Africa Grapples with Escalating Humanitarian Crises Amidst External Aid Shifts
Nairobi, Kenya – Africa is facing a compounding humanitarian crisis in 2025, driven by a convergence of ongoing conflicts, political instability, economic shocks, disease outbreaks, and severe climate events. This alarming trend is exacerbated by a concerning shift in the landscape of international aid, with private contracting firms playing an increasing, and controversial, role in aid delivery.
Eastern Africa, in particular, is bearing the brunt of these challenges. By March 2025, the region was home to over 24 million displaced people, including 5.7 million refugees and asylum-seekers and 18.8 million internally displaced persons, with the conflict in Sudan being a primary driver of this increase (OCHA, Eastern Africa Humanitarian Snapshot, March 2025).
This conflict has also led to confirmed famine in more than 10 locations in Sudan, with alarming rates of acute malnutrition affecting over 8 million children and 1.3 million pregnant and lactating women across the region (OCHA, March 2025).
Beyond food insecurity, the region is battling multiple disease outbreaks. Since January 2025, over 36,000 cholera cases and 583 deaths have been reported in Eastern Africa, with South Sudan accounting for more than 25,000 cases. Mpox cases also exceeded 4,300 in six countries, with Uganda alone reporting over 3,500 cases (OCHA, March 2025).
A significant development drawing international attention is the growing involvement of private contracting firms, often led by former U.S. intelligence officers and military veterans, in delivering aid to conflict zones.
This approach, while touted by some as a means to overcome logistical hurdles, is “roiling the global aid community,” which warns of a more militarized, politicized, and profit-seeking trend (AP News, June 18, 2025).
Concerns are rising that such arrangements could allow governments or combatants to manipulate aid for control over civilian populations or to advance war objectives. For instance, in South Sudan, a firm named Fogbow has been engaged for air drops, partly due to cuts in U.S. Agency for International Development funding (AP News, June 18, 2025). This marks a departure from traditional humanitarian principles and raises serious questions about neutrality and access to those most in need.
The overall humanitarian funding landscape remains dire. Approximately $12 billion is required to meet the needs of close to 47 million people, including refugees and asylum seekers, in Eastern Africa alone for 2025. However, as of March 2025, only 6 percent of this amount, or $736 million, had been provided (OCHA, March 2025). This funding gap, coupled with the evolving methods of aid delivery, paints a concerning picture for the continent’s most vulnerable populations.
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