Children are facing a growing risk of disease as cholera and measles outbreaks tighten their grip on Ethiopia, raising fears for the many vulnerable children already suffering from malnutrition, Save the Children said.
A cholera outbreak is affecting the Oromia and Somali regions, with at least 1,055 cases reported, including 28 deaths, since September 2022. In the past month alone, more than 316 cases have been reported in the two regions, a 30% jump from 739 cases at the end of December 2022, with one million people at risk of the disease in the two regions.
Spikes in measles cases have also been reported with 357 new measles cases and 6 deaths reported in the last week of January alone, according to health authorities.
A deadly combination of severe water shortages, poor hygiene and sanitation services, including open defecation and lack of water treatment options are driving the rapid spread of cholera, with severe drought exacerbating the situation.
As taps run dry, many families struggle to get clean water for use at home. Health authorities have pointed out that more than 80% of patients admitted for cholera were found to have consumed river water. In Ethiopia, more than 13 million people including 6.8 million children are in dire need of safe water. The situation is likely to get worse as the country enters the January-March dry season. Forecasts predict that rainfall in the upcoming rainy season in April will be below average.
Last month Save the Children said back-to-back droughts caused by five failed rainy seasons have left 12 million Ethiopians facing hunger as conflict and forced displacement exacerbate the hunger crisis in the country. This is also causing widespread malnutrition with 3.9 million children in Ethiopia severely malnourished– accounting for around half of people suffering from malnutrition across the whole of the Horn of Africa.
In the Somali and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, distraught mothers are arriving at Save the Children’s malnutrition stabilization centres with children showing severe symptoms and complications caused by malnutrition.
Hodan* lives with her husband and four children in the Somali region. Her husband is currently working as a farmhand back in their village after being edged out of his pastoralist lifestyle by the ongoing severe drought.
In the last four months, Hodan* told Save the Children, she has lost 3 goats and 3 camels leaving her family without a source of income and nutrition. This has left her struggling to feed her family including her 19-month-old daughter, Ayaan* who is suffering from the deadliest form of malnutrition. Ayaan* has been admitted to Stabilization Centre at Kelafo Health Centre, where she will receive life-saving therapeutic feeding treatment. Hodan says “I am not able to feed my children because of drought and we don’t have any money. We used to keep animals but we have lost all of them. My child has been sick for one month. When I saw the child is getting worse I decided to take her to the nearest health facility where I can get medication. That’s why I came here.”
By mid-January this year, Kelafo Health Centre had admitted 18 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, 3 more children than it admitted the whole of January 2022 and pointing to a worsening situation in Ethiopia.
Save the Children’s Country Director for Ethiopia, Xavier Joubert, said “We know babies like Ayaan are particularly susceptible to cholera and measles during droughts because malnutrition lowers the body’s defences, making children more vulnerable to the diseases and their complications. In Ethiopia, more than two-thirds of cholera patients are children. We are concerned that most of those who have died from cholera are children under the age of 14, with 25% of them under five. We are calling for more funds to provide food, water and health services to affected communities.
“It’s clear that the current drought is contributing to these disease outbreaks and we are worried this is going to have severe consequences for children already battling malnutrition. We urgently need to ensure that every child has access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.”
Save the Children has been operating in Ethiopia for over 60 years and was amongst the first respondents to the humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflict in the northern part of Ethiopia, while continuing humanitarian assistance to the prolonged humanitarian crises in Oromia and Somali regions. The organisation’s work is heavily anchored on health and nutrition as well as life-saving water and sanitation assistance, protection services, education support, and cash and in-kind distributions to the most vulnerable children and their families.
In 2022, Save the Children reached 7,574,882 people including 5,140,968 children through lifesaving food, water distribution, treatment for malnutrition among other services.
Measles and cholera outbreaks pose deadly threat to already malnourished children
Norfund invests in SAMANU to increase production of edible oils
Norfund and a consortium of private investors managed by 54 Capital announce $21 million growth capital investment into Ethiopia’s largest FMCG platform SAMANU. This injection is said to increase local production of edible oil as well as create jobs, increase food security, and provide income for up to 200,000 smallholder farmers.
The investment by Norfund will fund the construction of a new solvent extraction plant to produce edible oils based on locally sourced sesame, sunflower and soya beans in its refineries. By reducing the dependency on imported raw materials, the investment aims to create jobs in value-addition and increase Ethiopia’s food security. The completion of a vertical integration project will also allow for increased export opportunities within the sectors the company already operates.
To ensure enough volume of locally produced oilseeds for its refineries, the company intends to develop large oilseeds clusters in Ethiopia over the next six years, providing livelihoods for 200,000 smallholder farmers. In the first six months post investment, the objective is to identify 642 clusters and sign contracts with around 5-7,000 smallholder farmers. Norfund, through its Business Support Facility, plans to use grant funding to assist contracted smallholder farmers with inputs like high quality seeds, fertilizers, training and capacity building, as well as agricultural technology to boost productivity.
Andreas Davidsen, Norfund’s VP of Scalable Enterprises – Agribusiness & Manufacturing stated, “We are excited to partner with SAMANU and support the execution of their vertical integration strategy, creating jobs and increasing food security. We strongly believe in the opportunities of local food production in Ethiopia and Norfund looks forward to working closely with the SAMANU management team and 54 Capital to help implement best in class practices and solutions.”
SAMANU is already home to some of Ethiopia’s leading FMCG brands and has ambitious plans to expand its product offering to meet rising demand for high quality locally produced brands. The investment, Norfund’s first in manufacturing in Ethiopia, now signals strong institutional backing for the platform.
