Critical underfunding has forced UNHCR to withdraw financial aid from thousands of vulnerable refugee families, with more due to be cut off this month unless urgent funding arrives.
A deepening global funding crisis is forcing UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to scale back critical financial assistance for refugees in Egypt, leaving tens of thousands of families struggling to survive.
Among those hardest hit are families who fled the war in Sudan, now entering its fourth year and continuing to drive the world's largest displacement crisis.
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Without urgent new funding, UNHCR's cash assistance programme in Egypt risks coming to a complete halt as early as this month, affecting at least 20,000 refugee families - mostly female-headed households - who rely on this support to meet their basic needs. More than half of this total have already seen their funds cut off between January and March 2026, while the remaining families will lose assistance if no additional funding is secured.
For many refugee families in Egypt, financial help from UNHCR is the only thing preventing them from sliding into total destitution, and even with this support, many are still forced to make difficult decisions.
Nawal, a widowed Sudanese mother of six living in Cairo, currently receives 1,520 Egyptian pounds ($28) per month from UNHCR and works part-time, but described the impossible choices she still faces: "I can only afford to put three of my six children in school. Instead of continuing his education, my eldest watches his younger siblings whenever I work. No child should have to do this, but what choice do I have?"
"My children don't eat well and my youngest is always ill, but I can't afford to treat him because I risk being evicted," she added.
Such trade-offs are a familiar dilemma among Sudanese refugees.
"Even with the assistance, I have to choose between buying food and buying medicine," said Mohamed, a 60-year-old Sudanese refugee living in Cairo. "When I can't afford treatment, my health deteriorates, and I end up needing even more care that I cannot pay for. Without the assistance, it will only get worse."
Following the outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023, nearly 12 million people remain forcibly displaced from their homes, including almost 3.6 million refugees, meaning one in every four Sudanese is now displaced.
In Egypt, the impact is particularly stark. Since the start of the war, the number of registered Sudanese refugees has increased fourteen-fold to over 846,000, making Egypt the largest host of people fleeing Sudan as well as the largest recipient of new asylum applications worldwide.
Shrinking resources, growing needs
Yet while overall needs have surged, resources have failed to keep pace.
Despite a sharp increase in arrivals, UNHCR in Egypt had roughly the same level of funding in 2025 as in 2022, before the Sudan crisis stretched already limited resources even further.
On average, UNHCR's available funding per person has dropped from $11 per month in 2022 to just $4 per month in 2025, covering all forms of support from direct financial assistance to health care and protection services.
For refugee families, the impact is immediate. Even with financial support, most families can only cover part of their basic needs, often spending the full amount within days just to cover the essentials. Meals are reduced or skipped, children are taken out of school, and medical treatment is delayed, often leading to more serious and costly health complications later.
A lifeline at risk
With funding at critically low levels, including just 2 per cent of the required 2026 budget for cash assistance in Egypt received to date, UNHCR may soon be forced to suspend such assistance altogether.
To sustain even a minimum level of assistance, UNHCR requires an estimated $10 million to support 20,000 of the most vulnerable refugee families (around 87,000 individuals) for the remainder of the year. Even this represents only a minority of the more than 200,000 extremely vulnerable refugees in Egypt who are unable to meet their basic needs without external support.
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Financial assistance remains one of the most effective and dignified ways to support refugees, allowing families to prioritize their own needs while contributing to local economies. But without immediate and sustained funding, this lifeline is at risk of disappearing.
As the Sudan crisis enters its fourth year, needs continue to grow while resources shrink. UNHCR is calling on governments, private sector partners and individuals to urgently step up support before more families are pushed beyond the brink.
Nawal summed up the desperation felt by many who escaped the war only to find themselves fighting for daily survival as refugees. "I fled Sudan hoping my children and I would be safe in Egypt, but we are still struggling, just like we were back home."
