Home | UNICEF in Action | Highlights | Information Resources | Donations, Greeting Cards & Gifts | Press Centre | Voices of Youth | About UNICEF

For the Horn, every day counts

Friday, 5 May 2000: UNICEF today urged government and individual donors to continue giving generously to drought victims in the Horn of Africa, saying that millions of dollars of additional support is needed to save the lives of children in the next few months and to lessen the impact of future droughts.

"I urge both individual and government donors to give generously -- and to give now," said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF. "Every new relief undertaking must be funded before it can begin, and that makes every day critical," she said. "The sooner a contribution arrives, the faster and greater its impact."

Ms. Bellamy also urged donors to remember that, in addition to Ethiopia, five other countries in the region -- Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan -- are also affected by the drought, emphasizing that each one is in need of rapid international assistance. In addition to food, Ms. Bellamy stressed the importance of health and water assistance.

Responding to public uneasiness about the recurring images of drought in the Horn of Africa -- particularly in Ethiopia -- UNICEF said that its efforts since the last major drought in 1984-85 were saving lives today. In the last 15 years, UNICEF has spent more than $50 million on water projects in Ethiopia alone, resulting in nearly 2,000 new or expanded water systems and directly improving the lives of as many as one million people. Over the same 15 years, UNICEF spent more than $150 million on health programmes that have provided Ethiopia with almost 100 per cent of the vaccines it uses to immunize children against disease.

"These investments are an important reason why this emergency is not just a repeat of the mid-1980s," Ms. Bellamy said.

The UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia, Ibrahim Jabr, agreed. "The good news, if there is any, is that our work with the government over the last 10 to 15 years is helping to mitigate the life-threatening aspects of this drought," Mr. Jabr said.

In the mid-1990s, for example, UNICEF funded the complete overhaul of the water system in the southeastern Ethiopian town of Gode, where relief operations have centred over the last several weeks. The overhaul included more powerful pumps, a filtration system, and other improvements that more than doubled the capacity of the system.

"That water is now a lifeline for the tens of thousands of people who have walked to Gode in search of relief," said Mr. Jabr, who visited Gode last week. "The supplementary feeding centres rely on that source of water to prepare the food these children need," he said.

"Throughout Ethiopia the story is the same," he added. "Where UNICEF and other organizations have helped build local capacity in water and health, relief centres are being established. The years in which we worked in relative obscurity, when the world wasn't looking, are the backdrop against which today's relief efforts are taking place. That backdrop is a crucial part of the scene."

More than 3,000 malnourished children, some as low as 60 per cent of normal body weight, are being treated at the centres in Gode, where medical attention, including measles immunization, is also available. The vaccines were donated by UNICEF and a UNICEF field doctor is part of the on-site team.

A UNICEF water specialist is also based in Gode to help government counterparts co-ordinate the repair of water systems throughout the Somali region as well as to help target the use of water tankers and chlorination chemicals. "Our challenge is not only to provide water, but to provide clean, safe water," Mr. Jabr said.

He added that tankering water into dry areas was only part of UNICEF's overall response. "It's the most immediate part, for sure. But with a drought situation, we also have to consider re-drilling in some locations, so that we're sure existing wells still reach the water table after it has dropped."

Based on its successful operations in Gode, UNICEF Ethiopia is deploying more teams of health and water specialists in the key towns where relief efforts are likely to be centred, including Jijiga in eastern Ethiopia, Awasa and Borena in the south, and Dessie and Mekele in the north.

See also:
It's not too late for the Horn
Drought in eastern Africa

Home| UNICEF in Action | Highlights | Information Resources | Donations, Greeting Cards & Gifts | Press Centre | Voices of Youth | About UNICEF