September 21, 2021 Nairobi, Kenya: An estimated 31.4 million people across the IGAD region were classified in crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3+) levels of acute food insecurity in 2020. This figure represents 20% of the global 155 million people that faced food insecurity and required urgent action in 2020. 2021 projections point to a grimmer situation, where […]
General
Desert Locust: Current upsurge (2019–2021), 22 September 2021
2018 Cyclones in May and October brought heavy rains that gave rise to favourable breeding conditions in the Empty Quarter of the southern Arabian Peninsula for at least nine months since June. As a result, three generations of breeding occurred that was undetected and not controlled. 2019 JANUARY: the first swarms left the Empty Quarter […]
Progress against a neglected tropical disease in east Africa is under threat
Eleven years ago, in the rugged hills of West Pokot County in Kenya, Mary Alamak, a mother of four, fell ill with the parasitic disease kala-azar while she was pregnant. Her weight fell from 80 to 45 kgs in a matter of weeks. She feared for the life of her baby and her own. At […]
UNHCR Ethiopia: Operational Update (September 2021)
Documentation of Eritrean refugees from Hitsats and Shimelba camps: In Addis Ababa, UNHCR, in partnership with the Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) and the Organization for Women in SelfEmployment (WISE) concluded the documentation of over 6,700 Eritrean refugees who fled the former Hitsats and Shimelba camps in northern Tigray region after the camps had […]
If you were called by a melody, how would it sound? Communities in Ethiopia and PNG name people with unique individual tunes
36-year-old Binoora Bhultse lives in Garda village in the Oyda district of southwest Ethiopia. While he could share the name Binoora with other local men, Binoora also has a name that is special to him. It may never have existed before him, and may never name anyone else after he dies. This name isn’t a […]
UNHCR Ethiopia Fact Sheet, August 2021
Ethiopia is the third largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, sheltering 795,108 registered refugees and asylum-seekers as of 31 August 2021. The overwhelming majority originate from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan. 3,860 refugees have received the first dose and 254 refugees were fully vaccinated for COVID-19. UNHCR, the national agency for refugees and returnees (ARRA) […]