FLASH UPDATE -- 2005 JOINT HUMANITARIAN APPEAL FOR ETHIOPIA

 

(Reissued as received.)

ADDIS ABABA, 4 May (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- The Ethiopian Government and humanitarian partners today issued a Flash Update to the 2005 Joint Humanitarian Appeal for Ethiopia, asking for $320 million, of which 47 per cent has been secured, to urgently address the deteriorating humanitarian conditions that are threatening the country.  The original appeal for Ethiopia sought $272 million.

“The Flash Update is in response to an increase in the number of vulnerable people requiring both food and non-food humanitarian assistance since the beginning of the year”, said Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commissioner Simon Mechale.

“With emerging data about acute malnutrition, there is concern about survival of children in parts of the country, as well as food security and general stress amongst the population at risk in some of the worst affected areas”, said Acting United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Georgia Shaver.

“This situation has resulted from a combination of an increase in the number of vulnerable people requiring assistance and delays in the distribution of transfers to beneficiaries, either under the Humanitarian Appeal or the Productive Safety Nets Programme during the first three months of the year”, she added.

Multi-agency teams led by the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) conducted field assessments in eight regions in late April and revised both emergency beneficiary numbers and their food and non-food aid requirements.

Food aid beneficiaries have increased by 687,470 from 3.1 million to 3.8 million.  This translates into an additional food aid requirement of 66,198 metric tonnes, increasing the total requirement to 464,385 metric tonnes.  Taking into account contributions already pledged and received, a shortfall of approximately 165,510 metric tonnes of food, valued at $66.2 million, remains to be secured.  The original appeal sought some $159 million in food aid, while the current requirement is $185 million.

On the non-food side, only 22 per cent of the total revised requirement of $135.6 million has been met, leaving a funding gap of $105 million.  Critical gaps remain in all sectors with “Health and Nutrition” and “Water and Sanitation” both increasing their requirements by $12 million each.

In particular, supplementary food is essential to reduce the current prevalence of acute malnutrition.

“Recent nutrition information indicates a worrying trend in vulnerable areas and a fast deteriorating situation.  To date, 136,000 children in the most vulnerable areas are severely malnourished.  This figure could grow to 370,000 children over the next eight months.  The level in vulnerable areas is double the national average and has reached critical levels of 4 per cent in some areas”, said Ms. Shaver.

“Without treatment, a considerable number of severely malnourished children may die, which could be accelerated if diseases such as measles, diarrhoea and pneumonia are not prevented.  Currently, we can meet the needs of only 3,000 severely malnourished children and urgent resources are required to scale up treatment capacity to reach 40,000 children per month”, she emphasized.

Furthermore, moderate malnutrition rates are also well above emergency threshold levels in a number of areas.  Three hundred forty thousands children with moderate malnutrition could become severely malnourished if not addressed urgently.

“As a result of strengthened information for early warning, there is now a window of opportunity for donors to provide urgently needed funding support to stave off a major crisis”, said the Commissioner.

For further information, please contact:  Kirsten Mildren, Information Officer, UN-OCHAEthiopia, tel: 251 1 444162; Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission, tel:  251 1 529262; World Food Programme, tel: 251 1 515188.

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