Our Work in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is recognized as the cradle of human civilization. It is one of Africa’s oldest independent nations and one of only two nations on the continent never colonized. But this country with a unique culture that includes its own alphabet, time system and calendar and gave the world coffee over a thousand years ago, has in more recent times become better known for its suffering. Seasonal rains that once failed on the average of once a decade now fail far more often, triggering a cycle of drought famine and malnutrition that has taken its toll on the population, with the months between harvests now called simply, “the hunger season”. Decades of armed conflict have only added to the country’s misery. All this has left Ethiopia one of the world’s poorest countries with one of its highest child malnutrition rates.
Against this backdrop, International Medical Corps operates two nutrition programs in the country, one of them an innovative approach covering a target population of 64,000 train young mothers in good child-rearing practices such as exclusive breast-feeling, good hygiene and sanitation practices that can reduce health risks to children already weakened by food insecurity and threatened by malnutrition. We also operate an emergency supplementary feeding program for malnourished mothers and children, a reproductive health program and a sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) program in two camps for Somali refugees along the country’s eastern borders with Somalia.