Key Issues
With improved Belg Rains in most harvesting areas of the country partners redirect water trucking interventions to districts with poor performing Belg.
Reduction in AWD cases reported, but partners concerned with possible flare up with increased flooding from recent Belg rains.
Logistics Cluster activated to support Government acceleration of food distribution to affected populations
Ethiopia is responding to an El Niño-caused drought emergency: The El Niño global climactic event has wreaked havoc on Ethiopia’s summer rains. This comes on the heels of failed spring rains, and has driven food insecurity, malnutrition and water shortages in affected areas of the country. A well-coordinated response is already underway and expanding rapidly, although the scale of the developing emergency exceeds resources available to date. Given the lead times necessary for the procurement of relief items, the Government and its international partners have called for early action to this slow onset natural disaster
With Improved Belg Rains, Government Plans to Redirect Water Trucking to areas with Poor Rains
Rainfall in most parts of the Belg harvesting areas of the country have improved and according to the National Meteorological Agency (NMA) this improvement is expected through April and May. The Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is making preparations to harvest rain, and water trucking is being redirected to regions with less rain. Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR and Somali regional states are receiving sufficient amount of rains which will lead to significant contribution to Belg harvest, pasture, and drinking water.
Reduction in AWD cases, But Increase Reported in Affected Districts.
According to WHO, the number of Acute Watery Disease (AWD) cases reported from all Woredas is
decreasing except from Guji zone in Negele town and Liben woreda. The Federal Ministry of Health
(MOH), the Regional Health Board (RHB) and WHO have intensified support to the affected areas.
However, the number of districts reporting suspected and confirmed AWD is increasing.
To avoid a flare up in communities experiencing a reduction, and to reduce the transfer to other
woredas, partners are calling for more comprehensive surveillance, case management/treatment of
patients and risk communication. According to WHO, there are now ongoing outbreaks of the
disease in 15 districts, in Oromia, SNNPR and Somali regions. As of 13 April, 1,344 cases and 14
deaths (CFR 1.04%) have been reported. The recent flash floods in Afar, Amhara and Somali
regions, following heavy rains in the highland areas, can potentially increase the transmission of
water-borne and vector-borne disease, especially when there is population displacement and/or
water sources are compromised. WHO has started the roll-out of training on Early Warning and
Response System in priority Woredas to support the existing public health emergency management
system in providing real-time surveillance data, at all levels. This will promote early detection of
disease outbreaks, strengthen emergency nutritional surveillance and develop stronger links to
public health action through the initiation of timely and effective response efforts.
Logistic Cluster Activated to Support increased humanitarian needs
To support the Government and the humanitarian community supply chain capacity to meet the
increased humanitarian needs, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) activated the Logistics
Cluster for Ethiopia on 24 March 2016. Under the Government of Ethiopia National Disaster Risk
Management Commission (NDRMC) lead, WFP, as the global lead agency for the Logistics Cluster,
is working with the humanitarian community to identify logistics bottlenecks, propose mitigating
activities for overcoming these gaps, and support the Government and humanitarian partners to
ensure an efficient and effective logistics response. The Government approved an accelerated
schedule of distribution rounds to ensure that food assistance is delivered in a timely manner. So far
in 2016, three rounds of relief food assistance for 10.2 million people have been undertaken with
distributions ongoing. 10.2 million people in six regions are identified for emergency food assistance
in 2016. Of the total population in need of assistance, the Government’s National Disaster Risk
Management Commission (NDRMC), together with WFP, is assisting 7.6 million people with food
sourced from both the Government and WFP. The remaining beneficiary caseload (2.6 million
people) is covered by the Joint Emergency Operation Plan (JEOP) NGO consortium. For more
information, contact: ocha-eth@un.org.