Chad

A man looks at the totally flooded Boutal-Bagar district in N'Djamena, Chad on August 5, 2022 following the first heavy rains of the season. Photo credit: AURELIE BAZZARA-KIBANGULA / AFP

Key Developments

The convergence of several factors—including armed conflict and subsequent displacement, food insecurity, natural disasters, and socioeconomic challenges—continues to worsen humanitarian conditions in Chad. Persistent insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin—an area comprising portions of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria—continues to generate significant population displacement in Chad’s Lac Province, where more than 381,000 internally displaced persons were sheltering as of October 31, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). An estimated 2.1 million people across Chad required emergency food assistance and critical nutrition support due to heightened malnutrition risks during the June-to-August 2022 lean season, when food is most scarce, according to a March Cadre Harmonisé analysis. The June-to-August figure represents a more than 21 percent increase compared to the same period in 2021.

Heavy rainfall in July and August generated floods in 11 of Chad's 23 provinces and resulted in the deaths of at least 22 individuals, damaged or destroyed approximately 55,000 houses, and adversely affected an estimated 341,000 people as of mid-August, according to the UN. On September 2, U.S. Ambassador Alexander Laskaris issued a declaration of humanitarian need (DHN) due to the effects of flooding in Chad. In response, USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA) contributed $100,000 to World Vision to provide shelter and water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance to flood-affected communities. USAID/BHA staff in Dakar, Senegal, and Washington, D.C., continue to support relief efforts and monitor humanitarian conditions.

Background

Attacks by Boko Haram in Lac, which began in January 2015, continue to prompt displacement—including population movement of Chadian returnees and refugees from neighboring Nigeria—and exacerbate food insecurity and other humanitarian needs. Deteriorating security conditions in the region have also impeded humanitarian response efforts. On October 25, 2022, Ambassador Laskaris renewed the DHN for Fiscal Year 2023 due to the ongoing complex emergency in Chad.

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