Living with Hunger will be repeated on Channel 4, on Sunday Feb 22 at 04.25am
Ethiopia is a country steeped in poverty and in need of major investment in basic services. HIV/AIDs already affects around 10% of the population, that’s over 5 million people, with over 1 million AIDs orphans.
Long term development aid is a real need for Ethiopia, which receives the lowest per capita rate in sub-Saharan Africa, in order to start treating causes not just symptoms. Even in a good year 4.5 million Ethiopians are dependent on food aid.
Over past years however, insufficient food assistance and lack of long term initiatives has contributed to increasing destitution. Towards the end of the drought year of 2002-03 the food rations were increased to 15kg per head. Lack of pledges to the 2004 appeal mean that in March the food will run out and so far neither the UK or European Union have made a contribution.
The Channel 4 documentary Living with Hunger was shown to both Westminster and European Parliamentarians in January. There are plans for future showings for the United Nations in New York and the World Food Programme in Rome. Hilary Benn Secretary of State for International Development has also had a screening of the film and will be visiting Ethiopia in early February.
Individuals can support this campaign by lobbying your local MP and MEP. You should urge them to put pressure on the UK Government and the EU to respond to the 2004 food aid appeal and to redress the imbalance in development aid to Ethiopia. You can find the name and contact details for your local members by looking under Members of Parliament and Members of the European Parliament in your phone book.
Save The Children UK works in north and eastern Ethiopia. The organisation’s programmes focus on issues of food security and livelihoods, access to basic health care and education, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, and improving the lives of those living with disabilities. You can support Save The Children in their work in Ethiopia by calling their donation line 0845 600 8241 or on-line at http://www.savethechildren.org.uk stating that the money is for use in Ethiopia.
The Nicolas Robinson Appeal for Ethiopia is an independent site raising funds for the charity Save the Children to help the children of Ethiopia. The projects on their website were funded by donations and give good examples of how Save The Children programmes work in Ethiopia www.rainbows4children.org
Oxfam has been working in Ethiopia since 1962, in the far north, the south and south-east. Famines have stalked Ethiopia for decades, but the scale of the need has jumped dramatically. In 1974 some 300,000 people were affected by famine, 30 years later this figure has increased to 14 million people. The causes of famine are complex but Oxfam believes there are four core reasons as to why famine continues to haunt Ethiopia.
1. Trade:
Ethiopia will continue to be a chronically poor country prone to famine until the rules of trade are changed. The IMF and World Bank's policies have had a catastrophic impact on the coffee industry and liberalisation has exposed developing industries to unfair competition, which has stifled many of them. Ethiopia is utterly dependent on coffee as its main source of income, but prices for this commodity have fallen through the floor. This has cost the country some $830 million in lost export earnings over the past five years which could have helped to build the equivalent of 1250 health centres or 2000 primary schools.
2. The Environment:
Failed rains are often the catalyst for famine and over the past twenty years the rains have become far less predictable. Deforestation and soil erosion have meant that fertility in Ethiopia has decreased and made it harder for farmers to produce a decent crop.
3. Aid:
Much of the aid that Ethiopia receives is emergency aid rather than assistance which could help Ethiopia to work its way out of poverty. The US is the largest donor but much of this help comes as sacks of grain which can create dependency. Cash rather than food aid would allow people to choose what is most appropriate for them and would help to invigorate the economy from the bottom up.
4. Population and Land Pressure:
Ethiopia's population is booming and now stands at close to 70 million and 85% of them live in the countryside on small plots of land. Security of tenure is a real issue for farmers and the next generation of Ethiopians are being given smaller and smaller plots of land by their parents. With more mouths to feed and less land for families to grow crops, Ethiopians are becoming more and more vulnerable.
To find out more or to donate towards these projects go to the website www.oxfam.org.uk
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organisation providing free medical assistance to the most vulnerable people in 85 countries around the world. MSF has a long history of working in Ethiopia where frequent epidemics are compounded by food security problems. Food security is just one of the problems that MSF deals with.
MSF's 61 international staff members and 518 national staff work throughout Ethiopia. As well as offering support to a number of camp populations, MSF runs tuberculosis, kala azar and HIV/AIDS programmes. On the 27th January 2004 MSF and a regional health bureau launched the first programme offering free treatment with antiretroviral drugs (ARV) for HIV/AIDS patients in Ethiopia.
For more information about MSF or its work in Ethiopia please visit www.uk.msf.org
Direct link to Ethiopia pages http://www.msf.org/countries/index.cfm?indexid=D53B2249-847B-482C-8D9D177AE8B95CC7
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched The 3 by 5 Initiative as response to the lack of access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). The aim is to provide free AID’s drugs to 3 million people by 2005. Find out more about WHO and Ethiopia at http://www.who.int/country/eth/en/
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was founded nearly 150 years ago. For information and their latest report on Ethiopia go to
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/ethiopia?OpenDocument
UNICEF aims to advance humanity by providing health, education, equality and protection for every child. To find out about UNICEF work in Ethiopia go to
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ethiopia.html
Plan UK is an international humanitarian organisation helping children to realise their full potential. Check out their work in Ethiopia at:
http://www.plan-uk.org/wherewework/eastafricaeurope/ethiopia/
Insight News TV, co-producers of Living With Hunger, are working to help the villages in the programme. Find out more at http://www.insightnewstv.com/hunger
This message has been prepared by Programme Support at Channel 4. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third party sites.
|
