Although they have decreased significantly, humanitarian needs will nevertheless remain significant this year in the Central African Republic (CAR), the UN warned on Thursday; noting that with 50% of the population not having enough to eat, this Central African country has one of the largest proportions of people “in a situation of critical food insecurity in the world”.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 2.8 million people – or 46% of the population – will be extremely vulnerable in 2024, to the point that humanitarian assistance alone will not be enough for their well-being.
“The drop in this figure compared to 2023 is linked not only to a general improvement in the context, but also to the refinement of the analysis of needs to highlight those arising from structural problems and which reach humanitarian intervention thresholds in a few cases, and those resulting from recent shocks suffered by the population,” the office said.
Indeed, in several regions, humanitarian actors are often the only ones to ensure access to basic social services such as health and education.
“In this context, when humanitarian aid, which aims to counter the consequences of a recent shock, ends, the lack of long-term relay by better adapted actors causes the population to fall into a cycle of dependence”, noted OCHA in its latest situation report…