UN allocates $13 million for Ethiopian drought victims

The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa): The Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF) has allocated US$ 7.2 million for the procurement of CSB, ready to use therapeutic foods and drugs, in response to the present alarming levels of malnutrition, the UN said on Monday. The fund has already provided US$ 5.5 million for water and livestock interventions in Borena and Guji zones of Oromiya and parts of Somali regions.

"The HRF is also reviewing additional project applications from NGOs responding to the nutrition and seed requirements in SNNP and Oromiya regions," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs-UNOCHA- said in its weekly humanitarian report. It said the programme has received US$ 13 million from the Governments of Norway, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

UNOCHA said the food security situation in the drought affected areas of Oromiya, Somali and SNNPR was anticipated to further deteriorate as the hunger season sets in June combined with the alarming increase in prices of food commodities and market disruption adding that emergency resource shortages further exacerbate the situation….

Flag of Ethiopia, image by "SKopp," Wikimedia Commons