In 2025, South Sudan continued to face multiple, overlapping shocks and trends that worsened the humanitarian situation and increased the needs of vulnerable communities.
In 2025, the MENA region faced overlapping crises including conflict, displacement, economic collapse, disease outbreaks, and climate shocks, placing children at risk and disrupting access to services.
As of 31 December, over 1.3 million Syrians have returned back home since December 2024, with more than 3.7 million registered Syrian refugees continuing to reside in host countries in the region.
The February 2026 airstrikes on Iran triggered a rapid escalation of risks across the region, intensifying gender-based violence (GBV) exposure in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, while further degrading already fragile protection systems and service delivery structures.
As of early 2026, 16.5 million require assistance, while over 1.4 million refugees and 1.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned since December 2024.
Health care in the Middle East and wider region has come under attack about once every six hours on average since conflict escalated a month ago across Lebanon, Iran, and Israel, Save the Children said.
As of 12 March, UNHCR estimates that 1,524,736 individuals have returned to Syria from other countries since the political transition in Syria on 8 December 2024. The main governorate of return remains Damascus followed by Idleb, Aleppo, Rural Damascus and Homs.
The recent escalation of hostilities across Asia and the Middle East has led to a marked deterioration in the humanitarian situation. The affected areas already host 24.6 million forcibly displaced people, many of whom already face significant protection risks and humanitarian needs, alongside host communities.
South Sudan, as one of the seven East African countries in the African meningitis belt, continues to experience recurrent meningococcal meningitis outbreaks, with the most recent incident caused by serogroup X (NmX) in 2023.
Renewed hostilities between armed actors have intensified across northern and central South Sudan since late December 2025. Sustained fighting and aerial bombardment in parts of Jonglei State have triggered a sharp deterioration in security conditions, large-scale displacement, and widespread civilian flight.
As of 5 February, UNHCR estimates that 1,413,967 individuals have returned to Syria since 8 December 2024 while 1,712,744 internally displaced persons have returned home.
Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF’s) hospital in Lankien, Jonglei state, South Sudan, was hit in an airstrike by the government of South Sudan forces during the night of Tuesday, 3 February 2026.
As of 3 February, around 280,000 people have been displaced as a result of the Jonglei conflict following renewed fighting and airstrikes since 29 December 2025, according to the RRC.
WHO South Sudan's "Voices from the Field" series highlights field-based efforts to combat health crises, including cholera, measles, and polio, through vaccinations, mobile teams, and community engagement.
At the crossroads of Africa and Europe, Tunisia is exposed to complex movement patterns involving refugees and migrants along the central Mediterranean route.
Middle East and North Africa offers a comprehensive, evidence-based analysis of one of the world’s most complex and dynamic mobility landscapes where labour migration, protracted displacement, environmental stressors and socioeconomic transitions converge.
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders (MSF) warns that ongoing restrictions on humanitarian movements in parts of Jonglei State, South Sudan, are directly preventing lifesaving referrals of at least 20 critically-ill patients in need of urgent specialised care, placing their lives at immediate risk.
