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WFP Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia (From Addis Ababa)

 Rising Hunger and malnutrition in Ethiopia as humanitarian needs outpace resources

UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

22 April 2025

Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the World Food Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the World Health Organization.

Rising Hunger and malnutrition in Ethiopia

Zlatan Milisic, Country Director in Ethiopia, for the World Food Programme (WFP), speaking from Addis Ababa, said Ethiopia was facing a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation. Hunger and malnutrition were on the rise, driven by a deadly combination of conflict, climate shocks, economic instability, and displacement. Over 10 million people in Ethiopia were acutely food insecure, including three million people displaced by conflict and extreme weather conditions. In total, 4.4 million pregnant women and young children were in urgent need of treatment for malnutrition. In Somali, Oromia, Afar and Tigray, child wasting had surpassed the 15 percent emergency threshold. WFP already supported 800,000 refugees in Ethiopia, including 100,000 Sudanese refugees. The deteriorating security situation in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State could drive even more refugees into Ethiopia.

WFP’s response was severely underfunded. In Q1 2025, WFP provided food and nutrition support to over three million people, reaching the most vulnerable communities with reduced rations: 60 percent rations to refugees and 80 percent rations for displaced and severely food insecure Ethiopians. WFP had treated 740,000 children and pregnant or breastfeeding women for malnutrition; provided 50,000 families with fresh food vouchers; were delivering daily school meals to nearly half a million children; and were scaling up anticipatory action in drought-prone areas.

But now, operations were at breaking point. WFP had been left no choice but to suspend treatment this week for 650,000 malnourished women and children, due to a lack of commodities and funding. By June, food and cash assistance for 800,000 refugees would run out. WFP were now operating with just over 50 percent of last year’s funding, which meant that 3.6 million vulnerable people could lose access to assistance in coming weeks. On top of this, violence in Amhara continued to disrupt operations, threatening access to over half a million people.

WFP required US$222 million between now and September to maintain operations and scale to reach the target of 7.2 million people in 2025. The teams, logistics, and capacity were in place, but what was lacking were the resources to act at the scale the crisis demanded. Donors were urged to step up support so WFP could continue delivering lifesaving assistance and prevent a further deterioration of this humanitarian emergency.

Responding to questions from the media about the impacts of the withdrawal of funding from the United States, Mr. Milisic said the financial situation was the responsibility of all donors. WFP had enjoyed a broad-based support from donors, but most had been cutting funding to Ethiopia and to WFP in general. WFP had been happy to receive exemptions from the “stop work” orders from the United States and were hopeful that funds would come, but they hadn’t yet. Last year, WFP were able to continue their operations, but current resources would be reaching their end point by the first half of this year. It was important to deliver at scale to all beneficiaries given that the lean season was approaching.

Activities in Ethiopia had not been cut drastically yet, also said Mr Milisic in answering questions, but food rations had been reduced. Nutritious foods were running out and the programme would be stopped unless a solution was found. Funds for 024 from the United States had been received and a donation for 2025 had also been received at the end of last year. It was important for donors to speed up their decisions regarding Ethiopia and WFP. If assistance by WFP was stopped, it was hoped others that others would step in. If not, then all those who were malnourished would not receive assistance and there would be serious consequences.

Impact of the Ceasefire in Ukraine

Responding to questions regarding the impact of the short three-day ceasefire in Ukraine and its impact on the ground, Babar Baloch, for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said there were currently no updates in this regard, but they would check. Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization, said they would need to confer with colleagues in the country office. Jens Laerke, for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said he would also need to check with the office if there had been any discernable impact. Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), emphasised that there needed to be an end to the war, in line with relevant United Nations resolutions, international law and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Lack of Aid in Gaza

Responding to questions from the media about the lack of aid entering Gaza, Jens Laerke, for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA), said yesterday was the fiftieth day without any humanitarian aid entering the Gaza strip, and marked an even longer period of no commercial supplies entering the Gaza strip. Right now, it was probably the worst humanitarian situation ever seen throughout the war in Gaza.

United States Response to the Pandemic Agreement

Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), responding to media questions about the comments made online by the United States about the activities of WHO and particularly, the Pandemic Agreement, said that the best answer was that last week, member states had agreed on a draft agreement proposal. This showed that if countries worked together, an agreement could be reached. The draft was expected to be adopted at the World Health Assembly. A resolution was also in the works to accompany the proposal. Also answering media questions, Mr Jašarević said that throughout the COVID 19 pandemic, WHO had been providing guidance, information and support to all countries and would continue to do so. The lessons learned had guided member states in the work to elaborate the Pandemic Agreement. Also, the WHO had been consistently reiterating that the necessary information to determine the origin of COVID-19 had not been received; all the hypotheses were still on the table.

Responding to further questions, Mr. Jašarević said a scientific committee had been established to determine the origin of COVID-19, and to develop a framework to tackle managing the origin of any outbreak in the future. This framework and the preliminary report had been issued, but not all the necessary information had been received. WHO were looking into cost-saving measures on the operational and staff level. On the cuts to their budget, Mr Jašarević said that there had been a hiring freeze, and the organization was looking at how to tackle the decreasing funds.

Funeral of Pope Francis

Responding to questions, Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said it was probably too early to determine which United Nations representatives would attend the funeral of Pope Francis.

Announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said the third dialogue for Artificial Intelligence for one humanity, was currently taking place at the Palais in Room XX and would conclude this afternoon. It was open to the press.

Additionally, as part of the joint mobilization strategy leading up to COP 30, the President of Brazil, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, and Secretary-General António Guterres, were convening a small but representative group of heads of states and governments for virtual a closed-door meeting on April 23, at 8:00 New York time, to discuss strengthening global efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Ahead of this meeting, there would be an embargoed background briefing for international media with the COP30 president designate, André Aranha Corrêa do Lago and the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action, Selwin Hart. Everyone was welcome to participate in this online briefing. Journalists could reach out to Martina Donlon from the Department of Global Communications for more information.

Ms. Vellucci also said the third United Nations Oceans Conference would be held in Nice, France, co-hosted by the Governments of France and Costa Rica. Media accreditation for the conference was open now until May 17.

Furthermore, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Secretariat were holding a press conference at 12 p.m on Friday, with Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions; David Ogden, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions; and Christine Fuell, Executive Secretary, ad interim, of the Rotterdam Convention.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination opened its 115th session during which it would review the reports of the following countries: Ukraine; Mauritius; Republic of Korea; Gabon; Kyrgyzstan. During the session, the Committee would also hold an informal meeting with the State parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and a half-day of general discussion on a proposed general recommendation on reparations

Finally, Ms. Vellucci said that this week, the Committee Against Torture would also review the reports of Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

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The webcast for this briefing is available here

The audio for this briefing is available here