One out of four children under five years in Afar region of Ethiopia is currently malnourished, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“In the Afar region of Ethiopia, an estimated 1 in 4 children under five is currently malnourished. An alarming situation that UNICEF and its partners are working to address with the invaluable support of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and USAID Ethiopia,” UNICEF Ethiopia posted on its official Facebook page an hour ago.
According to reports, Ethiopia has the highest rate in sub-Saharan Africa of stunting. The ratio of underweight children in the age range 2 to 3 years is highest (34%) while it is lowest for those aged under 6 months (10%)
Around 29% of Ethiopia’s children under five years old are considered underweight and 9% are severely underweight. UNICEF’s latest appeal funding stated that severe drought-related needs resulting from four consecutive failed rainy season have led to widespread food insecurity, and complete erosion of resilience mechanisms for over 24.1 million people in southern, southwestern, and eastern Ethiopia.
UNICEF’s report shows that extreme drought and critical food insecurity coupled with conflict, intercommunal violence and public health emergencies — have significantly worsened the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia and that of over 29.7 million people, including 12.5 million children and 5.2 million people with disabilities across the country.
50 percent of all the districts in the country are classified first, second, or third-tier hotspots. Children face the heaviest — and significantly worsening — burden due to forced school drop-out, child marriage, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and gender-based violence (GBV).
UNICEFThe appeal has been revised to $532.4 Million to allow for the expansion of lifesaving services as well as sustainable solutions in response to the dramatic deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia caused by drought and the reescalation of conflict.
Source: newbusinessethiopia
