Malnutrition rate among children has tripled in recent months – Food shortages have worsened mainly due to the war in Tigray
According to the UN World Food Programme, 20 million people in Ethiopia urgently needed food aid. A senior official of the organization says that the country is “again marching towards famine».
At least 372 people have already died of starvation in the past six months in the troubled north of the country, where the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels are active.
Getashev Reda, president of the provisional administration of his region Tigray in which battles are raging, recently stated that over 90% of the region’s population is at risk from hunger and the death. However, the government in Addis Ababa denies the accusations and accuses Reda of “politicizing the crisis”.
Food shortages have been exacerbated mainly by the war in Tigray and unrest in neighboring Amara, while the worst drought in decades is raging.
“Nothing we sowed this year has yielded, and now there is a famine in the country,” Fitchum Waldgbril from eastern Tigray told DW, adding that in all of 2023 she had only seen rain twice.
The United Nations World Food Program has decided to suspend food aid to Tigray in March 2023, following reports of widespread thefts humanitarian aid. In June, he extended the suspension of aid to all of Ethiopia because of ongoing corruption.
It remains unclear who benefited from the thefts. Humanitarian groups have blamed Ethiopian government officials, while others have blamed the military.
A small part of the aid program has however started to be given again. However, only a small percentage of people in Tigray report receiving food aid.
Children and an irony
Yosef Gebremichael, a pediatric nurse, speaking to DW, says that the rate of malnutrition among children has tripled in recent months.
“Within a few months, more than 80 severely malnourished children have come to our hospital and even those who have been discharged have had to come back,” he says.
THE irony is that the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abii Ahmed has just returned from a trip to Italy where he was awarded the medal Agricola. This is the highest award given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.
The statement of reasons for the decision states that the award recognizes Abiy’s “vision and commitment to food security and nutrition, as well as the pursuit of innovative solutions for self-sufficiency in wheat, in the context of rapidly changing and challenging conditions.”
Source :Skai
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