OCHA Situation Report
Ethiopia
28 November 2003


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

NEW DEVELOPMENTAL RELIEF IN SNNPR (WOLAYITA) FOR LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION AND
WATER

Financed by USAID/OFDA with 240,000 $, German-Agro-Action (GAA) and
Action-for-Development (AFD) have started a new project in Boloso-Sore and
Offa Woredas. The water-component consists of the creation of 10 new water
points (wells and springs) for 5,000 people. Trainings for
water-management and sanitation are included. The support for increased
and improved local food production involves the supply of quality-seeds
and plants for 14,000 households. An additional training component will
strengthen the coping mechanisms of farmers to mitigate impacts of
drought. The project extends up to April 2004.

WORLD VISION UNDERTAKES TARGETED SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING PROGRAM IN HIDHABU
ABOTE

The main purpose of the supplementary feeding program is to improve the
nutrition and health status of vulnerable groups (children under 5 and
pregnant/lactating mothers) suffering from lack of food in Hidhabu Abote
district of North Shewa Zone. The distribution of supplementary food would
be integrated with nutritional surveillance and primary health care
interventions such as measles immunisation and the provision of Vitamin A
supplements. Key outputs of the program include; provisions of targeted
supplementary feeding to 4000 malnourished children and pregnant/lactating
women and improve the health status of children under five through health
program support. So far, a total of 110MT of famix has been distributed to
over 4400 target beneficiaries. World Vision commenced this DFID funded
program in July 2003 to respond to the prevailing malnutrition condition.

JOINT REVIEW TEAM TO IDPS IN TIGRAY REGION

A Joint Review Team from the federal Disaster Prevention and Preparedness
Commission (DPPC), its regional bureau (DPPB), the Relief Society of
Tigray (REST) and WFP have finished their work of examining the current
caseload of the WFP emergency operation "Relief Assistance for Ethiopians
internally displaced by the Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict of
1998-2000". The team covered six districts from three zones from 27
October to 4 November. Working with local authorities and other
implementing partners, it has analyzed the need for continued food aid
assistance in 2004 under the EMOP and determined, to some extent, the
number of IDPs who have successfully established new livelihoods since the
February 2002 Assessment. More details will be available when the report
has been finalized.

UNICEF SPONSORS THIRD MEETING OF ETHIOPIAN TEENAGER FORUM

UNICEF has sponsored the third meeting of the Ethiopian Teenagers' Forum
on "Poverty Reduction and Youth." More than 100 students from Addis Ababa
high schools, as well as representatives from the Government, UN agencies
and NGOs, participated in last Friday's forum. Ten recommendations were
written up including that "The natural resources of our country must be
protected and used efficiently toward sustainable economic development
"and" The spirit of dependency that has resulted from decades of receiving
relief aid should be eliminated." The teenagers' recommendations will be
forwarded to the Government.

COMMUNITY BASED THERAPEUTIC CARE

Save the Children-US has been operating a rapid nutrition response program
in Sidama Zone since March, 2003 in response to the severe levels of
malnutrition found in the region. The program is currently transitioning
to an innovative means of nutritional and health intervention called
Community Based Therapeutic Care (CTC). On September 15, CTC was started
in Hulla Woreda of Sidama Zone. CTC is a new approach that aims at
admitting persons with severe acute malnutrition directly to an Outreach
Therapeutic Program (OTP) if: appetite is sufficient, edema is minor, and
there are no medical complications. However, if stabilization in an
inpatient setting is necessary, patients are admitted to a Phase 1 TFC and
discharged to community-based treatment (OTP) after appetite has returned,
edema is decreasing or medical complications are resolved. Other potential
advantages of CTC are reduced risk of cross-infection (due to less
crowding), decreased socio-economic burden for the household due to
absence of the caregiver and involvement and empowerment of families and
communities vis-à-vis the care of the malnourished. To date, the
experiences in Hulla woreda have been exceptionally positive. There are
currently 3 OTP team operational in Hulla covering 10 OTP sites. In the
past four weeks, 190 children, aged 5-59 months, were admitted to the OTP,
19 were cured, 11 were transferred to the supplementary feeding program,
and 160 remained in OTP. The death rate remains at 0%.


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