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Global Food Crisis in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is suffering a new kind of food crisis, caused by a lethal combination of drought, and rocketing food prices. Crops have failed, animals are dying, and families are unable to afford basic staples such as corn and wheat, which have risen in price by over 175% in the past few months.

According to the Ethiopian government, 75,000 children under five are severely malnourished and will die if they don’t receive emergency treatment. A total of 11.8 million people, around 5.5 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The following film includes footage taken at a Save the Children Feeding Centre in Ethiopia and translated interviews

Watch the video 

Our work

Save the Children’s 800-strong team is working to help nearly 900,000 people in four of the worst affected regions in Ethiopia: SNNPR, Somali, Afar, Amhara. We have launched an appeal for US$20 million to support the needs of children across the country.

To date

  • We have established 13 emergency feeding programmes in four regions which currently provide around 4,301 children with high-energy foods as part of an intensive feeding programme.
  • Save the Children has trained more than 80 health professionals (nurses, clinical officers etc) and 150 health workers and is running an outreach programme for 300 community volunteers who are working to identify malnourished children in their communities
  • We are helping around 250,000 children and their families to keep their animals alive by providing veterinary drugs and animal feed.
  • We are setting up work schemes which will provide parents with a way to earn food and money

How you can help

Your money can help Save the Children provide life-saving assistance to hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian children.

  • 20p will buy one sachet of oral rehydration salts for a malnourished child
  • £1 will buy a litre of vegetable oil for a family
  • £10 will cover one month emergency nutrition feeding for a malnourished child
  • £30 will feed a family of five for a month
  • £90 will buy six goats for a poor family to provide milk and meat for their children and sell the surplus for extra income
  • £1,500 will build a well that can provide water for 500 people and 4000 animals

Donate to Save the Children's Ethiopia Food Crisis Emergency Appeal online or by calling 0800 8148 148 in the UK, or find your national Save the Children organisation.

More information 

HTML fileLearn more about our response in Ethiopia