HIGHLIGHTS
Ethiopia Drought Situation
• According to the latest joint FEWSNET/WFP Food Security Outlook Update issued on 30 November, food security in most parts of Ethiopia has stabilized as a result of improved market supply and declining food prices following the Meher harvest, on-going humanitarian assistance, and the current good Deyr/Hagaya rains in the southern and southeast pastoral and agro-pastoral areas. In parts of the eastern marginal cropping areas (Gambella and Benishangul Gumuz), most of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR) and portions of the woredas in Borena zone of Oromiya Region and southern part of the Somali Region, the food security situation is likely to deteriorate in line with seasonal trends and the continued La Nina effect in quarter one of 2012.
• The overall nutritional situation in the drought-affected regions of Ethiopia remains to stable. In October, 26,196 children under five with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) were admitted to the Therapeutic Feeding Programmes (TFP) in Amhara, Afar, Oromiya, Somali, SNNP, and Tigray regions. This is a 24 per cent decrease from the 29,056 children admitted in September. Four of the six drought-affected regions (Amhara, Oromiya, Somali and Tigray) showed declining admissions for the fifth consecutive month.
• The capacity to treat severe malnourished children close to their homes continues to expand. In November, 333 new Therapeutic Feeding Programme (TFP) sites were established, most of them in Oromiya (133) and Amhara (111) regions. Overall, 1,727 TFP sites were opened across the country so far in 2011. There are now 9,690 TFP sites in Ethiopia compared to 7,963 at the beginning of the year.
• More than 5 million children have received measles vaccination in the on-going national measles supplementary immunization campaign. This is 74% of the 6.9 million children 6 months to 15 years of age in 148 hotspot woredas the campaign aims to reach by end of the exercise.
• As of result of the continuing good rains in most drought-affected southern and south-eastern parts of the country, water trucking requirements remained relatively low throughout November. The requirements increased slightly from 20 trucks at the end of October to 25 at the end of November. Most of the water truck requirements were in Afar (15) and Tigray (8) regions. In total, 22,000 people benefited from water trucking supplies provided by cluster partners in November compared to 63,400 people in December.