Ethiopia’s Food Aid On The Brink Of Exhaustion

According to the Ethiopian government, Ethiopia’s emergency food aid is expected to be depleted by the end of this month.

This aid, which currently reaches 7.8 million people, is essential to the country’s survival. With two successive rainy seasons resulting in failure, Ethiopia is currently experiencing its worst drought in over 30 years. 

Challiss McDonough, the regional spokeswoman for the UN World Food Program, warned that malnutrition rates have surpassed 20% in some areas. 500,000 of these are children,  UNICEF reports, that are in dire need of treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

Despite previous assistance from donors, international aid groups, and the Ethiopian government, the current amount of wheat supplied to families in affected areas only represents a third of the average human’s nutritional intake.

Humanitarian needs in the Horn of Africa have tripled since 2015. Yet, despite these harrowing figures, the attention of the global community and, consequently, its emergency relief has largely been distributed to other humanitarian crises that are occurring in Syria and Yemen. 

Al Meraikhi, the UN Secretary-General’s humanitarian envoy, admitted that “there is donor fatigue because there are a lot of crises.” Despite the $360 million that the Ethiopian government has allocated to emergency food aid, they remain in desperate need of support from the global community. 

“Donors and partners must now scale-up to give Ethiopia the humanitarian support and attention it deserves,” said Mitiku Kassa, head of the Ethiopia’s National Disaster Risk Management Coordination Commission.

In addition to the ongoing famine devastating Ethiopia, the population is also without access to clean water and sanitation. A total 6 million people are currently in need of emergency water, according to UNICEF.

As a result of the failed wet seasons, there is almost no drinking water available in Ethiopia. Samuel Ferfu, the manager of the Children’s and Family Charitable Organization in Fentale, said, “There’s no water at all — the river is dry. No water makes sanitation impossible, [thus] the prevalence of disease will increase.”

It is time that the global community responded to the needs of Ethiopia before the drought worsens. Otherwise, the crisis will become reminiscent of Ethiopia’s famine in 1984, in which one million people were killed due to the nation’s worst recorded drought in history. With that said, uUnless the global community can commit to long-term investment in aid, clean water and sanitation, Ethiopia will continue to suffer.

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