Recurrent climatic shocks—including drought and seasonal floods—and protracted conflict continue to generate high levels of humanitarian need across Mali. According to the 2024 Mali Humanitarian Response Plan, an estimated 7.1 million people in the country, or approximately 32 percent of the population, are likely to require humanitarian assistance during 2024. Sustained armed conflict and intercommunal violence, as well as climatic shocks, had internally displaced approximately 355,000 people in Mali as of December 2023, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported more than 88,800 refugees in Mali as of March 2024, the majority of whom fled insecurity in neighboring Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Niger in recent years, according to UNHCR. Additionally, between June 2023 and May 2024, an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis estimates that nearly 1.4 million children under five years of age and nearly 88,000 pregnant and lactating women (PLW) will experience acute malnutrition, including more than 313,000 children experiencing severe acute malnutrition.
USAID supports the UN World Food Program (WFP) to reach food-insecure individuals within conflict-affected populations countrywide with emergency food and nutrition assistance. WFP is also providing nutrition assistance to PLW and children to prevent acute malnutrition in central and northern Mali during the 2024 lean season. USAID supports shared services, such as humanitarian coordination, information management, and assessments, to build humanitarian capacity and improve the effectiveness of relief operations in Mali. In partnership with UN agency and nongovernmental organization partners, USAID supports displacement monitoring, strengthening of national early warning systems for food security, and enhancing host government data collection and analysis to inform humanitarian interventions. USAID partners also provide water, sanitation, and hygiene services to respond to disease outbreaks and provide safe drinking water to crisis-affected populations.
