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Country Fast Facts: Ethiopia
(CBS)Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of the 1936-41 Italian occupation during World War II.
In 1974, a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile Selassie (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state.
Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea late in the 1990's ended with a peace treaty in December 2000.
Final demarcation of the boundary is currently on hold due to Ethiopian objections to an international commission's finding requiring it to surrender territory considered sensitive to Ethiopia. (CBS)Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of th... more -
Hunger's global hotspots
Facts, figures and the lastest updates from WFP's high profile emergencies.
Cuba
• In the framework of IRA EMOP 10776.0 an airlift paid by AECID (Spanish Cooperation Agency) carrying 13.9 mt of canned fish from Dominican Republic and another airlift paid by the Ecuadorian Government carrying 9.996 mt canned fish from Ecuador arrived in Havana last week. Up to now, 77.6 mt of HEB and canned fish have been received to be delivered to Isla de la Juventud where people are still unable to prepare their own food.
• WFP is taking action to release to the Country Office the funds already approved by CERF for the provision of storage and food distribution to people in Isla de la Juventud and in the most affected municipalities of Pinar del Rio for a total amount of US$703,197.
• A second CERF application, including a proposal for food assistance by WFP, is being prepared in response to the damages inflicted by Hurricane Ike.
• WFP Cuba is also preparing an EMOP covering people affected by both hurricanes. This will be part of the interagency effort to mobilize additional funds through a Plan of Action to respond to the emergency situation in the country.
DRC
• Severe pipeline breaks, prioritization and ration cuts continue for some beneficiaries and activities.
• 130 mt of WFP food transported by a local partner have arrived in Befale territory, Equateur province to implement nutritional activities. This is the first time WFP food arrives in this area due to the problems of access. Befale territory is one of the 2008 Humanitarian Action Plans top priorities.
• The national railway society (SNCC) staff strike (in eastern and southern provinces including Katanga, Maniema and South Kivu) has ended. In Katanga, a 14-wagon humanitarian train left Lubumbashi to Nyunzu, Kongolo and Kabalo with 480 mt of Food for the Hungry International food and 80 mt of INGO “Solidarités” building materials.
Ethiopia
• The Government confirmed last week that some 6.4 million people will be in need of relief assistance for the coming months. This includes nearly two million people in Somali region. Considering those assisted through the Safety Net Programme, more than 12 million Ethiopians are affected by drought and impact of high food and fuel prices.
Kenya
• With the continued deteriorating situation in Somalia, UNHCR has reported an increase in the number of new arrivals to 5,000 persons in August up from the previous average rate of 4,000 per month early in the year. The population has increased by 24 percent since January 2008
• Discussions are underway between the UN agencies, government and local leaders on establishing a new camp in Dadaab. The current refugee population in Dadaab (213,000) in the three camps has over stretched the available facilities.
• WFP has consulted widely with the government, donors and NGOs on modalities of transition from relief to recovery given the new government structures. PRRO-Recovery document is being drafted.
Zimbabwe
• The two main political parties reached an agreement for establishing a National Unity government and a signing ceremony took place on Monday, 15 September 2008. An agreement on the makeup of a new cabinet has not yet been reached and the formation of the new government is unclear.
• WFP is having meetings with all Governors and other provincial authorities to discuss the pending implementation of the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme. Everyone who has met so far has welcomed the resumption of VGF activities, and has agreed to conduct registration and distributions.
• WFP, in partnership with ten NGOs, has launched the full scale preparation of its VGF programme in 37 districts. Reactivation of rosters and recruitment of additional staff is underway. Facts, figures and the lastest updates from WFP's high profile emergencies. Cuba ... more -
Peacekeepers targeted in Somalia
Renewed fighting has broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, with African Union peacekeepers coming under attack from Islamist insurgents.
At least 15 civilians have died since clashes erupted late on Tuesday and people are fleeing the city.
Insurgents attacked Ugandan peacekeepers, who responded with tank and artillery fire.
On Monday about 30 people were killed and dozens wounded in some of the worst violence Mogadishu has seen in months.
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says Islamist insurgents have been gaining ground in the city in their fight against the Ethiopian-backed government.
Observers say there has been a change in tactics, with Islamists switching from hit-and-run raids to sustained attacks against peacekeepers.
