Increased hunger, malnutrition in Ethiopia, and a lack of financing hinders life -saving relief

The UN program warned that the sharp deficiency of financing has severely impeded the lifestyle response from the organization, as 3.6 million people are the most vulnerable at risk of imminent food aid, including the treatment of malnutrition of about 650,000 women and children.

The program stated in an update on food security in Ethiopia that more than 10 million people face hunger and malnutrition throughout the country. They include three million people who were forced to leave their homes due to conflict and harsh weather phenomena.

As for the rates of malnutrition, they are high in a threat, as 4.4 million pregnant women and breastfeeding women and a child need treatment. In parts of Somalia, Oromia, Tagray and Afar regions, wasting between children exceeded the emergency threshold of 15 percent.

Conflict in neighboring countries

The World Food Program said that the humanitarian needs in Ethiopia are exacerbated by the conflict in neighboring countries. The program already supports 800,000 refugees in Ethiopia, including 100,000 Sudanese refugees, while the escalation of insecurity in northeastern southeast Sudan may push 10,000 other refugees to cross the border.

It is expected that the rains in southeastern Ethiopia until May, which threatens another drought in the Somalia region where families still suffer from the drought wave that ravaged the region between 2020-2023 – the longest drought in the country at all.

Food program response

The World Food Program stated that he provided food and nutritional assistance to more than three million people in the first quarter of 2025, with 80 percent food shares for displaced Ethiopians who suffer from acute food insecurity, and 60 percent food quotas of up to one million refugees.

This year, the World Food Program treated 740,000 children and a pregnant or breastfeeding woman from malnutrition and provided fresh food vouchers to 50,000 families.

The program offers daily school meals for about 470,000 children per month, including 70,000 refugee societies – while giving priority to the provinces affected by the conflict that suffer from food insecurity in northern Ethiopia.

The World Food Program warned that without new and urgent financing, 3.6 million people will lose the most vulnerable people in Ethiopia to access food and nutritional assistance to life that the program offers in the coming weeks.

The program said that it faces a $ 222 million financing shortage for the period between April and September 2025.