A report published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) last week reveals that the number of people in need of food assistance in northern Ethiopia has grown to 13 million from nine million in November 2021. The agency warns that an additional eight million people in the country's east and south are falling into more critical levels of food insecurity as drought continues to worsen. The UN says its faces a 338 million dollar gap in financing needed to reach people in need of aid in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regional states. It foresees armed conflict, climate change, the crippling drought, and supply disruptions brought on by Russia's war in Ukraine, are likely to exacerbate the situation.