ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Friday said Ethiopia continued to face increased humanitarian needs due to conflict, drought and disease outbreaks.
"Ethiopia continues to face increased humanitarian needs due to conflict and displacement, climatic shocks including the severe drought, and disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic," the UNFPA said in its latest situation update issued Friday.
It said about 20 million people in Ethiopia need humanitarian assistance.
The UNFPA, citing a recent UN migration agency, IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix, said more than 2.7 million people have been internally displaced across the East African country.
Conflict and displacement in the northern part of the country have left more than 9 million people in need across the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions, and severe drought is affecting millions more in the southern part of the country, it said.
In addition to conflict, the UNFPA underscored that climate-related shocks continue to devastate the lives and livelihoods of millions of pastoralists and agro-pastoralist families in the northeastern, southern and southeastern regions of Ethiopia, mainly the Somali, Oromia, Afar and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' (SNNP) regions.
It warned that the reduced availability of food, water and pasture have triggered internal displacement and deepened food insecurity, exacerbating health and protection risks.
Meanwhile, the UNFPA said in the Somali and Oromia regions, a cholera outbreak remains active across 23 localities of the Bale cone in the Oromia region and 9 localities of Liban zone in the Somali region.
So far, 273 cholera cases have been reported including 9 deaths while 114 additional localities are at risk of an outbreak, it said.
"These effects, compounded by inter-communal tensions and violence in different parts of the country, continue to erode the capacity of communities to cope with the various shocks," the UNFPA said. ■
