Malnutrition starting to affect children again

Ethiopia has been recovering from the food crises that affected 4.5 million people last year. Ethiopian government reported improvement in the situation in January 2012 that the total population in need of emergency assistance decreased from 4.5 to 3.2 million.

However, the failure and delay of belg rains (small rains from February to April) in 2012 resulted in failure of crops and are leading to humanitarian crises in South Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) and other belg growing areas.

As a result, 59 hot spot districts have been identified and classified by priority from level 1 to level 3 for emergency health and nutrition interventions by SNNPR government.

Out of 59 districts 12 fall in WVE operational areas- six as hot spot 1, four as hot spot 2 and two as hot spot 3. There are 23 WV ADPs labeled as hot spot, and 217,350 people need food assistance in the ADP operation areas.

World Vision Ethiopia national office team was deployed to SNNPR to assess the situation. Yadessa Gedefa, Emergency Health and Nutrition Coordinator, is a member of the team and says, "We have visited most affected ADPs and the case of East Badawacho (Shone) is very critical and the situation is deteriorating. The therapeutic feeding programme admission is sharply increasing."

Therefore, an immediate provision of supplementary food and general food aid is very crucial, he said.

According to the assessment made by the Shone district early warning and food security task force and availed to the team, 45,366 people were affected and  need an immediate food aid beginning from April as a result of the combined effect of crop failure last year and this belg season.

In response to the crises, World Vision Ethiopia is making use of money from the national emergency preparedness reserve fund to save lives of children and mothers affected by acute malnutrition alongside submitting proposal to UN-OCHA.