
Sudan is currently home to the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, with over 9.1 million people forced from their homes.
Drought 2026: Failed rains in late 2025 have decimated crops and livestock in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya once again. In some areas of Somalia, the cost of water has increased by over 2000%.
Somalia is once again at a critical crossroads as the number of people facing acute hunger has nearly doubled since early 2025, now reaching approximately 6.5 million. The failure of the late 2025 rains has decimated agricultural production, with cereal harvests in the south recorded at 83% below the long-term average. This environmental shock has triggered a massive wave of displacement; in just the last few months, over 135,000 people have fled their homes to seek survival in makeshift camps.
In areas like Baidoa, the situation is increasingly desperate, with recent assessments showing that 70% of displaced families are surviving on only one meal a day. Islamic Relief is responding by rehabilitating vital water sources and providing emergency food packs to those in the hardest-hit settlements.
The humanitarian situation in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) has deteriorated sharply following the failure of the 2025 “short rains,” which delivered only 30% of their usual volume. Approximately 3.7 million Kenyans are now experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity, with livestock—the backbone of the northern economy, dying in record numbers. In counties like Marsabit and Mandera, tens of thousands of animals have perished from starvation, and milk production has plummeted by more than 50%, leaving children without their primary source of nutrition.
Up to 90% of open water sources have dried up in these regions, forcing families to walk 20 kilometers or more to find water. Islamic Relief is focused on rehabilitating solar-powered boreholes and providing animal vaccinations to preserve the remaining livelihoods of pastoralist families.
In Ethiopia, a devastating combination of renewed conflict and severe climate shocks has left one in three people facing crisis-level hunger. In the lowland regions of East Hararghe, households have seen crop production losses of over 50%, forcing families to depend entirely on markets where food prices have reached record highs. This vulnerability is further compounded by ongoing instability in the Tigray, Amhara, and Oromia regions, which has disrupted aid delivery and uprooted hundreds of thousands of people.
Beyond the food crisis, the country is currently battling a major cholera outbreak fueled by a lack of clean water. Islamic Relief is prioritizing nutrition support and emergency water-trucking to the most remote and underserved communities.
Now entering its fourth year of conflict, Sudan has become the site of the world’s largest displacement and protection crisis. As of March 2026, over 33 million people, nearly two-thirds of the population—require urgent humanitarian aid, with famine conditions already confirmed in regions like Al Fasher and Kadugli. The collapse of the national health system, with nearly 40% of facilities non-functional, has left millions without access to life-saving care while disease outbreaks like cholera spread through overcrowded displacement sites. Islamic Relief teams are working under extreme conditions to deliver medical supplies and cash assistance to families who have lost everything to the violence.
Islamic Relief has maintained a continuous presence in East Africa for over two decades, allowing us to pivot quickly during this 2026 escalation. Our current response is twofold: providing immediate survival through the distribution of food, clean water, and hygiene kits, while simultaneously building long-term resilience. This includes constructing micro-dams and solar-powered water systems designed to withstand the increasingly frequent climate shocks that are now the “new normal” for the region. Despite the scale of the need, international funding remains critically low, and your support is essential to keeping these life-saving operations active.