The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Children and their families living in Ethiopia's lowland regions of Afar, Oromia, The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ and Somali regions struggle to survive from a severe drought which is drying up water wells, killing livestock and crops and pushing hundreds of thousands of children and their families to the brink. Due to three consecutive failed rainy seasons, the country requires urgent humanitarian assistance.
Speaking today at a news briefing at the United Nations in Geneva, UNICEF's Representative in Ethiopia, Gianfranco Rotigliano, said that “it is a drought that is affecting almost seven million people on their livelihood, on food security”. He added that “it is something which is already pretty advanced and bad, but that could worsen dramatically if the next rainy season which is due in April, after mid-April, would not come the way it should come.”
Most severely impacted regions are the lowland areas of southern and eastern Oromia and Somalis regions where around 225,000 malnourished children and over 100,000 pregannt and breastfeeding women need urgent nutrition support.
“There is a need to improve the status of the health centers, the nutritional centers where the severely acute, malnourished children can be admitted and treated correctly. And all of that is something that should be done within the next 2, 3 weeks”, said Mr. Rotigliano.
UNICEF is appealing for US$ 31 million to provide lifesaving support to more than 2 million in Afar, Somali, SNNPR and Oromia regions.
There is a significant lack of clean water and the food security is deteriorating rapidly leading to an increase in malnutrition cases.
UNICEF’s Ethiopia representative said that “the rate of acute malnutrition is already at 20%, which is well above the rate that we have in global emergencies, which is estimated to 15%.”
UNICEF, in close coordination with the local authorities, is providing life-saving assistance, including the rehabilitation of boreholes and water schemes, emergency water trucking, treatment of severely malnourished children.
“We have animals dying at an impressive rate which is increasing every month”, reported Mr. Rotigliano. “A death of an animal means lack of food for children, for families, lack of money, of course, so to buy food, lack of milk. And that is definitely something which is already happening”.
UNICEF is witnessing also major displacement out of affected areas; children are also missing out an education due to the drought.
According to UNICEF’s Ethiopia representative, “the population is moving already from the lowlands to the highlands, displacing themselves, leaving behind the small children that could not travel with relatives and coming up with children that are 11 or 12 and above that dropped out of school. So, we estimate already more than 155,000 children out of school.”
It is also projected that in 2022, an estimated 850,000 children will be severely malnourished across the four regions due to multiple causes namely conflict, drought, and economic downturn.
“We are having hundreds of thousands of children severely malnourished, so with acute severe malnutrition these are already numbers that are extremely worrisome, and we expect, of course, the mortality rate to increase”, said UNICEF’s Ethiopia representative.
-ends-
- Exterior wide shot, United Nations Palace of Nations, Geneva, UN flags flying.
- Wide shot and pan, press room UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia: “It is a drought that is affecting almost seven million people on their livelihood, on food security. And it is something which is already pretty advanced and bad, but that could worsen dramatically if the next rainy season which is due in April, after mid-April, would not come the way it should come.”
- Medium shot, TV screen with speakers next to podium.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia: “There is a need to improve the status of the health centers, the nutritional centers where the severely acute, malnourished children can be admitted and treated correctly. And all of that is something that should be done within the next 2, 3 weeks.”
- Medium shot, participants listening with TV screen to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia: “The rate of acute malnutrition is already at 20%, which is well above the rate that we have in global emergencies, which is estimated to 15%.”
- Medium shot, masked participants listening.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia: “We have animals dying at an impressive rate which is increasing every month. And a death of an animal means lack of food for children, for families, lack of money, of course, so to buy food, lack of milk. And that is definitely something which is already happening.”
- Medium shot, back of a journalist with cameraman standing behind the camera.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia: “The population is moving already from the lowlands to the highlands, displacing themselves, leaving behind the small children that could not travel with relatives and coming up with children that are 11 or 12 and above that dropped off school. So, we estimate already more than 155,000 children out of school.”
- Medium shot, masked participants listening.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia: “We are having hundreds of thousands of children severely malnourished, so with acute severe malnutrition these are already numbers that are extremely worrisome, and we expect, of course, the mortality rate to increase.”
- Medium shot, participants listening and taking notes.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.