Ethiopia - Situation Report, 1 Nov 2022

Cholera Outbreak - Flash Update #2

• The Cholera outbreak is active in 23 kebeles of 3 woredas of Bale Zone of Oromia and 9 kebeles of 1 woreda of Liban zone, Somali region. As of 25 October 2022, 273 cholera cases have been reported including 9 deaths. Suspected cases in East Bale are under investigation. Reportedly, 114 additional woredas are at risk of an outbreak.

• The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), the Oromia and Somali Regional Health Bureaus (RHB), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and partners have been supporting the scale-up of health and WASH sectorial priorities.

• The caseload has increased by 30 per cent since October 10 with new daily cases reported in Berbere and Kersadula woredas. According to EPHI, close to 459,000 people are at high risk in the four woredas, especially IDPs living in sites.

• The response is hindered by insufficient funding and partners’ presence. Shortage of WASH treatment chemicals, limited amount of water storage items (reservoir tanks, jerry cans, etc.), insufficient water trucking capacity and large number of non-functional water schemes represent the major gaps.

Read more in the full Flash Update.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Humanitarian partners continue delivering assistance in Tigray, though at a reduced scale Security situation in Afar and Amhara has improved allowing humanitarian access to areas so far inaccessible; large scale returns of displaced people reported.

• Active cholera outbreak ongoing across five woredas in Oromia and Somali regions, with over 330 cases reported as of 31 October.

• More than 90,000 people displaced mainly in Gambella due to floods, assistance is ongoing but not at scale.

• 9.6 million people in drought affected areas – of 17 million people targeted in 2022 - received some form of assistance.

BACKGROUND'

Situation Overview

Three months before the end of the year, only 39.6 per cent of the US$3 billion requirement for the 2022 Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Plan has been contributed (excluding Government of Ethiopia’s contribution), while the impact of multiple crises including conflict, drought and floods, continues to increase humanitarian needs across the country.

Partners are stretching their limited available resources to address the rising needs, re-prioritizing activities to meet the most severe needs first. Meanwhile, large scale new displacements, estimated in hundreds of thousands of people, continued to be reported in northern Ethiopia during the reporting period following the resumption of hostilities towards the end of August. Over 3,860 schools across the country remain closed due to hostilities affecting the schooling of more than 2.8 million children, of whom 47 per cent are girls. More than 60 per cent of these children are entering their third academic year without having any form of learning.

The drought impact is also deepening driving more people into food insecurity as livelihoods are eroded or lost. The level of livestock deaths continues to increase, significantly affecting livelihoods. More than 4 million livestock have reportedly perished since late 2021, and more than 30 million livestock are emaciated and weakened and at risk of death across the drought impacted areas. This represents a 14 per cent increase in livestock deaths and a 20 per cent increase in livestock at risk since May 2022. Given the forecasted below average rainy season during October-December and anticipated worsening of the drought conditions, partners had to deprioritize restocking and planting of long cycle crops and replaced these activities with de-stocking and planting of short cycle crops for immediate assistance. However, urgent additional funding is required to implement these time-sensitive activities to prevent further loss of livelihoods and higher rates of food insecurity and malnutrition. Meanwhile, humanitarian partners continue to scale up response in drought-affected areas with 6.4 million people – of the 17 million people targeted in 2022 – receiving some form of emergency assistance by the end of September.

In Tigray Region, large numbers of people are reportedly taking refuge in Mekelle collective sites and among the host community following heightened hostilities in other parts of the region. High displacements continued to be reported from Central (Adwa, Axum), Eastern (Adigrat, Wukro), and Southern (Korem, Alamata) zones. Population movement was very fluid during the reporting period with several secondary displacements reported, including from Adigrat, Sheraro and Shire IDP sites. However, reports indicated that IDPs displaced for the second time from Shire IDP sites have started to return to the site following the relative normalization of the security situation in the town in recent weeks. These IDPs need urgent lifesaving assistance such as water, food and health services.

Meanwhile, road convoys to Tigray remain suspended hampering the transportation of essential humanitarian commodities and the rotation of humanitarian staff. Nutrition partners reported lack of supplies for the treatment of more than 25,500 severely malnourished children in the region. Health partners also reported that medicines and medical supplies are depleting. Partners in Tigray continue to deliver available relief commodities where possible with existing resources and stocks.

In Afar and Amhara regions, the security situation has improved in general allowing humanitarian partners to reach areas that were so far inaccessible due to insecurity. In Amhara, IDP return movements were reported to newly accessible areas in North Wollo, North Gondar and Wag Hemra zones. According to North Wollo Zonal authorities, more than 80,000 IDPs from Mersa and Wurgesa and half of the IDPs from Jara IDP camp that hosted more than 30,000 IDPs have already returned to their areas of origin as of 28 October. Similarly, in North Gondar Zone, over 6,000 IDPs have returned to Addi Arkay. Assistance in areas of return is scanty, and priority intervention areas identified are Protection, Food, Shelter, NFIs, Health, Education and WASH. As the security situation improved, school children also resumed their education. In North Gondar, 132 schools started registering students for the first time in two years. Similarly, 12 schools in North Wollo Zone that had been sheltering IDPs have started student registration.

In Afar Region, advice against movement into some areas that was imposed due to rising insecurity was lifted on 21 October following security assessments in Berahle, Dallol and Konneba woredas in Zone 2 (free movement in all zones except Megale) and Gulina and Yallo woredas in Zone 4 (free movement across the zone). This has allowed partners to plan for scaled up assistances in these areas. For example, Child Protection partners are expanding their geographical coverage to support returnees in Afar (Zone 2),
Meanwhile, an active cholera outbreak is ongoing in 25 kebeles across three woredas in Oromia and nine kebeles across two woredas in Somali regions, and an additional 114 woredas are reportedly at risk, including IDP sites. As of 31 October, 334 cases were recorded across the aforementioned woredas. The first case was reported on 27 August from Harana Buluk Woreda in Oromia. Active case finding and case management are ongoing by regional health authorities and health partners, but additional resources are needed to respond and mitigate at scale. Please see the Cholera Flash Updates #1 and #2 for more information on needs, ongoing response and gaps.

Floods have also increased the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance, with more than 90,000 people reported displaced across Afar, Amhara and Gambella, the majority (86,000 people) being in Gambella. Multi-sectoral response by Federal and regional authorities as well as by humanitarian partners and the private sector is ongoing but not nearly at the scale required. For example, the relief food distributed so far covered 20 per cent of the need (33,833 displaced people reached of more than 185,000 people in need). Urgent additional resources are required to address the full needs. Details on the flood impact and requirements in the most affected region, Gambella, can be found in the Flood Update released on 24 October.

Per the Response Dashboard below, humanitarian partners have cumulatively assisted up to 76.8 per cent of people targeted with one or several types of assistance in 2022. Looking at the food response specifically, out of 20.4 million people targeted countrywide, 14.3 million people have received at least three rounds of food assistance in the targeted locations since the beginning of the year. However, these numbers do not reflect the additional needs that arose since January 2022. The additional needs are captured in the mid-year review of the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan, which will be released soon.