Mr. Martti
Ahtisaari to visit Ethiopia
The UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Horn
of Africa drought, Mr. Martti Ahtisaari, is returning for a further visit to
the Horn in early April. After visiting Eritrea, he is expected in Ethiopia on
2 April and departs on 6 April. Preparations are being made for a field visit.
The mission will be accompanied by representatives from WFP, UNICEF, OCHA and a
special assistant.
start of short
rains reported from several parts of the country
Signs of the start of the
short season "Belg" rains have been reported in recent days from
several parts of the country, beginning 15 March. Forecasts for the
"Belg" season are for normal to below normal rainfall for western
parts of the country and normal to above normal rains in the rest of the
country. However, unseasonale rains in the last two weeks of January were used
by farmers in some areas to plant "Belg" crops early, but with
delayed normal short season rain, wilting has been reported, and replanting may
be necessary. Pastoral areas of southern Somali Region expect "Gu"
season rains beginning April; widespread and increasing water shortage problems
across the Region are currently reported. While water shortage is normal during
the dry "Jilaal" season, the situation is being carefully monitored
in areas where water tankering interventions may be required. Food
distributions continue in Somali Region to approximately 1 million people.
Nationally, planned beneficiaries numbers for March total 4.7 million people.
UNICEF Country
Representative and Head of OCHA meet with SNNPR President
The UNICEF Country
Representative and Head of OCHA met the SNNPR President on 16 March as well as
other senior regional government officials to discuss future UN support and
coordination arrangements. The
President fully supports that the Rural Development Coordination Bureau assume
responsibility for a broad coordination forum of humanitarian and development
partners in the region for 2004. While
emergency coordination support is phased down, WFP, UNICEF, and other UN
agencies are shifting significant activities to longer term approaches for
assistance.
Livestock
situation in Oromiya and Afar regions
Two teams of livestock
experts from FAO and MoA visited Oromiya and Afar region in February and March
2004. The objective of the missions was to observe the livestock emergency
/recovery situation in the regions following the 2002/2003 drought. The the
Afar region team reported that water and pasture availability has improved as a
result of near normal rainfall in 2003. However, livestock in some pocket areas
such as Afambo, Dubti, Elidar, Ewaa, Awash Fentale, Bure Mudaytu and Gewane are
exposed to feed shortage due to insufficient rains in 2003, bush encroachment
and incidence of flood. The team also reported a very serious shortage of
vaccines and drugs in the region which might prevent timely control of disease
outbreaks. Similarly the Oromiya team region reported that the overall
livestock situation is much better than the previous two years, particularly in
the highland woredas. However some
parts of lowland areas of East and West Hararghe, North, East and West Shoa,
Arsi, Bale and East Wollega received less than satisfactory rains and are at
risk of disease and parasite outbreaks.
The most crucial problem in the delivery of animal health service is the
poor drug and vaccine supply system in the region, which is reported to have
deteriorated following the recent decentralization process. The interventions
recommended include the improvement of the drug and vaccine supply and the
diagnostic capacity of woreda veterinary clinics.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMMUNIzATION ACTIVITIES
(SIA) IN oROMIYA and bENSHANGUL Regions
Over a period of 14 months (Nov 2002 – Dec 2003) more
than 20 million children between 6 months and 14 years of age had received
measles vaccination and a dose of Vitamin A in 41 Zones of Ethiopia. This
achievement was made possible by the close cooperation of members of the
Interagency Coordination Committee (ICC) made up of the Federal Ministry of
Health (MoH), UNICEF, WHO and Donors. As a result, there was no major Measles
outbreak in the country throughout 2003, in spite of the increased children’s
vulnerability brought on by the recent drought. This year’s national
vaccination campaign kicks off in late March, when 3,204,790 children will be
targeted for measles vaccination in Oromiya and nearly half will receive one
dose of Vitamin A. In the Benshangul-Gumuz region, 296,178 children will be
targeted for measles vaccination and 120,605 will receive one dose of Vitamin A.
All funding and needed supplies (operational costs, vaccines, Vitamin A,
syringes, safe-disposal boxes and scissors) have been delivered by UNICEF and
WHO to each zone, and the field activities will take approximately 7 days at
each site. Over 6 million more children will be targeted for measles
vaccinations between April and June, to finally crown the national measles
target of more than 31 million children vaccinated over 20 months (2002-2004).
resettlement working group returns from
initial rapid assessment
The
UN/Donor/World Bank resettlement working group, which is facilitated by OCHA,
will meet on 24 March to discuss the findings from the initial rapid assessment
of the resettlement situation. 9 teams comprising 34 staff from 5 UN agencies,
3 donors and IOM are currently visiting four resettlement regions (SNNPR,
Amhara, Oromiya and Tigray) to test the monitoring framework and ascertain the
current humanitarian situation.