Ethiopia: Number of people requiring relief food shot to 8.5 million

ESAT News (August 8, 2017)

Photo: Siegfried Modola/Reuters

Aid agencies and the Ethiopian regime say at least 8.5 million people will require relief food assistance in the second half of 2017, up from 5.6 million in January.

The new report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the revised net requirements to address identified food and non-food needs for the remainder of the year is US$487.7 million.

“At least 8.5 million people will require relief food assistance in the second half of 2017; some 3.6 million moderately malnourished children and pregnant and lactating mothers will require supplementary feeding; some 10.5 million people will require support for regular access to safe drinking water and some 2.2 million households will require livestock support,” according to the mid-year review document released by the government on Monday.

Humanitarian partners also estimate that 375,000 children will become severely acutely malnourished until the end of 2017.

The United States last week announced an additional $137 million funding for the 2017 humanitarian requirement in Ethiopia.