A severe drought due to lack of rainfall in the Liben Zone, Somali region in Ethiopia has led to crop failure and a huge number of livestock deaths, which has greatly affected the livelihoods of the local communities. Individuals can no longer meet basic needs. Malnutrition in the area has risen drastically. The number of children in need of treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has increased rapidly. Moreover, the communities are facing serious water shortages. They need to fetch water from the few available unprotected water points far away, which has exposed them to health concerns and protection issues.

Objectives

1. To reduce morbidity and mortality among children less than five and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) through admission and treatment of cases affected by acute malnutrition.
2. Increasing economic self-reliance for drought-affected persons to meet basic needs (increase purchasing power through Multi-Purpose Cash assistance).
3. Increased access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services to 6,000 disaster-affected persons through safe, accessible and accountable humanitarian assistance.

Expected Result

Emergency response is delivered in a timely manner aimed at addressing the acute and recent needs – including protection needs of the most vulnerable populations.

Main Activities

• Treatment of 1,172 children less than five years of age affected by SAM
• Treatment of children and PLW affected with moderate acute malnutrition
• Infant and Young Child Feeding counselling, health counselling and social behaviour change communication
• Facilitate targeting, verification, and registration of beneficiaries for unconditional cash transfer
• Cash distribution to identified disaster-affected households to meet essential needs
• Procure and distribute WASH items (Non-Food-Items (NFIs), Dignity Kits)
• Procure and distribute water storage tanker for 5 health facilities
• Conduct a Post Distribution Monitoring after the distribution of the WASH items
• Facilitate hygiene and sanitation promotion activities for drought-affected communities