04 June 2008 - 13H02
Ethiopia faces a new famine
Among nations suffering from the current food crisis, Ethiopia is one of the hardest hit. FRANCE 24's Franck Berruyer and Nesrine Trabelsi report from Alem Tena, a tiny village in southern Ethiopia.
As world leaders from nearly 50 nations meet in Rome to address the food crisis at the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization summit, thousands of miles away in southern Ethiopia, the inhabitants of Alem Tena, a tiny village, are facing a food shortage.
The isolated village is two kilometers from any major thoroughfare. Aid workers sent to the area have set up free clinics for the villagers and attempt to respond to their needs.
The lack of food has weakened the children, who are at the mercy of myriad diseases. The mother of a sick girl laments, “the government said they would distribute food, so I waited, but nothing came of it. Today, I get help wherever I can. I just want to care for my daughter.”
The village has only two nurses, barely adequate to handle the amount of care needed in the village. One of them claims they were initially overwhelmed by the magnitude of the crisis. “It’s beyond our means to assist all these people. We’re in over our heads. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Despite the presence of humanitarian aid workers, the situation in Alem Tena remains critical. The Paris-based NGO Doctors Without Borders announced that it has given emergency medical aid to 600 Ethiopican children in 10 days.
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Comments
Internaitonal community help
How long will it take for the international community to react?
A full blown famine crisis worst than in 1984?
What happen to starving children receiving vaccinations if the vaccinations trigger a reaction, even a mild one like a temperature? Are their bodies able to cope if already very weakened? In Europe, kids don't get a jab if "suffering" from even a cold!
Famine in Ethiopia
Can someone say for sure the current population of Ethiopia? I heard on a BBC item it is 77Million and has DOUBLED in the past 10 years. If that is true it is INCREDIBLE in a country that is mainly desert, has inadequate water and food supply for most of its people, who appear to be on the verge of starvation all the time. Are they truly breeding at this incredible rate in spite of all odds. Surely a programme of birth control would help stabilise the situation. to poor increasing amounts of money and aid into the situation while they continue to xpand the population out of all proportion to the resources available is just crazy... and irresponsible. Have I got this wrong? Wouls someone else like to comment.