Ethiopia: MSF calls for immediate resumption of food distribution

International NGO, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), called on Friday for the “immediate” resumption of food aid distribution in Ethiopia.

The call comes after the US government and the UN Food Programme (WFP) suspended food aid in May to the northern region of Tigray later applying this decision to the rest of the country.

According to the NGO, Ethiopia is experiencing alarming levels of malnutrition in the country.

In a press release, MSF denounced alarming levels of acute malnutrition, well above the emergency threshold of 15% set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The northern region of Tigray is the most affected, hard hit by the drought, which has decimated the herds of pastoral communities, the Somali region “has the highest number of severely malnourished children under the age of five and the lowest vaccination coverage in the country”, creating a risk of epidemics.

Africanews/Hauwa M.