Ethiopia

Ethiopia has made important development gains over the past two decades, reducing poverty and expanding investments in basic social services. However, food insecurity and malnutrition are at alarming levels.

Multiple and often overlapping crises have severely weakened the ability of communities to cope with shocks, pushing millions of people into severe need and destitution. Recurrent conflict, droughts, diseases and inflation continue to drive humanitarian needs upwards, particularly in regions where productive assets and livelihoods have been eroded already because of protracted shocks. 

The overlap of high malnutrition rates, severe water scarcity coupled with disease outbreaks (malaria, measles and cholera) and livestock emergencies have exacerbated food insecurity in the country, leaving millions of people to depend on humanitarian assistance for survival.

Those needing food assistance include people forced from their homes due to the 2020-2022 conflict in the north, severe drought in the south and southeast, and increased seismic activities and earthquakes along the Ethiopian Rift Valley.

Despite these challenges, the Government of Ethiopia’s five-year Growth and Transformation Plan aims to move the country to middle-income status by 2025, by sustaining rapid growth and speeding up structural transformation.

The World Food Programme plays a critical role in providing life-saving food assistance to vulnerable people in drought and conflict-affected areas, and works with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. However, major funding shortfalls are leading to cuts in the assistance we are able provide.