Addis Ababa, 16 June 2022 – Malnutrition rates across east and south-eastern Ethiopia have soared in recent months as drought, displacement and conflict take their toll with about 185,000 children now estimated to be suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition, Save the Children said.
A prolonged drought combined with the disruption of health services due to instability, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a lack of funding has left over a million people requiring urgent nutrition support across the Somali, Oromia, SNNP and South-West regions.
Extreme malnutrition is expected to worsen in coming months as food prices continue to rise due to the devaluation of the Ethiopian birr and the war in Ukraine. Pastoral families are among the worst hit as one of the Horn of Africa’s worst droughts decimates their herds.
In the Somali region in Eastern Ethiopia, one of the worst affected, malnutrition rates over the past 12 months have risen by 64%, with an increase of 43% between January and April 2022 alone[i]. Cumulative cases of severe acute malnutrition – the most deadly form of malnutrition in children – reached nearly 50,000 in the same three months.
Severe acute malnutrition is a life-threatening condition requiring urgent treatment. It also significantly weakens children’s immune systems, which often means any additional medical complications or infections prove deadly.
In the Dawa zone of the Somali region Save the Children staff have observed that much of the pastoral nomadic community is ‘at the brink of starvation’. Admission rates for the treatment of malnutrition at Save the Children nutrition centres increased by more than 320% from September 2021 to January 2022[ii]. Families are reporting that many children are only being fed one meal per day.
In the Shabelle zone of the Somali region, another area hard hit by drought and hunger, unusual animal behaviour has been reported by farming communities, including monkeys attacking children and livestock out of hunger.
Ahmed*, 40, is a father of seven who lives in the Somali region of Ethiopia. Ahmed recently lost his livestock in the drought, and so left his village with his children in search of food and water. Ahmed said:
“I do not know how to feed my children. The rain failed. The grass withered. My sheep and goats died, along with hundreds and thousands of animals from our village. We packed our meagre possessions on the donkey cart and set out at midnight.”
In the south and the east, prolonged drought continues to expand and devastate lives and livelihoods, with about 8.1 million people in Ethiopia now impacted. Across the country, close to 30 million people – or a quarter of the population – are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance including 12 million children.
Across the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are suffering from a severe drought induced by the climate crisis. More than 23 million people are experiencing extreme hunger across the three countries with 5.8 Million children acutely malnourished.
Xavier Joubert, Save the Children’s Country Director in Ethiopia, said:
“Children – especially small children – are bearing the brunt of a harrowing and multifaceted crisis in Ethiopia. A prolonged, expanding, and debilitating drought is grinding away at their resilience, already worn down by a gruelling conflict and two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Sadly, in 2022, the crisis in Ethiopia grew in complexity and scale. In the south and the east, prolonged drought is devastating lives and livelihoods; in the north, millions of displaced families barely have access to food, health services, livelihoods; and in the southwest, a hidden conflict is displacing hundreds of thousands.
“Families who have fled drought or conflict have left with very little, some only with their children and clothes on their backs. Though some families are returning home, they find their houses, hospitals, and schools damaged or destroyed, and their livelihoods lost.”
As leaders of G7 countries meet this month, the UK must commit to an immediate funding package to help combat this unprecedented global hunger crisis, as well as disbursing the £1.5billion commitment it made in February to tackle global malnutrition. Save the Children is urging leaders to act now and work together to tackle the root causes of this crisis – investing in a safe climate, fixing the food system and opening up humanitarian access.
Save the Children teams in the Somali and Oromia regions are helping thousands of families impacted by drought, but additional funding is urgently needed to meet growing humanitarian needs.
Save the Children has been operating in Ethiopia for over 60 years and was among the first respondents to the conflict in Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions, while continuing humanitarian assistance to the prolonged humanitarian crises in Oromia and Somali regions. The organisation’s work is anchored in health and nutrition as well as life-saving water and sanitation assistance, protection services, education support, and cash and in-kind distributions to the most vulnerable children and their families.
*Names changed to protect identities
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[i] Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU) – April 2022 analysis - Update from May 19 2022
[ii] Save the Children admissions for Q4 2021 of Severe Acute Malnutrition in four Woredas of Dawa Zone in the Somali region of Ethiopia.
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