Saturday April 30, 2022
After a four-day visit to Ethiopia, UNICEF Executive
Director Catherine Russell called for a rapid scale-up of support to prevent a
humanitarian disaster due to the drought in Ethiopia and the region.
The director stressed that the effect of the drought in
Ethiopia is devastating, and said, “In the Somali region, one of the worst-hit
drought areas in the country, I met children and families who have literally
lost everything. Their livestock have died and as a result, they have no source
of income. They cannot feed their children and are on the move in search of
food and water. We need to reach these families now before it is too late.”
The UNICEF press release on the executive director’s visit
to the Somali region noted that four countries across the Horn of Africa;
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are experiencing one of the worst
droughts in decades leaving 10 million children in need of urgent life-saving
support.
The presser further highlighted the worsening of
malnutrition in children ‘at an alarming rate.’ It also stated that 1.7 million
children are severely malnourished across the subregion, adding that admission
rates for treatment of severe acute malnutrition for children under 5, in drought-affected
areas, were 15 percent higher in February 2022 compared to February 2021 in
Ethiopia.
The executive director explained that the lack of clean
water has further exacerbated the situation of children and women, “Children
are forced to drink contaminated water, and this puts them at risk of cholera
and other killer diseases. In Somali region, we have had reports of over 1,000
cases of measles with 16 confirmed deaths.”
Further detailing the impact of drought on children, she
noted that in some drought-hit areas in Ethiopia, there has been a 51 percent
increase in child marriage. “Child
marriage often increases in times of drought as families marry off their
daughters in the hope that they will be better fed and protected, as well as to
earn dowries,” she said.
As part of its immediate response, UNICEF Ethiopia is
rehabilitating and installing boreholes, emergency water trucking, treating
severely malnourished children, and providing education and child protection
support, investing in climate-resilient solar-powered water systems for
long-term sustainable solutions aiming to reach an estimated 3.4 million
people, including 1.4 million children, the statement said.
The director commenced the contribution of donors but
reiterated the need to ramp up support to save the lives of millions of
children. “We have to remember that behind every statistic, there is a child
with the same hopes and dreams as children everywhere – and the same right to
reach their full potential,” she said. She also reaffirmed the long-standing
partnership with UNICEF and the Ethiopian government during her meetings
with President Sahle-Work Zewde and
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Demeke Mekonnen, the statement
said. Dispatch