Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: Humanitarian Conditions Deteriorate Across Horn of Africa due to drought, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has warned.
The USAID, in its Horn of Africa – Complex Emergency Fact Sheet issued Friday, said an estimated 18.6 to 21.1 million people required emergency food assistance to meet basic needs across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia as of July.
The agency warned that the number is projected to rise in the event of a fifth consecutive poor rainy season in late 2022.
High levels of acute food and nutrition insecurity in areas of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are likely to persist through at least January 2023 due to drought, it warned.
It said the ongoing drought has displaced more than one million people across Somalia since January 2021.
The USAID, citing the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), said food security conditions in Ethiopia are among the worst globally, with prolonged drought and ongoing insecurity driving critical levels of humanitarian need across the country.
In central, northern, southern, and southeastern Ethiopia, widespread Crisis and Emergency levels of food insecurity are likely to persist through at least January 2023, with populations in some areas of the country facing more severe outcomes and the risk of hunger-related mortality, USAID quoted the FEWS NET report.
Meanwhile, it warned that the likelihood of a fifth consecutive poor rainy season in 2022 has significantly increased concern among relief actors that already high levels of acute food insecurity and malnutrition in southern and southeastern Ethiopia will continue through at least the first half of 2023, it said.
“Drought conditions have resulted in widespread death of livestock, a key source of food, milk, and income for pastoralists, and the projected below-average October-to- December rainy season is likely to result in additional livestock deaths and low rates of livestock conception, preventing households from recovering and reducing already limited household income to purchase food and other basic needs,” it said.
Humanitarian agencies, including USAID/BHA partners, completed emergency food assistance distributions during the first half of 2022 across parts of Ethiopia most affected by drought, it was noted.
“While these efforts have mitigated food consumption deficits among aid recipients, they have not been sufficient to yield significant improvements in overall household food consumption given the high levels of need,” the agency warned.
Humanitarian actors are scaling up response efforts, aiming to reach nearly 17 million people across drought-affected areas of Ethiopia during the second half of the year, more than double the 8.1 million people relief organizations prioritized for assistance during the first half of the year, according to the UN.
Funding shortfalls, however, have forced some humanitarian agencies to reduce the ration size of food assistance per person, including in drought-affected Somali Region, where rations could decrease by more than 30 percent in the absence of increased funding, it was noted.
(Full USAID – Horn of Africa – Complex Emergency Fact Sheet can be accessed here – https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/horn-africa-complex-emergency-fact-sheet-2-fiscal-year-fy-2022
