UNICEF appeals for US $36 million

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has appealed for an additional US $35.93 million to save the lives of Ethiopia's most vulnerable children. UNICEF estimates that half a million Ethiopian children die every year from malnutrition and disease. Much of the country has previously suffered from little rainfall and poor harvests. "During drought situations, UNICEF's water and sanitation programme is important as food to ensure child survival, yet it is short of its funding target," UNICEF said on Monday. Another area that would benefit from the appeal is the Enhanced Outreach Strategy, a UNICEF partnership with the UN World Food Programme and the Ethiopian government that targets 6.8 million children under five, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers in 325 drought-affected districts. UNICEF said the strategy's child survival package - delivered twice a year - included vitamin A supplementation, de-worming, measles catch-up, nutritional screening, referral to supplementary or therapeutic feeding programmes and bednets to prevent malaria. The agency had appealed for about $54.7 million for Ethiopia's most vulnerable children during 2005: $15 million for water and sanitation work, $39.7 million for health and nutrition. Halfway through the year, under 75 percent had been funded. UNICEF's representative in Ethiopia, Bjorn Ljungqvist, said in July: "There is a growing idea that these are 'normal' levels of child deaths and malnutrition for Ethiopia - that this is the 'usual' situation. There is nothing 'normal' about 500,000 children dying every year."