Addis Abeba – The French government provided World Food Program (WFP) Ethiopia office with three million Euros “as part of its programmed food assistance, the French Embassy in Addis Abeba said.
The program is “aimed at preventing wasting among children as well as pregnant and lactating women,” and will benefit 3,000 people, the embassy said.
In January this year, UNICEF warned that “at least 1.5 million children are not receiving life-saving treatment for severe wasting in Eastern and Southern Africa”, a number that represents “almost half of the estimated 3.6 million children in urgent need, who are not being reached in time to save their lives or keep them from permanent development damage.”
It said that although UNICEF and partners reached an “estimated 500,000 severely wasted children in 2021”, many children in northern Ethiopia are still in need of life-saving support.
Furthermore, across four regions – Afar, Somali, SNNPR and southern and eastern Oromia – “families are struggling for survival as a severe drought takes hold following three consecutive failed rainy seasons.” According to the latest data, more than 6.8 million people in drought impacted areas will need urgent humanitarian assistance by mid-2022, many of them children, UNICEF warned.
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