Food aid distribution in drought-hit areas still inadequate

The distribution of food and other relief items in drought-affected areas of Ethiopia has remained inadequate, and donors need to expedite food deliveries to avert shortages before the end this month, a famine-alert agency said on Thursday. "Food aid carry-over and new pledges meet only 64 percent of Ethiopia's May-December 2004 assessed needs [and] donors need to expedite deliveries to avoid a shortage of physical supplies before the end of June," the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) said in a report. It said only 174,286 mt of food, or 57 percent of the total required, had been delivered to those in need between January and April 2004, and that pockets of acute malnutrition remained throughout the country. According to FEWS Net, several consecutive years of drought and incomplete recovery from previous livelihood shocks have weakened the resilience of many rural Ethiopian households, leaving them unable to meet their food consumption needs without outside help. The revised Humanitarian Appeal for Ethiopia, adjusted in February, concluded that 7.1 million people would require 872,301 mt of emergency food assistance during 2004. In addition, non-food requirements in agriculture, livestock, health, nutrition, water and sanitation for the year were estimated at US $85 million. "The survival of extremely food-insecure households during the 'hunger period' in June-August will be determined in large part by the actions of donor agencies and the government," said FEWS Net. "At a minimum, already-pledged resources must be delivered on time in order to reduce uncertainties and fluctuations of income sources of these food-insecure households." The report said surveys conducted between November 2003 and April 2004 had also showed that in eight of 17 woredas (districts), Global Acute Malnutrition rates met or exceeded 10 percent, a situation defined as "serious" by the Ethiopian Emergency Nutrition Assessment Guideline standards. "Notably, the rates in Somali region exceed the critical intervention threshold of 15 percent, indicating an emergency situation," it said, adding that the areas of greatest concern included the entire Somali region, Gurage and Silti zones of the Southern region, and the resettlement sites.