UNICEF says nearly one crore people in areas affected by severe drought need urgent humanitarian assistance.
Monsignor Joji Vadakara, Vatican City
The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has stated that nearly one billion people, including 44 million children, are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia, which is facing severe drought. The lack of rainfall in the last four seasons has created severe drought in Ethiopia’s Afar and Oromia regions. Many wells in the country dried up and millions of cattle died.
Manuel Fontaine, director of emergency operations at UNICEF, said the current “drought’s impact on children is devastating”. “More than 900,000 people have been displaced in the Somali region alone. The drought is not only creating a lack of water. The drought is causing people, including children, to suffer from hunger and thirst, forcing them to walk for kilometers in search of food and water,” the UNICEF representative said. .
But Fontaine explained that this crisis caused by climate change is causing drought and malnutrition, but this is not only felt in Ethiopia, but in all countries in Africa.
The war in Ukraine threatens even the food security of families in Africa, the UNICEF representative said, adding that rising fuel prices and reduced grain imports are adding to the current food insecurity. 67 percent of the country’s grain imports come from Russia and Ukraine.
In addition to an earlier request of $351 million, UNICEF is requesting nearly $65 million for drought-affected areas in Ethiopia.