Children account for more than half of all displaced people across East Africa, making them the biggest victims of armed conflict, climate shocks and humanitarian crises that continue to grip the region, a new report has found.
The 2025 East Africa Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Report by World Vision says millions of children are facing heightened risks of malnutrition, interrupted education, family separation and exploitation as displacement reaches unprecedented levels across the region.
According to the report, forced displacement remained one of the defining humanitarian challenges in East Africa throughout 2025, driven by armed conflict, prolonged drought, flooding, disease outbreaks and worsening economic conditions.
These overlapping crises have forced millions of families to flee their homes, with children bearing the heaviest burden.
Sudan continues to drive the region’s largest displacement emergency. Nearly 12 million people have been displaced since conflict erupted in 2023, including more than 9.1 million internally displaced people and over 4.4 million refugees and asylum seekers who have fled to neighbouring countries such as South Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda.
The report says children account for more than half of those displaced, making Sudan the world’s largest child displacement crisis during the reporting period.
The humanitarian consequences for children are severe. Many are living without adequate food, healthcare or education, while facing increased risks of malnutrition, abuse, trafficking and other protection violations.
Family separation and prolonged displacement have further exposed children to psychological distress and long-term developmental challenges.
Neighbouring countries continue to absorb large numbers of displaced people despite mounting humanitarian pressures.
Uganda remains Africa’s largest refugee-hosting nation, sheltering nearly 2 million refugees, more than half of them children.
Ethiopia and Kenya also continue to host substantial refugee populations while responding to internal displacement caused by conflict and climate-related disasters.
In Somalia, the report says conflict, recurring drought, flooding and forced evictions have displaced more than 3.8 million people, with children making up about 60 per cent of the displaced population. Many require urgent nutrition, education and child protection services as humanitarian funding continues to decline.
World Vision says it responded to the growing displacement crisis by providing multi-sector humanitarian assistance to more than 3.5 million displaced people across refugee camps, internally displaced persons’ settlements and host communities throughout East Africa during the 2025 financial year. Assistance included food support, clean water, healthcare, education, child protection and livelihood programmes.
The report warns that humanitarian funding cuts are making it increasingly difficult to meet the growing needs of displaced children.
Across the region, aid agencies have been forced to reduce food rations, close health and nutrition facilities and scale back education programmes as available resources fail to keep pace with rising demand.
World Vision is calling on governments, humanitarian organisations and international donors to strengthen child protection systems, increase funding for humanitarian operations and invest in long-term solutions that address the root causes of displacement.
The organisation says protecting children must remain at the centre of humanitarian action as conflicts and climate-related emergencies continue to displace millions across East Africa.