Peacekeepers have generally been considered friendly since their arrival last year, and residents have been upset by the scale of their retaliation, our reporter says.
Maj Bahoku Barigye, an spokesman for the African Union Mission to Somalia (Amisom), said the peacekeepers had not suffered any causalities nor had their moral been affected.
He denied that the attacks were getting worse.
"I have been here for about eight months and I have not seen any difference whatsoever," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
(more at link) Renewed fighting has broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, with African Union peacekeepers coming under attack from Islamist in... more -
E.Africa needs $700m aid, says UN
East African countries need some $700m (£382m) in emergency aid to stave off the risk of descending into full-scale famine, the United Nations has warned.
Top UN humanitarian official John Holmes said food stocks were critically low in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, northern Kenya and Uganda.
The area has suffered from drought, conflict and rocketing food prices.
The UN estimates almost 17 million people are in urgent need of food and other aid across the Horn of Africa.
"This number could even rise as the drought deepens and the hunger season continues," Mr Holmes said.
"What we need essentially is more funds, and more funds now, otherwise the situation is going to become even more catastrophic than it is today."
The estimated total need for the 17 million hungry for the rest of this year is $1.4bn. Almost half of that has been raised, Mr Holmes said, but there remains a shortfall of $716m.
"We may need significant funds after that period - this is not the end of the story," he said.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization blames worldwide rises in food prices for helping to push 75 million more people into the ranks of the world's hungry last year - bringing the total to 925 million. (BBC) East African countries need some $700m (£382m) in emergency aid to stave off the risk of descending into full-scale famine, the United... more -
Why a charity refused $45m of US aid money
Ethiopia is in the grip of a drought. Fifteen million people are receiving food aid. So why has one of the world's major aid agencies, Care International, turned away $45m worth of food they could be sending to Africa?
As world leaders gather in New York next week to review progress towards the millennium goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, Care is saying that aid is "too short term and focused too heavily on saving lives rather than protecting people's livelihoods".
Care's hunger advisor, Vanessa Rubin, says the money the charity refused is tied to buying the grain from American farmers and shipping it in American carriers. Which means that much of the aid 'money' goes back to the US. When it arrives in Ethiopia some food goes to needy Ethiopians, but the rest is sold cheaply in markets, undercutting local farmers and giving little incentive for them to grow more. The combination of wastage and the damage done to the local market means the aid does more harm than good, says Care.
By 2015 it is estimated that the world will have spent $100bn on crisis relief. But given decades of failed aid policies some say - not just Care - that it is time for a radical rethink: we should welcome high food prices, ditch most food aid, encourage mass migration from the countryside to cities, and - above all - give money to charity when there is no crisis.
Rising food prices have been reported as a disaster for poor countries. Yet the UN World Food Programme in Ethiopia sees expensive food as an opportunity. Their country director, Sonali Wikrema, believes that it's a wake-up call for Third World governments that have relied on cheap imports to keep the townspeople happy rather than investing in agriculture.
Many Third World cities have rapidly rising populations, and the sight of squalid shanty towns leads most people to believe this rapid urbanisation is damaging. But not Professor Steven Devereux, from the Institute of Development studies in Sussex.
He notes that famine in cities is extremely rare: in rural areas it's all too frequent, especially given the vagaries of climate change. He also believes that farming productivity is held back by too many people on the farm. His solution is mass migration to the cities, not unlike that which occurred in Victorian Britain.
Most bewildering for the ordinary Western charity donor in the street is the research by Care which suggests that in the Niger famine of 2005 it cost $1 to save a child from malnutrition if reached early and $80 later that year when the problem reached world media attention. The logic of this is severe: for maximum benefit from your buck you should save it during crises and spend it when all is (relatively) calm.
Of course, it would be a hard man or woman who could hang on to a handful of grain and let the starving die so it could be planted and feed more next year. But it seems our most basic charitable urge - spending money to save lives when a crisis hits the headlines - could be pushing more people into life-threatening situations.
Little of this radical thinking is likely to trouble world leaders in New York next week, but it should trouble every one of us the next time disaster strikes. Ethiopia is in the grip of a drought. Fifteen million people are receiving food aid. So why has one of the world's major aid agen... more -
Ethiopia unveils ancient obelisk
Ethiopia is celebrating the unveiling of the reassembled Axum obelisk, one of the country's greatest treasures.
