Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 10, 2006

NAIROBI, 10 Nov 2006 (IRIN) - Welcoming a US $37-million donation from the United States to Ethiopia, an official of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has said floods and drought had worsened food shortages in the country, and that more assistance was needed.

"This generous contribution from the US Government will help us continue our assistance to millions of people affected by food shortages in many parts of the country," Mohammed Diab, the WFP representative in the country, said on Wednesday in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

He added, "For several years, USAID has supported WFP's emergency and development operations in favour of the food insecure people in Ethiopia."

The US ambassador, Vicki Huddleston, told a news conference that the donation was in response to the ongoing humanitarian situation in Ethiopia, where nearly six million people are in need of food aid.

Huddleston said the money would be used to buy 70,000 tonnes of wheat and 5,000 tonnes of peas, for relief aid until the end of 2006 for at least three million people, whose mid-year harvests were poor following widespread flooding.

Moreover, the donation would, in 2007 help meet relief needs of the government's productive safety net programme targeting 2.8 million beneficiaries of food aid.

The safety net programme, launched in January 2005, is aimed at stopping food-aid dependency in the country. Under the programme, people get food or cash in exchange for work on community projects such as roads construction or rehabilitation of community infrastructures.

"The US government remains committed to working in collaboration with other donors and the government of Ethiopia to support programmes that address the needs of the Ethiopian people," Huddleston said. "These important, lifesaving efforts are a necessity to confront the food insecurity issue in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa."

The food aid announcement came three days after Huddleston said the US would earmark $250 millions to help fight the spread of HIV/Aids in Ethiopia.

She said the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief had provided at least two billion Ethiopian birr ($250 million) for HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment, adding that the government would expand its commitment by providing the same amount for the HIV/AIDS efforts in 2007.

"With 1.3 million infected with HIV, Ethiopia has become one of the countries most affected by the pandemic in the world," Huddleston said. "Of the total infected, females and children carry the greater burden of this disease."

It is estimated that 730,000 females and 135,000 children in Ethiopia are HIV positive, according to Ministry of Health statistics. In 2005, UNAIDS estimated that Ethiopia had at least 744,000 Aids orphans.

The ministry has said 270,000 people nationwide need antiretroviral (ART) treatment. It said the government planned to provide the treatment to 100,000 patients by December 2006, increasing this number to 200,000 by August 2008.

The US spent $43 million in the country in 2004 on anti-HIV/Aids activities, and earmarked further $61 million for 2005, half of which was used to buy antiretroviral drugs.

At least half of Ethiopia's 77 million people have no easy access to health facilities, according to government and UN figures. The Horn of Africa country has an HIV prevalence rate of 4.4 percent, and at least 900,000 people have died from the pandemic since 1986.

The Ethiopian government estimates that it needs $19 billion to overcome HIV/AIDS in the next decade.

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