OCHA Situation Report
Ethiopia
26 September 2003


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

EMERGENCY MALARIA TASK FORCE

UNICEF is advocating for the re-establishment of the Emergency Malaria
Taskforce to be chaired by the Ministry of Health, Malaria Control Team,
as a vital step in dealing with the current outbreaks in many
malaria-endemic and non-endemic areas of the Country. The emergency
Malaria Task Force will meet on 1 October at 10.00am at the Ministry of
Health, with the following agenda: 1) A review of the available
information on the scope of the malaria emergency, 2) A review and
consensus on the appropriate strategies to address the emergency, 3)
Mapping of partners (including potential partners), i.e. geographical
presence, area of activity, potential support available, resources etc.
and 4) Identification of key gaps and critical areas where support is
needed.

RELIEF FOOD PIPELINE

The target populations per month are currently: September 11.4 million;
October 4.8 million; November 2.7 million; and December 2.3 million. The
food needs until the end of the year are now largely covered and the unmet
requirement between September and December is now only 21,000 tonnes
(pulses and oil). However, an additional 200,000 tons of cereals has been
requested, firstly as a contingency for any additional needs for 2003 that
may be identified by the current mid-season assessment (being undertaken
between September 20 - October 10), and secondly to preposition cereals
for anticipated needs in early 2004.

WFP VAM MEHER SEASON UPDATE

The beginning and the middle of the meher (long rains) season was normal
in most respects. While some areas were adversely affected by inadequate
or excess rainfall, crop producers generally received rainfall in
quantities and at the times that that they expected. Towards the end of
the meher season, especially in the first and second dekads of September,
the rains began to taper off and in some places much earlier than normal.

LARGE RELIEF FOOD ARRIVALS AT PORT IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

Relief food arrivals at ports are expected to exceed 220,000 tonnes in
September and 260,000 tonnes in October. A substantial amount of relief
food has started arriving at Djibouti: three vessels with 81,000 tonnes
wheat and wheat flour are currently being discharged.  Storm damage
repairs to the Djibouti container terminal are expected to be completed
soon. From January to August 2003, 1.13 million tonnes have been handled,
with average arrivals at 141,000 tonnes per month. A further 520,000
tonnes are expected before the end of the year.

PMTCT SERVICES EXPANDED WITHIN FOUR REGIONS

In Ethiopia, an estimated 220,000 infants and children are living with
HIV/AIDS. The vast majority of these infections were passed from mother to
child during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding. Yet, effective means
exist to avoid this tragedy. As a partner in the fight against HIV/AIDS,
UNICEF has pioneered efforts worldwide to prevent mother-to-child
transmission (PMTCT) on both the research and implementation fronts. The
goal of the PMTCT program is to reduce the transmission of HIV from
mother-to-child. UNICEF will focus on primary prevention efforts to
prevent HIV/AIDS transmission with a focus on youth given that they are
the most effected age group; prevention of unwanted pregnancies among HIV
positive girls and women via reproductive health information and services;
prevention of maternal to child transmission during pregnancy, labor,
delivery and by promoting optimal infant feeding practices, such as
exclusive breastfeeding which reduces transmission; and care and support.
Four sites have been selected with the Ministry of Health for
implementation of the PMTCT program: The Gonder College of Medicine
(Amhara), The Jimma Institute of Health Sciences (Oromia), Dil Chora
Hospital (Dire Dawa) and Dilla Hospital (SNNPR). Within the next two
months, UNICEF will conduct formative research in each of the four
community sites to better understand community perceptions of HIV/AIDS,
VCT, PMTCT and infant feeding issues. By the end of 2003, UNICEF expects
that PMTCT services will be operational within a total of five hospitals
(including an additional hospital within Dire Dawa) and seventeen health
centers associated with the four regional training center sites. Together
with the Ministry of Health and the HAPCO, UNICEF will encourage linkages
between these sites and additional sites as part of the expanded national
PMTCT program and learning from these initial efforts.


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
comments/suggestions/requests to incident@cidi.org