OCHA Situation Report
Ethiopia: Drought/Food Crisis
29 August 2008


Source:
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Highlights:

- Government clears 9 additional NGOs to expand operations in the Somali 
Region

- UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sir John Holmes, will arrive in 
Ethiopia on the 1st September for a three day mission to Addis Ababa, 
SNNPR and Somali Region.

- 13 woredas report active cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD).

Humanitarian Overview

Current Context

Ethiopia continues to face critical challenges related to deepening food 
insecurity. This crisis has been fuelled by both the drought and adverse 
market shocks triggered by increases in food and fuel prices. After the 
successive failure of seasonal rains beginning in December 2007 and 
extending through to mid May 2008, the food security situation 
deteriorated to alarming levels in pastoral and farming areas of parts of 
Afar, Amhara, Oromiya, SNNPR, Somali and Tigray. Moderate and acute 
malnutrition rates have increased. Government and humanitarian partners 
continue to respond to the humanitarian needs generated by the crisis, 
however, considerable shortages of supplies essential for the relief 
operation persist.

The current drought and related food crisis has affected various regions 
of the country, among them Somali Region where the effects of the drought 
are acute. The successive failure of rains and the consequent diminishing 
pasture and water resources and some livestock deaths, coupled with high 
inflation resulting in a significant decline in the purchasing power of 
pastoralists render households extremely vulnerable to health and 
nutrition risks. The Government, in recognition of the need to scale-up 
humanitarian operations in the Somali Region, has authorized an additional 
9 NGOs to begin new interventions in response to the crisis. The 
additional 9 international and national NGOs are as follows: ACF, ADRA, 
CONCERN, FAFAN, GOAL, LIVIA, MERLIN, MSF-Belgium and PCAE.

Attachments: 
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&docid=94AF056A5E71C6A8C12574B70035E7E3&file=Full_Report.pdf

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International              web: www.cidi.org
.  Disaster Information          listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
.                              guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -