UNICEF warns of the “devastating” impact of the drought in Ethiopia and says that ten million people need help

The agency pointed out that the drought “means that children are hungry and thirsty every day”

July 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned this Wednesday of the “devastating” impact of the drought in Ethiopia and has indicated that ten million people, including 4.4 million children, need urgent humanitarian aid.

“The impact of the drought on children is devastating,” said UNICEF Director of Emergency Operations Manuel Fontaine. “In the Somali region alone, more than 900,000 people have been displaced. Drought does not only mean lack of water,” he said.

Thus, he explained that the drought “means that children are hungry and thirsty every day.” “They are forced to walk miles in search of food and water and often have to drink from contaminated water sources. This leads to malnutrition and other deadly preventable diseases like diarrhoea,” she explained.

UNICEF has underlined that malnutrition rates are increasing at an alarming rate, adding that in the four affected regions – Afar, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNPR) and Somali – an estimated 600,000 children will require treatment. for severe acute malnutrition by the end of the year.

In this sense, he highlighted that in the Somali region there has been a 43 percent increase in admissions for severe acute malnutrition of children under five years of age in May 2022 compared to May 2021.

“This climate-induced crisis is a malnutrition crisis for children and not just in Ethiopia but across Africa,” Fontaine said. “While UNICEF and its partners are already on the ground providing vital nutritional support for severely malnourished children, the recent contribution of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) of 200 million dollars (about 195 million euros ) to UNICEF globally is a timely game changer and we are very grateful. This funding will significantly scale up our nutrition response around the world.”

The agency has also said the fallout from the war in Ukraine will push more people to the brink and increase food insecurity with rising fuel prices and reduced availability of wheat imports. In the case of Ethiopia, the country imports 67 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine.

“This means that the prices of cooking oil, bread and wheat flour are reaching new records in local markets and even families not living in a humanitarian crisis cannot meet their daily food needs,” Fontaine said.

UNICEF has appealed for 65 million dollars (about 63 million euros) to respond to the drought to help more than two million people in vulnerable situations in the affected areas in Ethiopia, in addition to the general humanitarian appeal of 351 million dollars (about 342 million euros).