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Ethiopia’s drought survivors need urgent help to avert health crisis – UN

Ethiopia’s drought survivors need urgent help to avert health crisis – UN

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The United Nations humanitarian wing reported today that a critical water shortage in Ethiopia’s Somali region is threatening the health of the local communities who are being forced to use abandoned ponds and wells for drinking water, which may increase the risk of water-borne diseases.

Regional authorities and humanitarian partners are appealing for a resumption of emergency water tankering interventions to avert a further deterioration of the situation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The water shortage in Warder, Gode, Afder, Shinille and Degehabur areas of the region is expected to continue until the next rainy season in mid-October.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the prolonged drought’s impact on livestock has been compounded by the migration into Ethiopia of unusually large herds of cattle, camels, goats and sheep from drought-hit areas of neighbouring Somalia and Kenya.

Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners are continuing to help roll out a targeted feeding programme by providing technical assistance and supplies.

In recent weeks, the agency has dispatched 47 metric tons of ready-to-use therapeutic feeding to health bureaus – enough to treat 4,447 children for one month.