The obelisk, at least 1,700 years old, was looted by Italian troops in the 1930s and returned to Ethiopia in 2005.
A giant Ethiopian flag was removed from the obelisk in front of what organisers said was a crowd of tens of thousands in the ancient northern town of Axum.
The ceremony is the last big event of Ethiopia's millennium year, the year 2000 by the country's Coptic calendar.
(continued at link with video) Ethiopia is celebrating the unveiling of the reassembled Axum obelisk, one of the country's greatest treasures. ... more -
Training in Ethiopia: 20 young activists learn how to use video for advocacy
Bukeni Waruzi, WITNESS Program Coordinator for Africa and the Middle East, traveled last month to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to conduct a video advocacy training for 20 young human rights activists aged between 15-25 from Speak Africa, a Pan-African youth focused network of organizations.
Coordinated in partnership with UNICEF Ethiopia, YMCI, AUCC-Accra, BBCWST, ACPF, and UNECA, the training lasted for one week and focused on youth from Ethiopia, Ghana, Angola, Egypt, Mozambique and Madagascar.
Although many of the youth are already active in their countries as independent reporters, producers, and editors, this training was their first experience with video as a tool for advocacy. "The main goal was to start to share continental experiences on advocacy strategies using media," says Bukeni. "They were very creative and able to conceptualize their messages clearly in the short (practice) videos they produced as Public Service Announcements."
A customs snafu made the challenge even harder: the Flip cameras donated by WITNESS to UNICEF were only released by Ethiopian customs on the last day of the training, which meant that the students had just one day to shoot. In their first attempt, this practice round shows how quickly they learned the potential of video for advocacy.
See for yourself -- This group from Mozambique called on the government to ratify the African Youth Charter before November 1st, Africa Youth Day: Clip Above
More Videos at the link! Bukeni Waruzi, WITNESS Program Coordinator for Africa and the Middle East, traveled last month to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to conduct a ... more -
ETHIOPIA: A little money gets big results
Birkay Gadenah is not any bank's idea of a good credit risk. The 36-year-old mother of five lives in the tin-roof shantytown of Burayu, 12km west of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. But eight months ago, she and nine other women from the neighbourhood funeral society, or "edir", formed a community savings and loan group. "It has changed my life," she said.
In the previous year she was earning 90 Ethiopian Birr (US$9.38) a month, doing laundry for three neighbouring families. "It was very tiring work," she told IRIN/PlusNews.
With a 300 Birr (US$30) loan from the group, she started a business making beaded necklaces to sell in Addis's central market. Today she has quadrupled her income and though she is still a long way from a middle-class life, she says she'll be able to pay her loan back with interest when it falls due in three months. "I can sit at home with my children and get a rest," she said.
Gadenah has an added incentive to repay her loan. If she defaults, she will be kicked out of the edir. Funeral societies are a pillar of Ethiopian life, even among the poorest of the poor. If a family member dies, members of the edir help pay for the burial and come to comfort survivors during the three-day mourning period.
"You're discriminated against if you're not a member of the edir," said Almaz Kebede, who also belongs to Gadenah's group. "No one will help you if your house burns; no one will bury you if you die."
Microfinance projects have taken off in developing countries in the past decade, a trend highlighted when businessman Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace prize in 2006 for creating the microfinance Grameen Bank in his native Bangladesh.
Small financial cooperatives have been touted as a way to help poor communities like Burayu, which have been hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But they are no panacea.
One recent World Bank study in a district in Kenya found that more than 30 percent of recipients defaulted on their loans. In Burayu, however, the international aid group, CARE, hit on the tactic of linking savings and loan schemes to funeral societies, thus increasing social pressure on loan recipients to keep up their repayments.
The scheme itself is simple. Gadenah and nine of her friends in the Burayu neighbourhood – all members of the same funeral society – received training in how to set up a simple savings and loan programme as part of a project funded by CARE and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
For the past eight months, the women have met on Friday afternoons and each has put three Birr ($0.29) into a steel lockbox. Saving even that small amount of money hasn't been easy.
"We believed it was very difficult to save," said Kebede, whose husband died of an unknown illness more than a decade ago. "We are very poor, how can we save?"
