Nutrition crisis grips families in Tigray, Ethiopia

At least 33,000 children in Ethiopia’s inaccessible parts of Tigray are reportedly severely malnourished and face imminent death without immediate assistance. These children are among more than 2.2 million in northern Ethiopia who are acutely food insecure. The malnutrition catastrophe is expected to deteriorate further in the coming months, especially if crops cannot be planted and assistance provided to children in areas of Tigray that are currently inaccessible.

UNICEF is on the ground, working with partners to support communities with safe water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene, and providing nutrition supplies and early childhood development kits to help keep children healthy and learning.

Meanwhile the rates of malnutrition among pregnant and breastfeeding women, are consistently over 40 per cent, threatening the lives of newborn babies and their mothers.

In addition to the nutrition emergency, the ongoing violence and upheaval leaves the region confronting a protection crisis, with severe and ongoing child rights violations and reports of indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, including rape and other horrific forms of sexual violence.