$1.48 billion

Ethiopia needs 1.48 billion dollars to provide humanitarian assistance to over 10 million people affected by drought through December 2016, according to a newly released national emergency estimates. The number of people suffering from moderate acute malnutrition has jumped by half a million to 2.2 million, resulting in revision of the Humanitarian Requirement Document (HRD), which now shows that 3.3 million farmers require additional seed supplies – an increase by half. The number of people expected to face severe acute malnutrition in the upcoming months, particularly June to August, has also increased by 20,000 to 450,000 people. Though the situation remains grave, there are several differences to be noted in contrast to Ethiopia’s experience of drought in the past and the mechanisms in place for relief, according to Jeremy Konyndyk, (right) director of USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA).
“This drought is a disaster, but it need not be catastrophic,” Konyndyk said during a press conference held at the Marriott Hotel on Saturday, March 19, 2016, alongside David Keneddy, public affairs officer of the US Embassy in Addis. “We’re in possession of specialized feeding products, techniques and technologies that were not available during the 1984 drought. We’re able to contain malnutrition cases [preventing them] from becoming fatal.”
OFDA is in the process of coming up with a more effective mechanism paying for relief operations, Jeremy added, promising to make the trip to Washington to decide on the next steps. USAID humanitarian funding for the drought crisis currently stands at more than half a billion dollars.