The women in the group decided to cut back on one of the small luxuries in their lives: coffee. Ethiopia is widely thought to be the birthplace of coffee, and even in a poor neighbourhood like Burayu, women roast coffee beans three times a day as part of a coffee ceremony. By cutting back on coffee once a day, each was able to save enough for her weekly contribution.
Within months the group had enough to offer Gadenah a loan for her bead business and extend credit to Kebede to start a business baking "injera", a traditional Ethiopian sponge-bread made from "teff", a local grain.
If a recipient doesn't repay her loan plus three percent interest, the other members can report her to the head of their funeral society, who can expel her from the group. She will then face the social ostracism that comes from not belonging to an edir.
"It's like when a country doesn't abide by the rules of the United Nations, there is an embargo," explained Biniyam Habtewold, a programme manager for the Tesfa Social Development Association, an alliance of funeral societies.*continues* Birkay Gadenah is not any bank's idea of a good credit risk. The 36-year-old mother of five lives in the tin-roof shantytown of B... more -
All The Beautiful People
These slides are photos by Hans Sylvester, a photographer who spent 6 years photographing an ethnic group (men, women, children, elderly) who live along the Omo River (Ethiopia-Sudan-Kenya triangle and Rift valley). They decorate their bodies using what is available in this volcanic region: red ochre, copper green, white kaolin, luminous yellow and grey from ashes. Their decorations depend on the agility of their fingers and the freedom and spontaneity of their designs. They use the tips of their fingers, their nails, sometimes bits of wood, reeds, crushed stems dipped in clay, to make the designs. And vegetation to decorate. These slides are photos by Hans Sylvester, a photographer who spent 6 years photographing an ethnic group (men, women, children, elder... more
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ETHIOPIA: Cappuccino with condom
Bellissima, on bustling Gabon Street in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, could be just another upmarket café, except that each order comes with a packet of 'Sensation' condoms, and is served in 'Sensation' cups by staff wearing 'Sensation' T-shirts.
"I wanted to link business with a message for sexually active people," Bellissima's owner, Hayat Ahmed, 26, told IRIN/PlusNews. "I am the brand ambassador for 'Sensation' condoms in Ethiopia, and I want to spread the message that condoms can protect you from HIV/AIDS."
Hayat, a former beauty queen, has been involved in HIV/AIDS campaigns since she was crowned Miss Ethiopia in 2003 and subsequently named an HIV/AIDS ambassador.
Her face adorns billboards and she regularly appears on Ethiopia's only television station promoting condom use. "When I walk down the road even children recognise me," she said. "But they do not call me Hayat; they call me 'Sensation'."
Modelled on 'condom bars' in Asia, Bellissima handed out six boxes of condoms, each containing 48 packets of three-in-a-pack, within two days of opening its doors.
The free condoms have elicited mixed reactions, with older patrons tending not to like the idea, while younger ones love it and sometimes ask for a second packet.
"We have had young people come in and ask 'Is it true that you actually give free condoms?' and when we say, 'yes', their faces brighten up and they quickly order," said one waiter. "But we have also had people who get shocked when we bring the bill with a condom, some saying we are promoting immorality."
Guests do not have to take the packs home when they leave the restaurant. "It is your choice to take it or leave it," Hayat said. "We also plan to set up condom vending machines in the toilets."
Her campaign is supported by social marketing groups such as the non-profit organisation, DKT-Ethiopia, which sold almost 60 million condoms in 2007 and also launched a coffee-flavoured version of Sensation condoms. Ethiopia is widely thought to be the birthplace of coffee and is drunk nationally.
Hayat intends to open more cafés in the capital and other towns, and continue promoting various anti-HIV strategies, including abstinence and faithfulness. She might even expand the 'condom bars' concept to other African countries.
"A lot of people in Ethiopia are ashamed of talking about or using condoms," said. "Yet some companies put condoms in their toilets and when you go to look, each day, the boxes are empty. I don't care if the condoms are used behind closed doors or in public – as long as many people use them."
Ethiopia's HIV prevalence is estimated at over two percent among sexually active people aged 15 to 49. A report by the Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office in March noted that between 2000 and 2005, condom use among males increased from 30.3 percent to 51.9 percent, and among females from 13.4 percent to 23.6 percent.
