Emergencies

Alemeneshe Gedamu and her daughter, Ayalnesh, 12 months. Alemeneshe Gedamu. 32, carries her daughter, Ayalnesh, 12 months, in Amhara region in Ethiopia’s northern highlands. (Copyright: Guy Calaf/Save the Children, International Save the Children Alliance)

Ethiopia Food Crisis

 A combination of drought and escalating food prices has left 4.6 million people urgently in need of food. Around 759,000 of these are children under the age of five, a group which is particularly vulnerable to the effects of malnutrition.

Save the Children is appealing for US$20 million to help around 900,000 people, including 325,000 children in Ethiopia, who are bearing the brunt of the food crisis.

Poor families are having to resort to drastic measures so they can feed themselves, such as selling tools and animals and taking their children out of school to save costs. Families in the poorest areas have no food, with children struggling to survive on nettles.

With over 800 people on the ground, Save the Children has launched a major emergency response in six of the worst affected areas in Ethiopia to deliver life-saving health, nutrition, agricultural, sanitation and child protection assistance to suffering communities.

View the Ethiopia photo essay

 

Our response includes:

  • running emergency feeding centres, to provide around 48,000 children with high-energy foods as part of an intensive feeding programme.
  • helping around 250,000 children and their families to keep their animals alive by providing veterinary drugs and animal feed.
  • setting up work schemes which will provide parents with a way to earn food and money.
  • providing emergency health care, clean water, and sanitation items such as soap to nearly 160,000 children.
  • providing school materials and safe play spaces for at least 25,000 children, so they can lead as normal a life as possible.
  • Long-term investment by international donors is also needed to ensure that more people do not become vulnerable before the next harvest.

Children are always the most at risk in a food crisis, vulnerable to weight loss, malnutrition and illness. Ethiopian children, who are going hungry because their parents can’t afford to feed them, will be among the first victims of the global food price rises.

Around 75,000 children are severely malnourished, and could die if they do not receive emergency treatment.   

 

Donate now to Ethiopia:

  • $2.60 will buy a litre of vegetable oil
  • $7.75 will buy 10 litres of spring water in remote rural areas
  • $25 will buy a female goat, which will provide ongoing nourishment for a family

  

What you can do:   

  • Donate Online
  • Call our toll free number 0800 167 168 to donate over the phone