The European Union is providing €100 000 (more than ETB 5 million) in humanitarian funding to support the fight against a cholera outbreak in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, namely in the Harana Buluk and Berbere woredas in Bale zone.
The funding is part of the EU’s overall contribution to the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). It will support the Ethiopian Red Cross Society in delivering much needed assistance to prevent and control the spread of the outbreak in the two woredas and in neighbouring ones.
The Ethiopian Red Cross Society will use this funding to train and mobilise volunteers and support community access to cholera treatment centres, immediately saving lives through early detection and referral. The trained volunteers will do house-to-house visits for case detection and eventual referral of confirmed cases to health facilities.