According to Ethiopian government data, half the public sector institutions and 20 percent of private businesses have mainstreamed HIV/AIDS prevention in their operational policies.
However, Philopos Petros, head of the Ethiopian Civil Service College's HIV/AIDS management unit, noted that "There are still educated people exposed to HIV and dying of AIDS," and said greater awareness was necessary.
"One person cannot change the world, but I want to make a contribution," Hayat said. "I have a name and the will, and I will use that." Bellissima, on bustling Gabon Street in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, could be just another upmarket café, except that each orde... more -
Ethiopia's new famine: 'A ticking time bomb'
By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY KONSO, Ethiopia - Once, the farmers walked for hours to bring their sorghum and maize here to market. These days they trod the same paths, parched grass crunching under foot, to carry their starving children to a feeding clinic.
Like crops, the children are weighed (in a nylon harness seat attached to a scale) and measured (with a tape to record arm circumference). The most severely malnourished are kept overnight for up to a month; the rest go home with a week's supply of Plumpy'nut, a nutritional paste By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY KONSO, Ethiopia - Once, the farmers walked for hours to bring their sorghum and maize here to market. These... more -
Ethiopia's new famine: "a toxic cocktail"
Ethiopia, perennially one of the world's hungriest nations, now faces what Oxfam, one of dozens of international aid organizations responding to the crisis, calls "a toxic cocktail."
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Its ingredients: drought that in some places killed the entire spring crop; global inflation that has doubled the price of food; armed rebellion in the Somali region that has disrupted food delivery; and assorted plagues, from insects to hailstones.
At least 14 million Ethiopians — 18% of the nation — need food aid (much of it from the USA) or cash assistance, according to government figures and aid agency estimates.
Since 1985 the population has doubled to almost 80 million, and per-capita farm production has declined. Meanwhile, the global cost of raising and moving food keeps rising.
It all makes Ethiopia's hunger "a ticking time bomb," says Peter Walker, a Tufts University famine special.
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The hunger has spread across two-thirds of Ethiopia, from the slums of Addis Ababa to the parched countryside around Konso to the "green hunger" region where the rains came only after the spring growing season.
The nation's emergency grain reserve is tapped out, and last month the emergency food ration was reduced by one-third. The government says 75,000 children are severely malnourished. Some people are eating cactus, roots and other famine foods.
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This is a very interesting artcle. Click on the link for more on this article and a video. Share your thoughts on this story. Ethiopia, perennially one of the world's hungriest nations, now faces what Oxfam, one of dozens of international aid organization... more -
Green famine in Ethiopia
Guardian: The rains have come, the land is lush but Ethiopians still go hungry.
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ETHIOPIA-SOMALIA: Drought, fighting worsens situation of "Ogaden refugees...
Drought and recent fighting around the town of Beletweyne, in central Somalia's Hiiraan region, have aggravated the plight of at least 1,000 Ethiopian refugee families, who were already facing acute food shortages, local sources told IRIN.
Most of these refugees, living in camps for the displaced in Bilis-did and Bulo-korah (on the outskirts of Beletweyne), are Somalis from Ogaden in Ethiopia's Somali region. They fled in 1977 during the war between Ethiopia and Somalia.
"Most of us fled from Kumisar, Afdub, Rebo, Omar Don and Dhur-dher locations in Kalafe district of the Somali region of Ethiopia," Kamis Abdi Day, an elder of the two camps, told IRIN. "We were farming communities; some of us fled during the war while others arrived following the drought that hit the region."
The refugees are also known as the Rer Shabelle, meaning families who live alongside River Shabelle. Before the latest fighting in Beletweyne, they survived by doing manual work in the town and in farms surrounding the camps.
"It seems the international community forgot us when Siad Barre was overthrown," Day said.
With the recent fighting, Day said, most of the displaced were unable to earn their keep as markets were closed and movement impeded.
"We are now facing starvation and malnutrition," he said.
Day said the group used to receive international aid during the Barre administration; he was ousted in 1991.
"Things changed with Barre's removal from office; since then, we have not gotten much help; only ACPO [a local NGO] has supplied us with some food. We could not flee the latest hostility [in Beletweyne] because we are poor people and we don't know where to go."
