Ethiopia update - WFP
/
2:08
/
MP4
/
157.1 MB
Download

Edited News | WFP

Ethiopia update - WFP

Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.

In total, 3.6 million “most vulnerable” people in Ethiopia stand to lose WFP food and nutrition assistance unless funding arrives urgently, warned Zlatan Milisic, the UN agency’s Country Director.

“Over 10 million people in Ethiopia are acutely food insecure. This includes three million people displaced by conflict and extreme weather. Malnutrition rates are alarmingly high,” he told journalists in Geneva via videolink.

More than four million pregnant women, breastfeeding women and young children need treatment for malnutrition in Ethiopia. In Somali, Oromia, Afar and Tigray regions, child wasting has passed the 15 per cent emergency threshold.

WFP had planned to reach two million mothers and children with lifesaving nutrition assistance in 2025 but it has been forced to cut costs after receiving only half of last year’s funding.

“What is particularly important now is that our nutritious foods are running out,” Mr. Milisic explained. “So, we are stopping that programme unless something comes really fast and we are looking and we are hopeful, but nothing has come yet.”

In the first three months of the year, WFP provided food and nutrition support to more than three million people. This included 740,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from malnutrition.

In common with other humanitarian crises impacted by funding cuts, the UN agency has reduced food rations to reach the most vulnerable communities. For the past 18 months this has meant giving 60 per cent rations to most of the 800,000 refugees WFP serves and 80 per cent rations to “displaced and food-insecure - some severely food-insecure - Ethiopians for the past nine months”, Mr. Milisic continued.

Citing access challenges for humanitarians in Amhara region where there is ongoing conflict, the WFP official noted that aid operations had been disrupted, threatening relief supplies for more than 500,000 people. “Car hijacking, threats and theft are on the rise and pose serious risks to staff safety and impact the delivery of lifesaving assistance,” he continued.

Fighting is also continuing in Oromia region and tensions are rising in Tigray, where civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people from 2020 to 2022 as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPFL) fought the federal army.

Despite the challenging funding and security situation, WFP continues to provide daily school meals to 470,000 children every month. This includes 70,000 children from refugee communities – with conflict-affected and food-insecure areas the focus of relief efforts in northern Ethiopia.

WFP also helps communities to prepare and protect their livelihoods in drought-prone Oromia, Somali and Southern regions, targeting over 200,000 people with early warning messages and cash transfers.

The agency requires $222 million between now and September to maintain its operations and to reach its target of 7.2 million people this year.

“We have the teams, the logistics, the capacities in place, partners, our staff; what we lack are the resources to act and the scale that this situation demands,” Mr. Milisic said.

ends

STORY: Ethiopia –WFP

TRT: 02’08”

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 22 APRIL 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Speaker:

  • Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia (from Addis Ababa)

SHOTLIST

  1. Exterior medium shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley
  2. Wide, Press room, journalists, control booths.
  3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia: “Over 10 million people in Ethiopia are acutely food insecure. This includes three million people displaced by conflict and extreme weather. Malnutrition rates are alarmingly high.”
  4. Medium, journalists.
  5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia: “In total, over four million pregnant women, breastfeeding women and young children are in need of treatment for malnutrition. In some areas. Somali, Oromia, Afar and Tigray regions, child wasting has passed the 15 per cent emergency threshold.”
  6. Wide, podium, journalists.
  7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia: “Now we are at the breaking point. We've been left no choice but to suspend completely the treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children, simply because we've run out of commodities and funding.”
  8. Medium-wide, journalists, TV screen showing remote speaker.
  9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia: “We are now operating with just about 50 per cent of last year's funding. This means that 3.6 million vulnerable people could lose access to WFP assistance in the coming weeks, unless funding arrives urgently.”
  10. Wide, podium, journalists, TV screens showing remote speaker.
  11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia: “What is particularly important now is that our nutritious foods are running out. So, we are stopping that programme unless something comes really fast and we are looking and we are hopeful, but nothing has come yet.”
  12. Medium, podium speaker, journalists, TV screen showing remote speaker.
  13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia: “WFP requires $222 million between now and September to maintain our operations and actually scale up to reach our target of 7.2 million people in the year.”
  14. Medium, journalist.
  15. Medium, journalist.
  16. Medium, journalist.


Audio Files 1
Download Ethiopia update - WFP (Edited Story)
Download

Similar Stories

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Sudan attacks

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Sudan attacks ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on deadly attacks by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan 

Gaza City famine – UN OCHA, WFP, WHO, OHCHR 22 August 2025

1

1

1

Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNITED NATIONS , WFP , WHO

Gaza City famine – UN OCHA, WFP, WHO, OHCHR 22 August 2025 ENG FRA

Gaza: Famine “irrefutably” confirmed, UN humanitarians unite in plea for aid access

Famine has been confirmed in Gaza Governorate by the world’s top authority on food security and will spread further within the Strip unless fighting stops and much more aid is allowed in, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Myanmar

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Myanmar ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on the eighth anniversary of military assault on the Rohingya in Myanmar

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on famine in Gaza

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on famine in Gaza ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on the declared famine in Gaza Governorate

 

World Humanitarian Day Commemoration - 19 August 2025

3

36

1

2

Edited News , Statements , Images , Conferences | HRC , OCHA , UNOG

World Humanitarian Day Commemoration - 19 August 2025 ENG FRA

A record 383 aid workers were killed last year with hundreds more wounded, kidnapped and detained, the UN’s top aid official said on Tuesday in a call for accountability, at a solemn ceremony in Geneva to mark World Humanitarian Day.

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on treatment of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi inside an Israeli jail

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on treatment of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi inside an Israeli jail ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following statement at today’s biweekly press briefing in Geneva: 

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Gaza

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Gaza ENG FRA

In Gaza, the Israeli army has intensified its attacks in the north of the strip,” UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

Gaza aid blockages OHCHR - OCHA

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR , OCHA

Gaza aid blockages OHCHR - OCHA ENG FRA

Gaza: Aid insufficient to avert ‘widespread starvation’ as Israeli military ramp-up forces more people to flee

The small trickle of aid entering Gaza is totally insufficient to alleviate starvation and displacement in the Strip, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Gaza health update - WHO

1

1

1

Edited News | WHO

Gaza health update - WHO ENG FRA

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.

 

Sudan update UNHCR - WHO - UNMAS

1

1

1

Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS

Sudan update UNHCR - WHO - UNMAS ENG FRA

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.

UNEP Press conference: Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2)- 05 August 2025

2

2

1

2

Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP

UNEP Press conference: Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2)- 05 August 2025 ENG FRA

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.

Gaza aid update OCHA - UNICEF

1

1

1

Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF

Gaza aid update OCHA - UNICEF ENG FRA

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.