Tag: ethiopia

Severe child malnutrition increasing in Tigray: UN

by Robbie COREY-BOULET ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — The number of young children admitted to hospital suffering from severe malnutrition in Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region has doubled this year over 2020, the UN said Thursday, as escalating fighting thr, eatens to further hamper the aid response. “Some 18,600 children under the age of five in Tigray have been admitted for treatment for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) from February to August this year compared to 8,900 […]

Medical supply shortages fuel deaths in Tigray: UN

by Robbie COREY-BOULET ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Medical supply shortages are having fatal consequences in Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region, with patients succumbing to post-partum haemorrhage or dying for lack of dialysis equipment, the UN’s emergency-response agency said on Thursday. The latest situation report from the agency comes one week after Ethiopia expelled seven senior UN officials over accusations of “meddling”, exacerbating concerns about the humanitarian response in a region where hundreds of thousands reportedly […]

UN reports ‘unprecedented’ malnutrition in Tigray

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — The UN warned of “unprecedented” malnutrition among pregnant and lactating women in Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region, in a report published hours after the government sparked outrage by expelling senior UN officials. The latest situation report from the UN’s humanitarian coordination office, posted online late Thursday, also described “alarming” malnutrition among children as fears of mass starvation grow nearly 11 months after northern Ethiopia erupted in conflict. “Of the more than […]

Over 90% in Ethiopia’s Tigray need emergency food aid: UN

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — More than 90 percent of people in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region need emergency food aid, the United Nations said Tuesday, as it appealed for over $200 million to scale up its response. The UN World Food Programme voiced alarm that the conflict had caused an increase in hunger levels which were already high in Tigray. “A total of 5.2 million people, equivalent to 91 percent of Tigray’s population, need emergency food […]

‘Alarming’ malnutrition in Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray: MSF

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Doctors Without Borders on Wednesday described “alarming” malnutrition in parts of Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region and said the situation was likely to worsen with the coming rainy season. The medical charity, known by its French initials MSF, said residents were struggling to access food distribution points and lamented that the aid response “hardly ever extends beyond larger towns” to Tigray’s rural areas. “MSF teams are observing alarming levels of malnutrition […]

DFA to Filipinos: Avoid non-essential travel to Tigray region, N. Ethiopia

(Eagle News)–The Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Filipinos to avoid non-essential travel to the Tigray region in Northern Ethiopia. In issuing the advisory, the Philippine Embassy noted the ongoing unrest in the region, and the six-month state of emergency declared there. According to media reports, tensions between the government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front have escalated, with both sides accusing the other of using military force. “Filipinos in Ethiopia, particularly those living in […]

Highest Nile waters for a century swamp Sudan

by Sammy Ketz Agence France-Presse KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — On Sudan’s Tuti Island, where the Blue and White Nile meet, the highest river waters since records began have left people struggling to hold back the rising floods. Wedged between the twin cities of Khartoum and Omdurman, people on Tuti fill bags with sand and small stones in an often futile bid to stop the lapping water from swamping their homes. The world’s longest river is […]

UN urges Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan to ‘work together’ in Nile dam dispute

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN on Monday urged Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to “work together” to resolve differences over Addis Ababa’s Nile River mega-dam which has been a long-running source of regional tension. At Egypt’s request, the Security Council was scheduled to hold an informal videoconference Monday afternoon to address the dispute. Recent talks failed to produce a deal on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which will […]

Filipino-designed handwashers help battle coronavirus in Ethiopia

(Eagle News) – A team of Filipino engineers and teachers developed a pedal-operated handwasher to help combat COVID-19 in Ethiopia, according tothe Department of Foreign Affairs. The Filipino team “conceptualized a mechanically-operated technology that performs even without electricity and can be conveniently positioned in crowded places”, the DFA said in a statement. Filipino-Designed Pedal-Operated Handwashers Help Combat COVID-19 in Ethiopia: https://t.co/RZzDlLjcYr A team of Filipino engineers and teachers developed a handwashing technology to counter the […]

Locust invasion creates food crisis for 1 million Ethiopians: UN

ADIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Swarms of locusts in Ethiopia have damaged 200,000 hectares (half a million acres) of cropland and driven around a million people to require emergency food aid, the United Nations said Monday. The findings from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which recently concluded a joint assessment with the Ethiopian government, come as the region is bracing for new swarms that could be even more destructive. Billions of desert locusts, […]

Uganda army fights voracious desert locusts

By Michael O’HAGAN Agence France-Presse OTUKE, Uganda (AFP) — Under a warm morning sun scores of weary soldiers stare as millions of yellow locusts rise into the northern Ugandan sky, despite hours spent spraying vegetation with chemicals in an attempt to kill them. From the tops of shea trees, fields of pea plants and tall grass savanna, the insects rise in a hypnotic murmuration, disappearing quickly to wreak devastation elsewhere. The soldiers and agricultural officers will […]

Locusts the latest curse of East Africa weather extremes

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – Fran BLANDY Billions of locusts swarming through East Africa are the result of extreme weather swings and could prove catastrophic for a region still reeling from drought and deadly floods, experts said Friday. Dense clouds of the ravenous insects have spread from Ethiopia and Somalia into Kenya, in the region’s worse infestation in decades. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated one swarm in Kenya at around 2,400 square kilometres […]