A journalist based in Beletweyne, who requested anonymity, said the refugee situation was deteriorating.
"They have not had much to eat since fighting [between insurgents and government forces] erupted in the region," the journalist said.
Despite the presence of local partners of UN agencies, the Ethiopian refugees in Bilis-did and Bulo-korah camps were not receiving any aid, the journalist said.
The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR-Somalia, confirmed that the groups were considered "persons of concern", although they were not receiving specific assistance from UN relief agencies as refugees, aside from general assistance programmes for vulnerable communities in the area. Drought and recent fighting around the town of Beletweyne, in central Somalia's Hiiraan region, have aggravated the plight of at ... more -
Green famine in Ethiopia
The rains have come, the land is lush but Ethiopians still go hungry.
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Somalia bombing 'kills 15 women'
A roadside bomb has killed at least 15 people in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, reports the BBC.
The explosion hit a group of women gathered to clean the street, witnesses said. They told of bloody scenes with several dozen people injured.
One witness told the AFP agency most of the dead were female street cleaners.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but tensions are high in Mogadishu as Ethiopian troops battle Islamist insurgents.
"They were cleaning the street when this huge explosion rocked the entire neighbourhood," eyewitness Hasan Abdi Mohamed told the AFP news agency.
"I counted 15 bodies, most of them are women who were torn to pieces," he added.
The UN says 1.5 million people have fled after recent fighting.
Somalia's opposition groups, which include Islamists ousted from power in 2006, are opposed to Ethiopian troops remaining in Somalia.
According to one estimate, more than 8,000 civilians have been killed and one million forced from their homes since the start of last year by fighting between the interim government and the insurgents.
Has the rest of the world forgotten about Somalia? Is it any worse that civilian women simply cleaning the streets were killed in this attack? A roadside bomb has killed at least 15 people in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, reports the BBC. ... more -
Ethiopians still going hungry in 'green famine' despite rains and lush g...
Land in south-west Ethiopia is green, fertile and lush but this area is in the grip of the worst 'green famine' it has experienced in decades. Severe malnutrition can be found in many of the villages in the region.
The lushness of the land masks a near total crop failure across the district. More than 90% of the people here are smallholder farmers, surviving on twice-yearly harvests of maize and root crops. For them the poor harvests of 2007 and the repeated failure of the crucial March-May rains have spelled disaster.
In recent weeks the rain has arrived but it is too late. While the countryside is transformed into a sea of green, 50% of farmland lies uncultivated. So many livestock died in the recent drought that farmers are struggling to plant maize by hand. For those who have managed to get a crop down, it won't be harvested until September, and then production is expected to be low.
For the past three or four months, many families here have resorted to living on the roots of the "false banana" tree. When boiled the roots create a white and stringy substance that fills the stomach but is largely nutritionally deficient.
"This is the most desperate situation I have ever seen," says Teshfana Elias, a 20-year-old community health worker. "You can see that many people here are very ill from food shortages. Those most severely affected children are now getting help, but the number of malnourished children is growing all the time and this is a real concern.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has calculated that across Ethiopia the price of maize has increased by 100% and wheat by 40% since the end of last year, with prices set to keep rising.
Recent price hikes mean that after the crops failed again earlier this year, families are now unable to afford to buy the staple foods they need to keep going.
Is Ethiopia heading for another massive famine crisis? Or is it already there? What can people from wealthier countries do to affect grain prices? Land in south-west Ethiopia is green, fertile and lush but this area is in the grip of the worst 'green famine' it has exper... more -
Human development: Child mortality stays high despite India's boom
Four in every 10 children in India are malnourished despite the country's economy growing at an average rate of 9% a year, one of the world's leading development economists warned yesterday.
Kevin Watkins, who edited the UN's human development report, said that despite growing prosperity brought on by a sustained boom, child malnourishment in India is higher than in Ethiopia and well above the African average of 28%.
"India dominates the world hunger league," he said. "Economists like to debate the factors behind India's spectacular take-off. Perhaps they should be asking how a country can grow so fast with such a limited impact on child hunger."
Watkins's warning follows comments by India's finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, who said last week that he wanted India to become an "economic superpower".
"I have no hesitation in saying that I do not envy China," he said. "I want to emulate China. I want India to become an economic power, an economic superpower."
