The Drought in Ethiopia - Responding to the crisis

Tens of thousands of children are facing the prospect of a slow death by starvation in the Horn of Africa. Despite recent rains, a two-year drought has already killed half the livestock and UNICEF fears that the nomadic pastoralists and their children who roam the vast region could be next. ?There is a population of about 40,000 children under the age of five who are so acutely malnourished at this stage that they need sustained help,? said UNICEF Emergency Communication Officer Gordon Weiss. ?Otherwise they face the very real prospect of death in the coming months.? Launching a multimedia report, 'Child Alert: Crisis in the Horn of Africa', as well as a funding appeal for $80 million, UNICEF seeks to heighten awareness of the drought crisis. UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah said today that recent heavy rain had actually deepened the crisis in some areas, while providing limited relief in others. ?This drought has killed up to half the animal population of pastoralists in the Horn of Africa,? said Ms. Salah. ?Rain doesn?t bring that back. A pastoralist without a herd is like a farmer without seeds ? no longer a pastoralist, just a human being struggling to find food, clean water, shelter and a way to earn money to keep his children alive.?