“It is a fantastic achievement for our investments in Ethiopia and our local management team to receive further institutional backing. It stands as testament to what we have been able to achieve in terms of nurturing high-quality popular brands and achieving scale through capacity expansion and how we intend to develop the next stage of the business. This investment demonstrates the robustness of this strategy for further enhancing the value chain within Ethiopia which will undoubtedly benefit from Norfund’s extensive experience across the continent,” remarked Saad Aouad, 54 Capital PE Advisors’ Chief Investment Officer.
SAMANU is a platform company with well-established brands operating in Ethiopia’s main FMCG sub-sectors (Tena Edible Oils, 555 and Aura Soap & Detergents, and Chef Luca wheat products).
Re-INVITATION FOR BID
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is an international non-governmental organization working in Ethiopia for provision of multi sector refugee and rural community assistance in Tigray, Benshangul-Gumuz, Somali, Oromia, Gambella and SNNP Regional States.
The IRC now re-invites sealed bids from all eligible bidders that are qualified, technically competent and have valid license for current Ethiopian FY 2015/2023 for the supply of Slides and Swings.
Bidding will be conducted through an open competitive tender process.
You may obtain further information from the International Rescue Committee, Ethiopia Program Addis Ababa Office, Jackros to salite mihret church road around Robera Coffee Sets Building 5th floor Tel: 0116638302 /0116636735/6/7.
The Complete set of bidding documents in English for the aforementioned activities can be obtained from the IRC, Ethiopia Program Addis Ababa Office, Jackros to Salite Mihret church road around Robera Coffee, sets Building 5th floor during working hours from February 01, 2023 to February 17, 2023. at the address mentioned above. The prospective bidder shall present his/her company’s name and signing to acknowledge receipt of the bid documents.
Bid should be submitted to the mentioned address on or before 10:00 AM February 17, 2023. Late bids will not be accepted. Bids will be opened 10:30 AM February 17, 2023, in the presence of bidders and/or their representative.
The International Rescue Committee reserves the right to reject any or all bids.
WHY GOLD?
Wisdom is the outcome of seasoned reflections acquired through wide experience and extensive learning. Proverbs are distilled phrases intended to capture these subtle reflections. These immortal adages are not said in vain and one dismisses them at her own peril. Today, some modern investors are willing to negate a reality that has prevailed for eons. Arguably, the most successful investor of the last half a century has said a lot about gold, many of them intended to diminish its luster. ‘Gold is a way of going long on fear, and it has been a pretty good way of going long on fear from time to time. But you really have to hope people become more afraid in a year or two years than they are now. And if they become more afraid you make money, if they become less afraid you lose money, but the gold itself doesn’t produce anything’! Warren Buffet.
To some extent, we concur with the famous investor, but we also think there are technical issues that need to be looked at more thoroughly. To start with, gold is a rare metal, hence dear, not superficially dear, but naturally dear! Moreover, there are areas in the hi-tech industries (known & unknown) where gold remains critical. The current price of gold (in the world market) indicates a rising real demand, not only from mere investors, but also amongst the large majority of the nation states of the world system. Gold doesn’t produce anything, but so are many of the unicorn companies of late modernity. In this regard, the states are even worse when it comes to destroying capital. To be sure, the wealth that is touted to be made today are, by and large, ephemeral, as they are based on the flooding of economies/markets with phony money, obtained via debt, debt and debt! Globally, states, corporations/companies, household, etc. are all in debts up to their eyeballs, so to speak. Despite the continuous brainwashing of the global establishment, debts remain cumbersome obligations. Therefore debt is not wealth! Here is what the famous banker of the late 19th and early 20t had to say about real money/wealth. ‘Gold and silver are money everything else is credit.’ J. P. Morgan. This is the crux of the problem!
Without undue analysis about the merit and demerit of commodity backed currencies, one can at least accept the fact that when systems are confronting massive dislocations, people tend to trust these rare commodities or precious metals more than anything else, including their state’s currencies. Without a doubt, the modern world system is in the process of bifurcation, threatening to dismantle the prevailing global economic arrangement! It seems fear is what is fuelling the current price appreciation of gold and silver. That is why even seasoned investors like Buffett are having second thought about what he used to call the ‘old relic’. He is selling his interests in banks like Goldman Sachs and is buying companies that are digging gold. Obviously it is fear that is occupying his productive and investment oriented mind. On the other hand, speculators are being rewarded hand over fist, in the stock market, thanks to the generous printing of money. The collective parasites, i.e., the ruling elites and their moronic minions, are enjoying the existing phony money regime; but time is running out on them. Even if hyperinflation doesn’t rear its ugly head, hyper chaos emanating from the desperation of the sheeple might do the trick, so to speak.
What is the purpose of gold or silver or any other intrinsically value-laden stuff? In times of crisis, these rare commodities serve as stores of value. The current significant price increase of precious metals is mainly due to the depreciation of currencies, i.e., the increasing loss of purchasing power. Paper currencies cannot hold their values, as they are being printed non-stop. Ultimately, the value of paper money will return back to its intrinsic value, which is zero, to use Voltaire’s expression. For example, the value of the US dollar has gone down by over 90% since Dec 23, 1913, the year the FED was sneakily and formally established, just before Congress’ Christmas recess! At the end of the day, buying gold, in effect, guarantees that currency manipulation (by the power that be) cannot go on indefinitely. It is clear that the tendency of late modernity is to make life easy to the undeserving parasites at the top, while 80% of the global sheeple is forced to live in suspense. The job of the 20% of the sheeple employed by the elites is to make sure the 80% behave in accordance with the masters’ strategic objectives. To this end, the employment of ‘useful idiots’ to diligently avail bread and circus to the masses is paramount. After all, a sleeping sheeple is much preferred than the restless one! Here is an example of a palpable trepidation.
