United Nations revises funding requirements in Ethiopia

(New York, 15 October 2008): The United Nations, in conjunction with the Government of Ethiopia, has revised the financial requirements upward for humanitarian aid to Ethiopia. A total of $265.7 million is required over the next three months to provide urgent assistance to 6.4 million Ethiopians affected by an ongoing drought caused by failed rains and by increased food prices.

The new requirements reflect an assessment by the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the humanitarian community that an additional 1.8 million people have been affected by the crisis since a previous assessment in June 2008 when 4.6 million vulnerable people were identified. The new figure includes a near doubling of the number of people affected in the Somali Region from just over one million previously to 1.9 million people in need of emergency food aid now. The total number of people in need is 12 million, which includes the 6.4 million requiring emergency aid as well as 5.7 million people under the Productive Safety Net Programme who live in drought affected areas.

The situation has been made worse in part due to a shortage of emergency resources, including ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF), emergency relief food and other critical supplies.

"As elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, the humanitarian situation in parts of Ethiopia has steadily deteriorated due to drought and skyrocketing food and fuel prices," said John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. "I am particularly worried about meeting the needs of the more than 17 million people in the greater Horn of Africa, especially those of malnourished children and their mothers. We need urgently increased financial commitments from donors worldwide," he emphasized.

Two hundred and eighteen million dollars of the money required is to cover the provision of 270,245 metric tonnes (MT) of food to address needs of emergency beneficiaries from October to December 2008. An additional $7.8 million is required for supplementary feeding programmes targeting children and pregnant women.

The requirement to respond to non-food needs of beneficiaries has also been adjusted to address needs until the end of the year. The health and nutrition, water and sanitation, and agriculture and livestock sectors have in total requested US$39,791,882.

Due to the prolonged nature of the crisis and the increasing effects of the global food crisis, large numbers of the rural population continue to be at risk. An immediate scale-up in both government and donor support is essential to ensure that the basic needs of affected communities are met.

If the October-December rains do not materialize, it is feared that food insecurity will continue into 2009.

For further information, please call: Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 917 892 1679, bunker@un.org; John Nyaga, OCHA-NY, + 1 917 367 9262, nyagaj@un.org; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570, byrs@un.org. OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int