Ethiopia is facing one of its most severe humanitarian crises in recent history, with millions of lives at risk due to widespread hunger, disease outbreaks, conflict, and climate-related challenges. As the situation continues to deteriorate, urgent action is needed to prevent further suffering and loss of life.

On April 16, 2024, global leaders and representatives from international organizations, UN agencies, NGOs, and civil society gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, for the High-level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Situation in Ethiopia. The event aimed to raise funds to support Ethiopia’s urgent humanitarian needs.

Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO Deputy Director-General, highlighted the critical situation in Ethiopia, particularly in regions like Tigray, Amhara, Afar, and Oromia. Widespread hunger, disease outbreaks, and infrastructure degradation due to conflict have left millions of people without access to essential services.

Ethiopia is grappling with multiple deadly outbreaks, including the largest cholera outbreak in its history, a significant increase in malaria cases, and a surge in measles cases. Dr. Kaluwa, Owen Laws, WHO Ethiopia representative, emphasized the critical situation in Ethiopia, where disease outbreaks are occurring in areas with limited access to healthcare, exacerbating the crisis. Despite concerted efforts by WHO and its partners to provide life-saving health services, funding shortfalls loom large, threatening to necessitate a scale-down of operations. With only a fraction of the required funding secured thus far, urgent additional support is imperative to sustain and expand operations and prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation. 

Investing in WHO and its health cluster partners is crucial to saving lives in Ethiopia. This includes sending mobile health and nutrition teams to remote areas, providing vaccinations to prevent disease outbreaks, and supporting health facilities in conflict-affected areas.

The High-level Pledging Event resulted in financial announcements totaling $610.1 million to support Ethiopia. However, more support is needed to address the escalating humanitarian crisis and prevent further suffering.

The humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia demands immediate attention and action from the international community. With millions of lives at stake, it is imperative to provide the necessary funding and resources to support life-saving efforts and alleviate the suffering of the Ethiopian people. Time is of the essence, and every contribution can make a difference in saving lives and rebuilding communities ravaged by conflict, hunger, and disease.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) – Ethiopia.

The World Bank is providing immediate support for millions of Malawians severely affected by the ongoing food security crisis. A quick-release of $57.6 million in innovative grant financing is designed to provide the country immediate liquidity through the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT-DDO1). This CAT-DDO support comes in the context of the severe food crisis the country is suffering due to El Niño conditions in the wider southern Africa region. Moreover, a series of intense disaster events over the last few years has left almost no time for the country to recover and has resulted in a severe erosion of food security at the national level.

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors in December 2023 approved the Malawi First Growth and Resilience Development Policy Operation of $80 million to support core structural reforms in the economy together with the $57.6 million CAT-DDO that could be triggered in the event of a natural disaster or crisis. Following the declaration of the national disaster by President Lazarus Chakwera on March 23, 2024, the World Bank has now made available the CAT-DDO resources.

“Malawi, together with the wider Southern Africa region, currently faces very serious food insecurity, impacting millions. This crisis comes as the country is struggling to stabilize its macro-economy and get on a path of inclusive growth. We are pleased the Government of Malawi had the foresight to lock in a CAT-DDO instrument when securing IDA budget support in late 2023: this innovation can help the Government of Malawi’s efforts to mitigate the impact on the most vulnerable,” says Hugh Riddell, World Bank Country Manager for Malawi.

Malawi’s ongoing food crisis is linked to the ongoing strong El Niño conditions which is driving rainfall deficits in southern districts and above-average rainfall in central and northern districts, resulting in flood events. Moreover, the number and severity of climate-related disasters in Malawi have increased in recent decades, with devastating consequences. Since 2010 alone, Malawi has experienced 16 major flooding events, five storm-related disasters, and two severe droughts. Climate change-related events are affecting vulnerable households and could increase poverty rates in the country, potentially pushing millions of people into poverty over the next 10 years. In the near term (by 2030) climate change shocks to the economy are projected to reduce GDP by 3-9%, growing to 6- 20% in 2040 and 8-16% by 2050 as the climate impacts intensify.

“We are pleased with the World Bank’s response to the call made by President Chakwera by providing additional budget resources under the CAT-DDO which will significantly leverage the support from other development partners and well-wishers as we intensify the mobilization of resources to respond to the food crisis caused by El Nino,” said Simplex Chithyola Banda, M.P. Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs.

Implementation of climate adaptation measures beyond those outlined in Vison 2063 will require that Malawi optimizes the use of the public resources and secures additional funds from other sources, especially the private sector. The Regional Climate Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa 2 (RCRP-2), approved by the World Bank in December 2023 aims at supporting improved disaster risk management, social protection systems and protects households from exposure to water-related climate shocks, including flooding and droughts. Overall, the recently approved Disaster Risk Management Act (2023) presents an opportunity to support the country’s shift from a disaster response approach to preparedness, risk reduction, and sustainable post-disaster recovery, aimed at addressing Malawi’s high level of risks.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The World Bank Group.

“We are deeply disturbed by reports of the killing of large numbers of civilians, including children, in several villages in the Yatenga and Soum provinces in northern Burkina Faso in recent months in an overall context of fighting between armed groups and Burkinabè forces.

While we have not been able to independently verify these reports due to lack of access, it is crucial that allegations of such serious violations and abuses by various actors are brought to light and that the transitional authorities promptly undertake thorough, impartial and effective investigations. Perpetrators need to be held accountable and victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparations must be upheld. Fighting impunity and pursuing accountability is paramount to ensure people trust in the rule of law and social cohesion.

