Ethiopia: Double number of people in need this year

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s humanitarian requirements for this year have more than doubled, as 16.5 million people are now in need of emergency food and non-food assistance, said the UN on Tuesday.

The revised plan issued by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) raised the number of people in need from 7 million.

“The revised requirement of US$1.65 billion (of which $506 million is for COVID-19) seeks to address the food and non-food needs of 16.5 million people, 9.8 million of whom are targeted for COVID-19-related interventions,” it said in a statement.

According to OCHA, the spike in humanitarian needs is mainly due to COVID-19-related multi-sector impact, especially among the vulnerable sectors of society; food insecurity and livelihood loss as a result of the spread of the desert locust infestation; and new displacements due to conflict and flooding, among others.

At present, there are at least 1.8 million IDPs across the East African country.

“Considering the $288.3 million international contribution thus far, the revised requirement faces an urgent gap of $1.36 billion,” it said. “Some critical, life-saving sectors have received no or minimal funding, including emergency shelter and non-food items, protection, logistics, emergency education, agriculture and health.”