ADDIS ABABA: July 26 (EI) — The UN World Food Program (WFP) on Friday appealed for 272 million U.S. dollars to meet the humanitarian needs of 8.3 million Ethiopians.
The WFP, its monthly fact sheet, said the required 272 million U.S. dollars will meet the food related requirements of 8.3 million Ethiopians from June to November 2019.
WFP said it has already allocated 78.9 million U.S. dollars out of the total 272 million U.S. dollars to meet the needs of the food insecure Ethiopians, many of whom are said to be an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The UN agency further indicated that a total of 373,100 pregnant and nursing mothers as well as children aged 6-59 months received specialized nutritious foods to help them recover from malnutrition.
In March, the Ethiopian government and its humanitarian partners had appealed for 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to address food and non-food emergency needs of 8.3 million people.
The appeal was made as the Ethiopian government and its humanitarian partners launched the 2019 joint Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Plan in Addis Ababa.
According to the joint response plan, some 4.4 million people are targeted for nutrition support, including 609,961 under-five children who are targeted for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM).
The joint response plan mainly lays out prioritized multi-sector humanitarian needs in 2019.