Attachments
HIGHLIGHTS
- Children, women and persons with disabilities in Ethiopia face significant risks due to armed conflict, violence, climate shocks, disease outbreaks, new refugee influxes and large-scale population displacement. Currently, 21.4 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 16.7 million children and women and nearly 4.5 million displaced people. Ethiopia hosts more than 1 million new and longer-term refugees and asylum seekers.
- In 2025, UNICEF’s humanitarian action in Ethiopia will prioritize essential humanitarian assistance to vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations. It will also address community vulnerabilities and build resilience among at-risk communities, including displaced and refugee populations. Key efforts include emergency preparedness, fostering localization, enhancing programme integration and ensuring accountability and inclusion of children with disabilities.
- UNICEF will require $493 million in 2025 to reach 10.5 million people in urgent need – to treat severely malnourished children, implement innovative local solutions; help out-ofschool children return to school; solarize water schemes; carry out gender-based violence risk mitigation, prevention and response; and provide mental health and psychosocial support.
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND NEEDS
Ethiopia is grappling with a complex humanitarian crisis characterized by armed conflict, intercommunal violence, climate-related hazards, disease outbreaks, food insecurity and socioeconomic degradation. Currently, 21.4 million people, including 16.7 million women and children, nearly 4.5 million displaced people, 2.1 million children with disabilities and more than 1 million refugees and asylum seekers urgently need humanitarian assistance. Additionally, 8 million children (49 per cent girls) are out of school, mainly in Amhara, Oromia and Tigray regions, with more than 9,654 schools damaged due to conflict. Recent SMART+ surveys conducted between June and July 2024 in various livelihood zones in Ethiopia revealed concerning trends of acute malnutrition in several regions, with an estimated 894,682 cases of severe wasting in children younger than five countrywide.
In Amhara, ongoing conflict between federal forces and the Fano militia is worsening humanitarian conditions, causing displacement, property destruction and gender-based violence, as well as restricting access to basic services and markets and disrupting livelihoods, leaving millions of children out of school and women without essential health care. In Tigray, despite some improvements following the 2022 peace agreement, significant humanitarian needs persist. Approximately 1 million internally displaced persons are living in dire conditions, with high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. Girls and women, particularly survivors of sexual violence, require mental health and psychosocial support. In Oromia, armed and intercommunal conflicts have displaced nearly 1 million people. Conflict has damaged health facilities, severely compromising basic health services, and has caused more than 1.1 million children to drop out of school.
The October – December 2024 rainy season is likely to be one of below-average rainfall. A total of 24 zones are at risk of drought: 7 in Oromia, 10 in the Somali region and 7 in southern Ethiopia. Conversely, during the last ‘Kiremt’ season (June – September 2024), heavy rains caused landslides in Gofa Zone that displaced 24,139 individuals to temporary accommodation centres churches and schools. Female-headed households are particularly vulnerable in these circumstances due to their limited resources and inadequate protection systems.
In 2024, Ethiopia has experienced several disease outbreaks, including cholera, measles, malaria and dengue cases. Cholera cases have surged in Afar and Oromia regions, marking a third wave of outbreaks. The measles outbreak, which has affected four regions, is worsening due to low immunization coverage and caregivers’ lack of awareness about the importance of vaccination, with the outbreak further exacerbated by population displacement and access constraints.