Millions of Children and their Families at Risk in Ethiopia Due to Failure of Rains
19th October 2015, Addis Ababa. Millions of children,including 350,000 children in need of nutritional support, are currently at risk in Ethiopia due to the current drought, and require urgent humanitarian assistance. Currently, the Government of Ethiopia estimates that a total of 8.2 million people require food assistance to mitigate the impact of the current drought.
Children and their families stand to suffer the most as a result of this crisis. The Ethiopian Humanitarian Coordination Team (EHCT) analysis estimates that by January 2016, 350,000 children will require life-saving nutritional support, with the potential for preventable disease outbreaks such as measles, further endangering the survival of already vulnerable and/or malnourished children.
The Government of Ethiopia estimates that a total of 8.2 million people require food assistance to mitigate the impact of the current drought.
“World Vision Ethiopia (WVE) is moving quickly to ensure that children and their communities receive the required support needed to continue to thrive despite this crisis. Due to the severity of the situation, WVE priorities for the next nine months will include: food assistance; nutritional support for malnourished children; access to water, sanitation and hygiene services; and ensuring that children are protected and stay in school,” said Margaret Schuler, National Director of World Vision of Ethiopia
World Vision Ethiopia’s early warning reports show that about 39% of its operational areas are in emergency and warning stages due to belg harvest failure, livestock deaths and declining productivity. These vulnerable communities will be disproportionately affected by both the belg rain failure and the impact of El Niño weather conditions that affected rainfall patterns of the summer/kiremt rains.
Before the crisis, 8 million chronically food insecure people throughout Ethiopia were already receiving humanitarian support from the successful Productive Safety Net Program. The new population figures of people in need represent an additional caseload. WVE hopes to respond within its operational areas to ensure that the positive development gains made over the past years are not reversed.
WVE is mounting a strategic response in partnership with the government, communities, UN agencies, faith communities and other actors to protect the lives of children and families affected by the drought. WVE is immediately appealing for US$17 million to respond to the needs of approximately 2.2 million people.
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For more information, please contact Meron Aberra, at +251-911 221060.
About Us
World Vision is a Christian relief and development organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty in over 100 countries around the world.World Vision in Ethiopia aims to work with communities and partners to improve the well-being of 20 million children over the next five years. It is World Vision’s largest programme in Africa and has been operating for the past 40 years.