Ethiopia

In Ethiopia's Tigray region, 5.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. USAID is providing life-saving aid, including more than 206,000 metric tons of food.

Catholic Relief Services

Key Developments

Lack of fuel continues to constrain the humanitarian response across northern Ethiopia. In Tigray, relief actors have been unable to dispatch the necessary amount of aid from warehouses in the region's capital city of Mekele to areas of the region with acute needs. Moreover, concerns over fuel resulted in the closure of Mekele's airport from June 22.

Despite a decline in active fighting in northern Ethiopia since early 2022, conflict-related displacement continues to occur across Afar, Amhara, and Tigray.

As access to conflict-affected areas of Afar improves, a recent assessment identified significant needs in previously unreachable communities.

Conflict-related damage to health, nutrition, and WASH infrastructure and services, as well as inadequate rainfall and lack of access to food, have led to heightened levels of wasting in Afar in recent months.

Complex Emergency

Drought conditions following a third consecutive poor rainy season in late 2021 have affected 8 million people across southern and southeastern Ethiopia as of April, leading to critical water shortages and heightened needs for emergency food assistance.

Russia's war on Ukraine and the resultant disruption of global markets—including anticipated food shortages—will likely exacerbate already high levels of acute food insecurity in Ethiopia throughout 2022.

On April 26, the U.S. Government announced an estimated $43.7 million in additional funding to provide emergency food, health, nutrition, and WASH assistance to drought-affected populations in Ethiopia.

Background

Ethiopia is experiencing its second severe drought in less than two years. Insufficient rainfall during the 2017 rainy season has led to severe water shortages, catastrophic livestock losses, and failed crops throughout the country. The drought in southern Ethiopia comes as the country’s north and central highland communities continue to recover from a severe drought in 2016 triggered by multiple consecutive seasons of below-average rainfall and the effects of the 2015/2016 El Niño climatic event. In August 2017, the Government of Ethiopia estimated that 8.5 million people in the country would require humanitarian assistance through December, primarily due to increased drought-related needs in southern and southeastern parts of Ethiopia.

In addition to drought, populations across Ethiopia face other challenges that contribute to sustained humanitarian needs and an ongoing complex emergency—including above-average food prices, disease outbreaks, localized intercommunal conflict, seasonal flooding, and limited access to health and water, sanitation, and hygiene services.