We are also concerned by the temporary suspension of at least two international media outlets following their reports on some of these incidents. Restrictions on media freedom and civic space must stop immediately. Freedom of expression including the right of access to information is crucial in any society, and even more so in the context of the transition in Burkina Faso.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

A mother of four and restaurant owner from Dabola, in central Guinea, Diaraye says she felt scared about the vaccines. She didn’t think she had enough information and she’d heard rumours about harmful side effects.

Several health workers came to visit her to try and convince her to vaccinate her newborn, Madiou, but she still felt uneasy.

That was until she met Bérété, a Guinea Red Cross supervisor with the Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Programme (CP3). A mother herself, Bérété connected with Diaraye and patiently explained how vaccinating her own children has kept them safe from diseases. She responded sensitively to Diaraye’s concerns.

Newly informed and confident, Diaraye agreed for Bérété to take baby Madiou for his first immunizations. Since then, Diaraye has become a champion for vaccination within her community.

“My advice to mothers is to agree to their children getting vaccinated. For me, since the Red Cross came to help me vaccinate my baby, I’ve seen that it’s good for children. And I tell all mothers to go and get their children vaccinated at the health centre,” says Diaraye.

A global story, playing out locally, house-by-house

Diaraya’s story is far from unique. People around the world often don’t have access to life-saving vaccines, do not have all the facts about how they work, or don’t know who they can trust to give them accurate and unbiased information.

This is why trusted community organizations, like Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and their volunteers, are playing a critical role in reaching out at the local level, providing trustworthy information while enabling access to vaccines in places that are underserved by health services, or that are in the midst of ongoing emergencies.

This year, World Immunization Week revolves around the theme of Humanly Possible, also the name of a global campaign to celebrate and build on the achievements made in protecting people from vaccines since the latter half of the 20th century.

For its part, the IFRC is redoubling efforts to bring awareness and vaccines to people in vulnerable situations — from conflict to outbreaks, forced migration or natural disaster — or who for whatever reason lack access to immunization services.

The approach varies to meet the specific situation of each county and they span the globe, from the efforts of the National Societies of Guinea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kyrgyzstan, and many others. Here are a few more examples of the ways that Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are taking on a wide range of very different immunization challenges around the world.

Philippine Red Cross takes on another measles outbreak

The Philippine Red Cross Society (PRCS), for example, has been supporting the government of The Philippines in responding to a measles outbreak by vaccinating more than 15,000 children ages 6 months to below 10 years old with measles vaccine.

As of April 14, 2024, the Philippine Red Cross has vaccinated 15,593 children, mobilizing a total of 131 volunteers (35 vaccinators and 96 support volunteers) in 85 communities in four provinces.

The PRCS’ measles outbreak response is being done in collaboration with the ICRC, which also has a long time presence in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, an area where people are impacted by internal conflict and one of the main areas where the measles outbreak is occurring because of low immunization coverage.

The PRCS has been part of other polio and measles outbreak responses and plans to expand this current operation by deploying vaccination teams from other chapters, with the help of resources from the IFRC and the United States Center for Disease Control.

Using innovation to improve access to immunization in Thailand

The Thai Red Cross Society (TRCS), meanwhile, has been using technology in innovative ways to bring immunization services to underserved populations that would not otherwise have access to immunization services.

In Thailand, many displaced persons and undocumented residents are living without proper forms of identification required to access vaccination services. To address the health gap, TRCS partnered with the Department of Disease Control of the Ministry of Public Health and Thailand’s National Electronics and Computer Technology Center to develop the Thai Red Cross Biometric Authentication System.

This system uses a biometric authentication system, using face and iris recognition technology while still ensuring data privacy, to accurately register and verify identities, with up to 99 per cent accuracy.

This allows for people without official documentation to still receive vaccines and enables a way to keep a record of the vaccinations received and is especially useful in supporting public immunization campaigns to ensure everyone can be vaccinated.

Using this technology, TRCS reached 20,000 adolescent girls, specifically ethnic minorities, migrants, and refugees between the age of 12-15 years old, living in temporary shelters across the country with 40,000 doses of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. This helped to significantly decrease their chances of getting HPV, a major, but vaccine-preventable cause of cervical cancer.

If this can be expanded, more displaced persons and undocumented residents can be assured to have access to their next essential vaccine, such as a booster shot, as well as a better quality of life in Thailand.

Local presence, ready to prevent and respond

Over the long term, immunization campaigns are only fully effective if they are of high quality and result in high coverage. The challenge now is to improve and strengthen routine immunisation, to better prevents future outbreaks, while ensuring there is capacity in place to respond quickly and engage communities, if and when outbreaks occur.

This is why the work of National Societies in Afghanistan, Guinea, Kyrgystan, Pakistan, The Philippines, Thailand, and elsewhere, are so critical. As national organizations with widespread local presence at the community level, they are ideally suited to work with local and national health authorities and communities to build and keep the trust with local communities, while delivering consistent and ongoing access to immunization. The video below shows how the Pakistan Red Crescent brings immunization through local clinics.

Back in Guinea, Red Cross volunteer Bérété continues to visit Diaraye to make sure her son Madiou is doing well, as part of her work engaging members of her community on how to protect themselves and their families from life-threatening disease.

“We keep supporting her, because every time I send her child to hospital to be vaccinated, I never forget to follow up,” explains Bérété. “Every morning I come to see her to check on the child. Because what’s really important, you can’t just vaccinate a child and leave without following up. If she can see that you are there for her at all times, she will have the courage.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).