Northern Ethiopia facing devastating spike in preventable disease: WHO |

“There are 5.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Tigray; That number includes 3.8 million people who need health assistance and we need to reach these people,” said Ilham Abdelhai Nour, World Health Organization Team for Ethiopia, Incident Management Program and Emergency Services.

‘No access to Tigray’

“We have access in Amhara and Afar, so we know more about the situation there and we are able to intervene and support,” Ms. Nour said, referring to the areas in the region of Tigray.

“However, we have no space in Tigray; there is no air or road access in Tigray for the past six weeks.”

Fever is increasing

According to the WHO, malaria infections have risen by a full 80 per cent in Tigray and by 40 per cent in the Amhara region compared to last year – although cases are decreasing in Amhara.

But malaria is one of the deadly threats facing millions of people affected by the conflict and humanitarian agencies have issued repeated warnings to them, since fighting between federal forces and separatists in Tigray erupted in March eleventh year 2020.

Providing aid in Tigray is difficult, as more than half of the region’s health centers are closed, leaving people without treatment for trauma and injuries, food insecurity and inequality, sexual and gender violence, the infectious diseases such as fever and sores, as well. reduced access to treatment for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services.

Earlier this month, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported that civilians waiting to receive much-needed humanitarian aid were under fire.

He also warned that the newly displaced people in Zelazele town of Tigray are “in dire condition with most of them sleeping in open areas directly exposed to cold weather and other security risks”.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – himself an ethnic Tigrayan – has voiced widespread concerns about the crisis several times, including last week, when he warned that there was only a “very narrow window” to prevent genocide there.

Despite the physical and communications barriers of aid groups working in Tigray, regular updates have come out from the region – sometimes delivered by hand to the WHO – to support Friday’s alert, the UN agency stressed.

Mothers bring their children to be treated for malnutrition in a refugee camp in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Food shortage

Citing UN World Food Program (WFP) data, the WHO noted that in Amhara and Afar, 19 percent and 14 percent of displaced children under the age of five are now food insecure, while in Tigray, “interested” 89 percent of the population. is food insecure and almost half is very food insecure.

“Almost one in every three children under five in Tigray is malnourished,” Altaf Musani, Director of Health Emergencies Communications, spoke in Geneva. “Severe malnutrition among children in the region is six percent, fifty-five percent of children have not received food support in one year.”

Highlighting the clear link between malnutrition and disease, Mr. Musani described how basic health services have been cut. Understanding the true scale of needs has also been complicated by the fact that only 30 percent of health facilities in Tigray are still able to provide weekly status reports to WHO.

Key jabs stop

“Immune services (are) a lifeline to children to keep them alive; Those works have stopped,” said Mr Musani. “We know that there are no confirmed reports of stockpiles, IV fluids, antibiotics in those facilities, we have had first-hand reports of that information.”

As peace talks between the fighters begin this week in South Africa, the Tigrayan communities urgently need protection and safe access to provide life-saving assistance, the WHO stressed.

“The access is limited between March and August and during the humanitarian evacuation (in Afar, Amhara and Tigray) we are able to bring in, not much, but really a small amount that covers a small amount of needs there, said Ms. . Nura.

“We are still able to support important operations in Tigray, support the measles campaign there, but we are unable to distribute supplies quickly because of low money and fuel. We cannot do malaria prevention activities for the same reasons; we have not been able to expand the COVID-19 vaccination campaign beyond the Mekelle capital, so we have a big access issue there. “