Food Assistance Update Dispatch of the seventh round of relief food is ongoing, with 72 per cent completed nationwide as of 30 November 2011, including 80 per cent for areas covered by the Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector (DRMFSS), 86 per cent to areas covered by the NGO consortium Joint Emergency Operation (JEOP), and 55 per cent to WFP-covered areas in the Somali region. Meanwhile, dispatch of the eighth round relief food rations has started in the Somali region. As of 28 November, 9 per cent of the eighth round dispatch for the region was completed. While all relief beneficiaries are expected to receive full rations in the eighth round, the ongoing shortage of pulses in the country means that WFP may have to provide reduced pulse rations to the 1.2 million beneficiaries in the Somali region. In total, some 3.42 million people are expected to receive food assistance in the eighth round, including 1.4 million people covered by DRMFSS and 820,000 people covered by JEOP throughout the rest of the country. For more information, contact: [email protected] Nutrition Update Ad hoc nutrition surveys were conducted in nine hotspot woredas of Somali, Afar, and Amhara regions in September and October 2011. According to the Ethiopian Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU), the results show ‘normal’ conditions in one woreda of Oromia and ‘poor’ or ‘serious’ nutritional situations in seven of the other areas surveyed. Conditions in Elidar woreda of Afar were classified as ‘critical’. Over the past four to six months, partners have strengthened their nutrition responses in all of the surveyed woredas except in Elidar, which explains the critical nutrition situation in the region. Elidar is also one of the areas that continues to receive water trucking due to ongoing water shortages. Throughout the surveyed woredas, crude and under-five mortality rates were well below the national and Sphere standard emergency thresholds of 1 death per 10,000 people per day for crude mortality and 2 deaths per 10,000 children under five per day for under-five mortality.

For more information, contact: [email protected] WASH and Flood Update There was little change in the water trucking requirements over the past week. The largest trucking requirements are still in Afar (15 trucks) and Tigray (8 trucks). In Afar, the international NGO PCI is expected to fill a two-truck gap in the response. The only change in requirements was in Amhara region, where the Regional Water Bureau is reportedly operating one water truck in Minjar Shenkora woreda of North Shewa zone, benefiting 1,400 people (no water trucking was previously reported in Amhara). Meanwhile, the most recent flooding event in Mustahil and Kelafo woredas of Gode zone (Somali region), which occurred on 7 November, reportedly increased the number of flood-affected people from 18,000 at the end of September to 40,200 by mid- November. The majority of those affected are women and children. Affected communities have lost most of their crops and many livestock. While the waters have been receding since 19 November, access to most of the affected areas remains restricted due to impassable roads. Once road conditions permit, relief food and WASH supplies that were earlier prepositioned in the areas, as well as three Emergency Drug Kits and 2,000 Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs), newly supplied by UNICEF, will be delivered to affected households. In Jore and Goge woredas of Gambella region, communities affected by floods in late September have yet to access safe drinking water, increasing the risk of water-related disease. Rehabilitation of flood-affected water sources is in progress. For more information, contact: [email protected] Health Update New suspected cases of measles were reported in the past week from four woredas ( Zuria ,Daramalo, Dembagofa and Dita) of , two woredas (Konso and Ale) of Segen special zone and one woreda () of of SNNP region, as well as in West Wellega and Jimma zones of Oromia region. The regional Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) units and heath partners have initiated case investigation and control efforts in Dita woreda, where no measles cases were previously reported, and strengthened response efforts in the others. In SNNPR, the ongoing national measles and polio vaccination campaign (currently covering 18 woredas across seven zones) is being expanded to include Dita woreda. To date, the campaign, which targets nearly 7 million children aged 6 months to 15 years in 148 drought-affected woredas across six regions of (Afar, Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR, Somali and Tigray), has reached 3.7 million children (53.6 per cent of the target) according to UNICEF. WHO and UNICEF are supporting the campaign in all targeted woredas. An increasing number of malaria cases continue to be reported in Amhara (Awi, East Gojam and South Gonder zones), Oromia (East Wellega zone) and SNNP (Wolayita, Kembata Tembaro, Gedio zones, and ) regions. Despite the increasing number of cases reported, the Slide Positivity rate was found to be below the Epidemic threshold. To the east, a team from the Somali Regional Health Bureau was deployed to assess the situation following the recent flooding, which poses a high risk of AWD and malaria outbreak. The bureau has reported shortage of Insecticide-treated nets (ITN) and emergency drug to which WHO is processing support. For more information, contact: [email protected] Education Update The recent flooding in Mustahil and Kelafo woredas has damaged public infrastructure, including schools. A total of five formal schools and eight Alternative Basic Education (ABE) schools have been damaged. As a result, more than 6,000 children (40 per cent girls) are out of school in both woredas. With UNICEF support the regional education in emergency task force plans to rehabilitate damaged schools and provide school supplies to support immediate resumption of education services in the affected areas. Also in Somali Region, seven ABE facilities have been closed in the drought-affected woredas of Ayisha and Shinile (Shinile zone), interrupting education for more than 1,500 children (40 per cent girls). UNICEF provided training on the use of GPS and software to 28 Regional Education Bureau officials from Gambella and Tigray to support regular updating of Rapid Assessment of Learning Spaces (RALS) information. For more information, contact: [email protected]