Famine in Ethiopia: Boy named ‘Rico’ weighs half as much as he should

My little Haftom is almost five years old. His name means “rich” in Tigrin, but he weighs half as much.

Her mother watches indifferently as the doctor lifts her sweater and sweatpants to show her slender arms and legs.

He doesn’t want to give his name.

This is the daily reality of hunger and malnutrition after two years of civil war in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. A peace treaty ended the conflict, but the consequences of the conflict remain.

In August, the United Nations (UN) estimated that about one in three children under the age of five in Tigray was malnourished.

As federal government troops and Tigray forces resisted, Ethiopian authorities severely limited or restricted the entry of aid into the northern region of the country, leading to an effective blockade.

‘Hands free’

Makda, another child of the same age as the conflict and living in Tigray, rests like a baby in the arms of his mother, Hiwot.

He is sluggish and his belly is very swollen.

“Food has become very difficult to find,” says Hiwot. “Eating even once a day is very difficult.”

However, since being hospitalized, Makda’s condition has deteriorated.

“My daughter is in this condition because we were told there was no medicine. We didn’t get anything,” says Hiwot. “Even when I was here with the same problem last year, I had nothing and came home empty-handed.”

The Haftom and Makda families took refuge in Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region. The BBC interviewed them last month.

After August, when federal government forces seized more territory, Tigray officials agreed to a ceasefire.

Officials in the capital, Addis Ababa, said they would send more aid, according to the peace agreement signed earlier last month.

‘It’s over in a day’

Doctor Kibrom Gebreselassie has been working as a surgeon at Ayder Referral Hospital for 15 years.

It is the largest public hospital in the region, housing seven million people.

“It’s shocking to see young children and mothers suffer and cry every day,” says Kibrom.

“Many young children have died in our hospital because when a child is malnourished, it’s not just food you have to give them. They need drugs, antibiotics, minerals… And we don’t have that.”

Some of what is needed seems to be coming, but not enough.

Kibrom says that two trucks carrying medical supplies from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arrived in Mekelle first.

“The amount of medication we took was enough for half of our patients and it only lasted a day,” she sighs.

More patients die every day that aid does not reach the hospital.

“Let’s take the situation of cancer patients, the situation is very dire. Not all of Tigray received chemotherapy,” says the doctor.

Every day, every week, every month, the stage of cancer gets worse. While it was curable before, it is now inoperable. For people who are very sick, every day, every hour is important.
Kibrom Gebreselassie, doctor

humanitarian efforts

According to the UN humanitarian office, from mid-November to the first week of December, the Ethiopian government and aid agencies managed to send more than 1,600 trucks carrying food, shelter and medical supplies.

The ICRC itself says it has sent at least 38 trucks to Mekelle since mid-November, with more on the way.

“Efforts are being made by all humanitarian actors, but they are not enough when compared to the scale of the need,” said Jude Fuhnwi, spokesperson for the ICRC for Ethiopia.

And these needs are huge.

The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) aims to bring emergency food assistance to 2.1 million people in Tigray every six weeks, and says this is on schedule.

“A lot has improved since the peace agreement,” says Claude Jibidar, WFP country representative and director in Ethiopia. “We don’t expect to return to normal overnight after two years of conflict,” he said.

Mekelle remains under the control of the Tigray government, although federal forces control the areas around the Shire in the north.

In a different ward of Ayder hospital, retired teacher Fikadu Jember tells that he has not been able to take medicine to treat diabetes for three months.

“Most of the equipment doesn’t work when we come here for treatment. We’re trying everywhere, but nothing works because of the blockade,” he says.

“A lot of people are dying because of it. We had hopes of finding medicine after the peace treaty was signed, but nothing has come yet.”

Doctors lack the most basic supplies.

“We don’t have enough gloves to operate on. We have to wash and reuse them up to three times,” explains Kibrom.

“We can’t do blood transfusions because we don’t have blood bags. So if we know a patient will need a blood transfusion, we don’t do the surgery,” he adds.

electricity is back

A doctor from the same hospital, who does not want to be named, claims to have received minimal medical supplies.

“The hospital is full of wounded soldiers and civilian patients,” he says. “Most of them not served.”

They say the only positive thing federal officials have done is give power back to Mekelle.

The hospital recently tweeted that drugs and test kits for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are starting to arrive.

But the most vulnerable paid the highest price.

“I want a better future for him,” says Hiwot, Makda’s mother. “That’s all I can think of.”