Mark Tran, in Addis Ababa guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 November 2011
Somali refugees at the Kobe camp inside Dolo Ado, currently home to around 137,000 refugees. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images
Children at the Dolo Ado refugee camps in southern Ethiopia are suffering from acute malnutrition despite plentiful supplies of special food for under-fives, say relief officials.
Dolo Ado is host to around 137,000 refugees, most of whom have fled Somalia because of the famine and conflict between al-Shabaab, the Islamist militants, and the transitional Somali government. Refugees have also come from Sudan, Eritrea and Kenya.
Besides high levels of malnutrition, the transit centre is heavily overcrowded, having to take care of 8,000 people who are awaiting the opening of a fifth camp. This camp was supposed to have opened by the beginning of November. Relief officials attribute the delay to the need to put in proper sanitation facilities, but hope the camp will be up and running any day now.
Construction work has been hampered by the excessively hard soil. Aid groups want to avoid a repeat of the experience of the fourth camp, which opened before proper sanitation was in place. The importance of sanitation has been thrown into sharp relief by the outbreak of cholera in the massive refugee complex in Dadaab, in Kenya.
As they await the opening of the fifth camp at Dolo, relief officials are concerned about the high levels of malnutrition among under-fives despite the free availability of Plumpy'nut, a peanut-based paste in a plastic wrapper for treatment of severe acute malnutrition.
"Maybe they're not eating it properly," said Giorgia Testolin, head of the refugee section of the World Food Programme Ethiopia. "The food is there, there is easy access, but why is the situation so bad? This needs to be investigated."
A report by USAid and the Famine Early System Network (Fewsnet) last month said refugees regularly sell Plumpy'nut, mainly to buy sugar, tea leaves, powder milk and meat from the market. Children were also reported to come to the market to exchange Plumpy'nut for sugar.
The number of refugees arriving at Dolo peaked in June and July at 2,000 a day, falling to 350 a day in October due to rains that hampered movement. In recent days, unexpected rains have shut off the camp to UN flights, although plenty of supplies are on the spot.
Relief officials are bracing themselves for a surge in refugee numbers to Ethiopia after the rains end and the escalation of fighting in Somalia, as Kenya sent in troops to pursue al-Shabaab. As of 20 October, Ethiopia was hosting 256,000 refugees.
"We don't know what will happen," said Testolin. "Maybe Kenya will close its borders and more refugees will come to Ethiopia."
If they do, they will head to Dolo, the easiest spot in Ethiopia for Somali refugees to reach. Most arrive with little but jerry cans of water, having sold off most of their assets to pay for transport or other expenses.
In positive news from Somalia, the UN reported on Friday that three areas in Somalia that were declared to be in a state of famine earlier this year have emerged from the crisis as a result of the big relief effort.
The UN Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia said the situation had improved in the affected areas in the southern regions of Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle, and they were no longer famine zones.
However, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said that famine persists in parts of the Middle Shabelle and in the Afgooye corridor, near the capital, Mogadishu, which hosts a large number of internally displaced persons.
Valerie Amos, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said in a statement that "progress is fragile and needs to be sustained".
"While humanitarian agencies have helped bring food, nutrition, water and sanitation help to millions of people in the last few months, I remain extremely concerned by the critical situation in Mogadishu and other parts of south and central Somalia," said Amos, who is also the UN emergency relief co-ordinator.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/nov/22/children-malnutrition-refugee-camps-ethiopia?newsfeed=true
Somali refugees at the Kobe camp inside Dolo Ado, currently home to around 137,000 refugees. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images
Children at the Dolo Ado refugee camps in southern Ethiopia are suffering from acute malnutrition despite plentiful supplies of special food for under-fives, say relief officials.
Dolo Ado is host to around 137,000 refugees, most of whom have fled Somalia because of the famine and conflict between al-Shabaab, the Islamist militants, and the transitional Somali government. Refugees have also come from Sudan, Eritrea and Kenya.
Besides high levels of malnutrition, the transit centre is heavily overcrowded, having to take care of 8,000 people who are awaiting the opening of a fifth camp. This camp was supposed to have opened by the beginning of November. Relief officials attribute the delay to the need to put in proper sanitation facilities, but hope the camp will be up and running any day now.
Construction work has been hampered by the excessively hard soil. Aid groups want to avoid a repeat of the experience of the fourth camp, which opened before proper sanitation was in place. The importance of sanitation has been thrown into sharp relief by the outbreak of cholera in the massive refugee complex in Dadaab, in Kenya.
As they await the opening of the fifth camp at Dolo, relief officials are concerned about the high levels of malnutrition among under-fives despite the free availability of Plumpy'nut, a peanut-based paste in a plastic wrapper for treatment of severe acute malnutrition.
"Maybe they're not eating it properly," said Giorgia Testolin, head of the refugee section of the World Food Programme Ethiopia. "The food is there, there is easy access, but why is the situation so bad? This needs to be investigated."
A report by USAid and the Famine Early System Network (Fewsnet) last month said refugees regularly sell Plumpy'nut, mainly to buy sugar, tea leaves, powder milk and meat from the market. Children were also reported to come to the market to exchange Plumpy'nut for sugar.
The number of refugees arriving at Dolo peaked in June and July at 2,000 a day, falling to 350 a day in October due to rains that hampered movement. In recent days, unexpected rains have shut off the camp to UN flights, although plenty of supplies are on the spot.
Relief officials are bracing themselves for a surge in refugee numbers to Ethiopia after the rains end and the escalation of fighting in Somalia, as Kenya sent in troops to pursue al-Shabaab. As of 20 October, Ethiopia was hosting 256,000 refugees.
"We don't know what will happen," said Testolin. "Maybe Kenya will close its borders and more refugees will come to Ethiopia."
If they do, they will head to Dolo, the easiest spot in Ethiopia for Somali refugees to reach. Most arrive with little but jerry cans of water, having sold off most of their assets to pay for transport or other expenses.
In positive news from Somalia, the UN reported on Friday that three areas in Somalia that were declared to be in a state of famine earlier this year have emerged from the crisis as a result of the big relief effort.
The UN Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia said the situation had improved in the affected areas in the southern regions of Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle, and they were no longer famine zones.
However, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said that famine persists in parts of the Middle Shabelle and in the Afgooye corridor, near the capital, Mogadishu, which hosts a large number of internally displaced persons.
Valerie Amos, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said in a statement that "progress is fragile and needs to be sustained".
"While humanitarian agencies have helped bring food, nutrition, water and sanitation help to millions of people in the last few months, I remain extremely concerned by the critical situation in Mogadishu and other parts of south and central Somalia," said Amos, who is also the UN emergency relief co-ordinator.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/nov/22/children-malnutrition-refugee-camps-ethiopia?newsfeed=true
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