Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Ethiopia + 2 more

UNICEF Ethiopia Humanitarian Situation Report #6 – Reporting Period: January to June 2019

Attachments

Highlights

Since January 2019, humanitarian needs have been exacerbated by prolonged emergency crises due to conflict, epidemic diseases, drought and floods. Children remained at risk of malnutrition, preventable diseases, violence, exploitation and abuse, with 4.89 million children, including 1.9 million IDP/returnee children, identified as in need of humanitarian assistance in 2019.

The compounded humanitarian crisis has left essential services, such as health, overstretched. In the first half of this year, there were 863 reported cases of cholera, 10,341 cases of measles and one case of polio. Instability remains a major concern for Ethiopia with tensions impeding humanitarian responses across the country, particularly in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) and Oromia regions.

Despite the humanitarian need, the sector is poorly funded to address the basic needs of children in the country and UNICEF Ethiopia is 79 per cent unfunded at mid-year. Without adequate investments, children’s health and nutrition status, access to quality WASH and education, as well as protection of children are expected to further deteriorate.

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

An estimated 4.89 million children have been identified as needing humanitarian assistance in 2019. The humanitarian needs are complex and compounded by previous years’ caseloads of protracted displacement from drought and conflict which left host communities exhausted and essential health services overstretched and, at times, non-existent. In March 2019, the number of internally displaced people reached 3.2 million, including 1.9 million children. Since March, over 1.4 million IDPs have returned to their places of origin. However, returnees continue to require shelter, NFI and food assistance in these locations and report protection concerns, including gender-based violence (GBV) and threats to personal security. Plans for local integration and resettlement as a durable solution for internally displaced families who do not want to return to their place of origin were also developed, particularly in the Somali region. However, significant investments are required to ensure that these families will be supported in their new living environments and can access basic services as well as sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Since January 2019, the escalating emergency crisis in the country has increased children’s vulnerabilities to malnutrition, communicable diseases, child protection risks, including psychosocial distress, violence and abuse, and also interrupted displaced children’s access to education. Climatic shocks have compounded these vulnerabilities and are expected to increase food insecurity throughout the rest of 2019. Due to the delayed onset and poor performance of rainfall from March to May, recent assessments have found that planted crops and pasture are performing poorly and livestock body conditions have deteriorated. Due to expected drought conditions in the Horn of Africa, food insecurity is expected to affect 3.8 million people, including 2 million children until September 2019. Of those affected by food insecurity, more than 50 per cent are estimated to be in IPC phase 3 or above throughout the lean season (June to September 2019). Additionally, the national flood contingency plan identifies 1.32 million people, including 0.7 million children, to be at risk of flooding, putting 332,620 people at risk of being displaced.

In the last six months, children have faced increased risks of contracting communicable diseases with 863 cases of cholera, 10,341 cases of measles in the regions of Amhara, Oromia and Somali and one case of vaccine derived polio reported in the region of Somali, Dollo Ado zone on the borders with Somalia. Cholera has also been identified in Addis Ababa, Afar, Tigray and Dire Dawa. Measles outbreaks are symptomatic of poor vaccination coverage, and Ethiopia’s health infrastructure and the system remain exhausted by increased demands for health services. There are 872,828 children under five unvaccinated. Furthermore, the existing health system will continue to be overstretched in the coming months due the impacts of projected drought and flood that will further exacerbate the risk of children to disease outbreaks, with malnourished children being most at-risk as treatment of SAM cases with complications, such as measles, is complex. Elevated levels of vulnerability are also expected in remote areas where humanitarian assistance and supplies are delayed due to access restrictions The map, below, depicts disease outbreaks and drought- and flood-prone areas in 2019.

With regard to Ethiopia’s commitment to implementing the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), the Agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) undertook consultations with development partners on 17 July 2019 to finalize the Comprehensive Refugee Response Strategy. This will provide a strategy to implement CRRF and related amended Refugee Proclamation (endorsed in April 2019). UNICEF will continue to closely support implementation of this approach across the humanitarian and development nexus to provide durable solutions for refugees in Ethiopia and support the implementation of Ethiopia’s refugee pledges in the sectors of health, education, WASH, nutrition and child protection. The security situation in Sudan continues to fluctuate and remains unpredictable and UNICEF has supported UNHCR’s development of a Sudan contingency plan. UNICEF will continue to closely monitor the situation in order to be able to respond to an increased influx of refugees into Ethiopia. While the influx of refugees from Eritrea to Ethiopia at the end of 2018 has reduced, significant numbers of Eritrean refugees continue to cross the border with 37,532 Eritrean refugees arriving in 2019 (until 29 July). In response, UNICEF has increased support to Child Protection and WASH for refugees in Shire, Tigray region at the end of 2018 and in early 2019. With the completion of UNHCR’s level 3 biometric national registration exercise the total number of refugees in Ethiopia has been updated to 655,105 from the earlier reported figure of 905,831 at the start of this process.

In terms of funding to meet the humanitarian needs of women and children in Ethiopia, UNICEF appealed for US$143.5 million, targeting three million people, including 1.59 million children, through its Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC). Today, 79 per cent of the HAC requirement remains unfunded at mid-year.