UN relief official arrives in Eritrea as drought crisis worsens

A top United Nations relief official arrived in Eritrea today in a bid to shore up a funding shortfall in an emergency appeal for the east African country, where the most severe effects of a drought are increasingly evident, with more than 1 in 5 children suffering from malnutrition.

UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Carolyn McAskie will take a first hand look at the humanitarian situation in Eritrea following a UN World Food Programme (WFP) report last week that the rate of malnutrition in children had risen to an “alarming” 21.7 per cent.

Ms. McAskie will encourage support for the 2003 UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Eritrea. To date, humanitarian agencies have received 43 per cent of the $157 million required under the appeal, leaving a shortfall of some $90 million, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The shortfall is having serious consequences. The WFP has had to reduce the size of its rations because only roughly half the amount it requires to help 1.4 million of Eritrea's 3.4 million people has been received. Though 225,000 tones of food out of the 476,000 tones required have been pledged, only 90,000 tones have actually reached the country.

OCHA said shortfalls in contributions to water sector activities have increased caloric expenditure in children – responsible for gathering water – when they can least afford it. They also mean that programmes to combat food insecurity in the long term – funded at just 27 per cent in the appeal – have not been implemented as agencies focus on short-term emergency needs.

Tomorrow, Ms. McAskie is scheduled to visit the traditional cereal producing areas of Gash Barka and Debub. The drought shows little sign of improvement and spring rains have been insufficient. The UN will step up water trucking in the next three months in an attempt to alleviate some of the most urgent needs of the 1.7 million Eritreans facing water shortages.

Reports of total acute malnutrition rates reaching as high as 30 per cent in some areas are of great concern as malnourished children are far more likely to die from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea, anaemia, acute respiratory infections (ARI), measles or malaria. The UN and its humanitarian partners in Eritrea are therefore seeking to address those issues by targeting children for measles inoculation and Vitamin A campaigns in 2003. More than 5,000 children under the age of 5 will be targeted for therapeutic feeding each month.