When it comes to economic growth, India is a long way ahead of Bangladesh but when it come to child survival rates, it lags behind. According to Watkins, an Oxford academic, Bangladesh has been cutting child deaths at a rate some 50% higher than in India. If India, where there are about 1.1 billion people, had matched Bangladesh's record on child mortality since 1990 there would be about 200,000 fewer child deaths this year.
"Both Bangladesh and Nepal are far poorer than India, but India has a higher child death rate than either," said Watkins.
Poverty has also been falling far more slowly in India than in other high-growth developing countries, such as Vietnam and Brazil. Watkins believes that part of the problem is that the benefits of growth have been "highly skewed".
"While wealth has been flooding into urban areas and middle-class suburbs, it has been trickling down in small doses to rural areas, poor states in the north of the country, rural labourers and low-caste groups," he said.
Watkins also criticised India's public health system. He said that India's children did not receive the basic medication they so badly need such as immunisation, drugs for treating childhood diarrhoea and nutritional supplements. "Fewer than half of India's children are fully immunised and the share has barely changed in a decade," he added.
Gender inequalities are also still rife in India, with boys getting access to food and medicine before girls, according to Watkins. "Being born a girl carries high risks: it raises the chance of premature death between the ages of one and four by about one-third," he said.
India's government needs to become seriously committed to more equitable growth, strengthened provision of public services in health and action to tackle disparities based on gender, wealth and caste, the report said.
"Market indicators on economic growth, investments and exports tell us something important about the state of the economy," Watkins said. "When it comes to people, child death rates, literacy, public health and the capacity of all people to participate in society is what counts." Four in every 10 children in India are malnourished despite the country's economy growing at an average rate of 9% a year, one of... more -
Millions to starve in East Africa
"The cost of food has escalated by up to 500% in some places, leaving people who have suffered drought after drought in utter destitution," says Oxfam's Rob McNeil, who has just returned from the Somali and Afar regions of Ethiopia.
"Some of the roads we travelled on were littered with dead livestock. There is little or no pasture or water for the animals that people rely upon. People are increasingly becoming desperate.
"I saw people in one village reduced to pounding the food pellets intended for their animals into porridge to feed their families. We fear that the worst could be yet to come as the crisis deteriorates across East Africa."
They reckon 9-14 million people could go hungry.
There's more at the link. "The cost of food has escalated by up to 500% in some places, leaving people who have suffered drought after drought in utter des... more -
Treating Thousands of Malnourished Children In Ethiopia
In the past month Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has admitted more than 4,000 severely malnourished children into its nutritional programs in the Oromiya and Southern Nations and Nationalities People’s regions (SNNPR) of southern Ethiopia. On May 13, MSF set up a stabilization center to provide 24-hour medical care to severely malnourished children suffering from complications such as malaria or pneumonia in Ropi, Oromiya region. Since then two more centers have been set up in Senbete Shinquille and Shashemene, Oromiya region. In total 927 children have been admitted to these three centers, with 290 currently receiving care.
Many of them are suffering from kwashiorkor—a form of edema caused by malnutrition, which manifests in liquid retention in the legs and feet. Kwashiorkor is a serious condition that can lead to death from heart failure or other complications.
Children who are not suffering from complications are treated on an outpatient basis in outpatient therapeutic programs. They are provided with therapeutic food on a weekly basis, but are able to stay at home with their families. They return to these outpatient centers every week to be monitored by MSF medical staff and can be referred to a stabilization centre if necessary. In Oromiya MSF has eleven such outpatient centers in various locations throughout the region.
On June 2, MSF teams also started working in the Kambata zone of SNNPR. One stabilization center has been set up in Kachabira district. As of June 13, 150 children were receiving medical care there. Four outpatient centers have also been established; two in Kachabira district and two in Hadero district. In the last two weeks, more than 900 severely malnourished children have been admitted into these programs and are receiving therapeutic food.
In the coming days MSF will continue to expand its activities by increasing the number of outpatient centers in both Oromiya and SNNPR. In addition, MSF teams will continue to carry out assessments in order to identify the worst affected areas and respond where necessary.
The above is from the site for MSF:
http://doctorswithoutborders.org In the past month Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has admitted more than 4,000 severely malnourished children i... more
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