Children and their Families at Risk in Ethiopia Due to Failure of Rains

Millions of children, including 350,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition are currently at risk in Ethiopia due to the current drought, and require urgent humanitarian assistance. Currently, the Government of Ethiopia estimates that 8.2 million people require food assistance to mitigate the impact of the current drought.

“All my crops in three places have failed, and I have nothing to feed my children,” says Kache Usmail (40) a resident of Gelemso town in Habro district also a father of 3.  Adem Yesuf, 60, a member of the same community softly narrates: “Many people are migrating to other places to avoid seeing their children languishing in hunger, but I do not have that option since I am already weak. Unless God or the government intervene I have only one choice-waiting to face whatever comes.” He is a father of 6.

Over half of the population of Habro district, 330 km east of Addis Ababa, is in need of emergency food aid. Nearly 2,900 children in the district are reported malnourished. Of this, 428 are out patient, 299 have presented with severe malnutrition, and 42 are admitted to the Stabilization Centre (SC). More than half of school going children in the district, about 17,500, are feared to have dropped out of school as a result of this crisis. Now 3,766 tons of animal fodder are needed to prevent the death of 38,339 livestock within the district, which if not addressed would devastate the livelihoods of farmers. 

The numbers of people in need of humanitarian assistance go above and beyond the caseload of the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), which already covers approximately 8 million chronically food insecure people throughout Ethiopia. The Ethiopia Humanitarian Coordination Team (EHCT) analysis is estimating that 15 million people may be in need of immediate food assistance by January 2016. Additionally, 1.2 million people will require supplementary feeding, and 450,000 livestock deaths will not only result in food insecurity but will also devastate the livelihoods of farmers. It is estimated 1.8 million Ethiopians will be without potable water for extended periods. Disease outbreaks such as measles will contribute to a surge in mortality for children and preventable diseases and will likely increase and pose more severe consequences for already vulnerable and or malnourished children.

Another district Melkabelo east of Harerge is situated at 513 km east of Addis Ababa with a total population of 226,400 presents with similar challenges, -70,000 (31%) are in need of emergency food aid. “We planned to cover 4,870 hectares in ‘Belg’ season and 29,591 hectares in ‘Kiremt’ season with various seeds, but only 2,272 and 15,000 hectares respectively were covered due to shortage of rain. The saddest part is that almost 80% of these failed,” said Deresse Abebe, Deputy Head of Agriculture Bureau.  In Melkabelo district 33,967 cases of malnutrition have been reported out of which 4,554 are moderately malnourished children, 3902 are lactating mothers, and 213 outpatient children/OTP.

Kedir Mohammed, 30, father of 6 lives in Biftu Negiya locality of Melkabelo district.  “I sowed sorghum in the ‘Kiremt’ season expecting good harvest hoping to feed and educate my children as before but got nothing. We have nothing to eat,” Kedir explained the situation.  “Last year, we produced enough to feed our family, sell some of it and buy other food items, educational materials for our children, cloths, and other necessary things. This year our expectation was much more but unfortunately the crop failed due to the erratic rain fall,” Kedir added.

World Vision will respond to this emergency in partnership with government and UN agencies, communities, donors, faith leaders and different consortia in the targeted contexts within the country. Key response priorities for the next nine months will include: Food assistance, Education and child protection in emergencies, WASH and Nutrition (Therapeutic and supplementary feeding targeting pregnant women and children under five)

Given the recurring food shortages in the region, WV Ethiopia’s programming continues to focus on strengthening household resilience approaches. Overall, the estimated budget for the response in the next nine months is US$17 million to reach approximately 2.2 million people whose lives are at risk.