United Nations System
Standing Committee on Nutrition

RNIS 41, April 2003

In brief

Eritrea

More than one million people are estimated to be in need of food aid, because of the drought. The RNIS has not received any new information on the nutrition situation. The last results of nutrition surveys showed, however, a precarious situation (see RNIS 40) which will probably worsen until the next agricultural season in October 2003. The normal coping mechanisms are already almost totally exhausted (OCHA, 21/03/03). Donor's response to the humanitarian appeal has been very low so far; only 25% of the food requirements have been received and of the non-food requirements only 3% have been funded (OCHA, 10/03/03). Food aid rations were only 60% of the assessed needs in February 2003 (FEWS, 10/03/03) and WFP was expecting a pipeline break in April 2003 if they do not receive further contributions (WFP, 13/03/03). WFP was also considering distributing food to only half of the drought-affected population because of the scarce resources. In this case, the food pipeline would last until the end of July (WFP, 21/03/03). Funding is urgently needed to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.

Ethiopia

As of the beginning of March 2003, pledges covered 56% of cereal food aid needs of 11.3 m drought affected people for 2003. Despite on-going food distributions, it seems that the nutritional status has not improved significantly (FEWS, 14/03/04).

Kenya

Kenya hosts more than 200,000 refugees mostly from Sudan and Somalia. The majority of the refugees are settled in huge camps in dry-hot areas. They are prevented from moving freely outside of the camps and are not allowed to own cattle, cultivate land or work. Most of the refugees are therefore almost totally reliant on external aid. The humanitarian assistance to the refugees has been under-funded for years; food and non-food item (such as wood) distributions have not been sufficient to cover all the refugee needs. The prevalence of acute malnutrition has been above the acceptable range over the past years (see RNIS 40). The new government of Kenya is willing to review the encampment policy and to take different measures to increase refugee self-sufficiency (Reuters, 17/02/03). The government was examining the possibility of re-locating the camps to areas where people will be able to cultivate land, and to authorize people to work. The improvement of the refugee status will be a great advance for their well -being.

Tanzania

Tanzania hosts more than some 520,000 refugees, mostly from the Great Lakes region. The last nutrition survey results showed an acceptable nutritional status of the refugee children (see RNIS 40). However, the food ration has recently been cut by 50% because of food shortages (AFP, 21/02/03), which may undermine the nutrition situation.