OCHA Situation Report
Ethiopia
26 December 2006


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

AWD CONTINUES SPREADING TO NEW AREAS

Although the Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) situation appears to be 
stabilizing at a national level, the disease has continued to spread to 
new areas. Early this week, Gambella reported another outbreak of the 
disease in the region following a similar outbreak that was contained in 
April. A total of 72 cases with 2 deaths are reported in Gambella towns 
in the woredas of Itang, Jikaw, Lare and Wontoha. The majority of the 
cases are from the Nuer tribe. The regional Health Bureau has requested 
all humanitarian partners, including the UN and NGOs to be prepared for 
timely intervention. Meanwhile, the regional health bureau is utilizing 
remaining resources from the previous outbreak.  A new woreda in SNNPR - 
Bench Maji, also reported the outbreak during the week. Furthermore, the 
AWD situation in Somali Region is of major concern. Although, the region 
has not yet officially reported the status of the disease, various NGOs 
and Government reports from the area indicate a total of 600 cases from 
Kelafo, Mustahil, Gode, East and West Imi and Moyale woredas. To verify 
the situation, the MoH deployed a team to the area on 24 December. 
Meanwhile, the Gode health office has requested additional staff and 
drugs from the Regional health bureau to combat the outbreak. UNICEF and 
the regional bureau have deployed two mobile health teams to the 
affected areas. A regional health staff has been sent to Kelafo to 
confirm the new AWD outbreak in the area. Meanwhile, several 
humanitarian partners including regional authorities, UNICEF, and NGOs 
such as MSF-Belgium, CCM and ADRA are in the area providing assistance 
to contain the outbreak. UNICEF has sent water purification materials 
and tents to Kelafo and Mustahil. Meanwhile WHO team arrived to Gode to 
support the efforts undertaken by the government and humanitarian 
partners. The total AWD cases across the country have reached 45,090 
cases with 477 deaths. For more information contact: ocha-eth@un.org

HELICOPTER RELIEF OPERATION SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED

Airlifting of essential food and non-food items by the two WFP United 
Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) helicopters that started on 
30th November was successfully completed during the week. The 
helicopters have made a total of 82 flights to the flood-affected 
woredas in Gode zone, transporting emergency relief items. DPPA will 
carry on the transportation of the remaining relief items by road. Many 
flood-affected areas have become accessible following the recession of 
flood waters. Meanwhile, a recent OCHA and WFP mission to Mustahil 
reported inadequate distribution of relief items to the flood victims. 
To address this critical matter, the Gode emergency taskforce will 
discuss plans on assessing the response provided to the flood affected 
areas as well as identifying the remaining gaps. For more information 
contact: ocha-eth@un.org

PASTORAL AREAS ASSESSMENT TEAMS DEBRIEF

Findings of the multi-agency meher emergency needs assessment team in 
pastoralist areas of Afar, Somali, Borena zone (Oromiya Region) and 
Tigray Region were presented on 22 December 2007. The overall food 
security situation in most of the pastoralist areas and Tigray region is 
reported to be good. Favorable rains have contributed to improve 
availability of water, pasture and browse. Consequently, the physical 
condition of livestock is reported to be good. The unknown camel 
disease, however, is inflicting considerable damage in Somali region. 
The Meher assessment findings coupled with the non-food requirements 
will form the basis of the Humanitarian Appeal, which scheduled to be 
launched in late January 2007. For more information contact: 
ocha-eth@un.org

5.8 MILLION CHILDREN TARGETED WITH MEASLES VACCINATION

The second phase of the mass measles follow-up campaign targeting more 
than 5.8 million children aged under 5 is currently underway across the 
country. The campaign, backed by UNICEF in collaboration with the 
federal and regional health bureaus and WHO, began in early November. 
The first phase of the campaign was conducted from May to June 2006 
targeting about 5.7 million children from 6 to 59 months with 91% 
coverage. In early 2006, there were growing concerns over the numbers of 
new measles cases, which could be the result of low levels of routine 
immunization levels (59%) in 2005. More than 71 cases were reported from 
March to September 2006, In Addis Ababa. The latest figures from 
Gambella show 46 cases from August to November 2006. In Bench Maji zone 
of SNNPR, 413 cases were reported from August to November 2006 while 882 
cases were reported in South Omo zone of SNNPR. And recently, an 
outbreak in Jimma zone of Oromia region was reported. For more 
information contact: mapted@unicef.org

EU/UNICEF TO PROVIDE CLEAN WATER FOR 1.4 MILLION ETHIOPIANS

More than 1.4 million Ethiopians are to get clean drinking water close 
to their homes for the first time through a new US$29 million 
partnership between UNICEF and the European Union. The ground-breaking 
programme plans to reach children, women and men in all regions over the 
next five years. More than 156 schools around the country will get safe 
water supplies, sanitation facilities and hygiene education sessions 
through the partnership. The project is expected to improve the health 
and well-being of more than 160,000 school girls and boys. The 
partnership is also believed to boost Ethiopia's chances of reaching the 
two main Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation - 
to halve the population without access to water and environmental 
sanitation and to ensure adequate sanitation facilities for all boys and 
girls in school, both by 2015. For more information contact: 
mapted@unicef.org

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