Children’s lives in Ethiopia are at risk because of a chronic lack of international
funding for food aid, warns Save the Children.
A US$140 million shortfall in funding to the UN’s World Food Programme means that aid agencies such as Save the Children, as well
as the Ethiopian government’s rescue effort, don’t have enough money to provide essential short- and long-term feeding for chronically malnourished children. Save the
Children’s warning comes as John Holmes, the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs to the UN, visits Ethiopia to assess the catastrophic impact of rising food prices on the country. The children’s aid agency is currently feeding nearly 10,000 malnourished children in four regions of Ethiopia, many of whom would die without support. But lack of funds for the aid
effort means it is unable to provide those children with a supply of food to supplement their diet and keep them healthy once they have left the feeding programme and returned home. This means
children are at risk of falling once again into a dangerous state of malnutrition. David Throp, speaking on behalf of Save the Children, said: “The international aid effort has already
saved thousands of children’s lives. But this crisis is deteriorating by the day and we continue to identify further hotspots where more children need our help. “We know that
children could die, even after initial emergency treatment for malnutrition, if we are not able to stabilise their health properly. There is not enough money behind the aid operation to do this at the
moment. Extra funding is also needed so we can help re-establish ways for families to earn a living, so that they have enough money to see them through the crisis and beyond.” “Save the Children is working with other NGOs, the UN and the Ethiopian government to protect children from malnutrition. But if international leaders and donors don’t act now to plug the
US$140 million funding shortfall, the consequences will be severe.” Emergency food rations across the country have already been cut by a third because of a lack of resources. The
UN’s World Food Programme is now facing a shortfall of 170,000 metric tonnes of food, which will cost US$140 million to cover. Throp continued: “It is vital that this gap in the
food supply is filled urgently. Much more needs to be done to ensure that children in Ethiopia do not fall into a vicious circle of malnutrition.” Millions of children in Ethiopia are
struggling to survive a new kind of food crisis, caused by a lethal combination of rocketing food prices and drought. Crops have failed, animals are dying, and families are unable to afford basic
staples such as corn and wheat, which have risen in price by 177% and 117% respectively since January this year. Save the Children is appealing for US$20 million to support the millions of
children affected by Ethiopia’s food crisis. Its 800-strong team is currently working to help nearly 900,000 people in six of the worst-affected regions in Ethiopia. Work includes providing
emergency feeding and healthcare for malnourished children, delivering veterinary drugs and animal feed to help families keep their animals alive, setting up work schemes to provide parents with a way
to earn food and money, and providing clean water.
Media Contacts
For more information or interviews please contact the Save the Children press office on +44 207 012 6836 / +44 7831
650 409 / media@savethechildren.org.uk
Notes to Editors
• As part of his visit to Ethiopia, John Holmes visited Save the
Children’s nutrition and health work in Konso, SNNPR region. While he was there, Dr. Hailu Tesfaye, Save the Children’s director of emergency programmes for SNNPR, called on the
Under-Secretary General and the State Minister of Health to work together to ensure the funding gap in the food and medical supplies for children in Ethiopia is filled as a priority.
How you
can help
• To donate to Save the Children’s Ethiopia appeal visit your national Save the Children website.
• 20p will buy one sachet of oral rehydration salts
for a malnourished child.
• £1 will buy a litre of vegetable oil for a family.
• £10 will cover one month emergency nutrition feeding for a malnourished
child.
• £30 will feed a family of five for a month.
• £90 will buy six goats for a poor family to provide milk and meat for their children and sell the
surplus for extra income.
• £1,500 will build a well that can provide water for 500 people and 4000 animals.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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