UN Agencies, Gov't Appeal for $73m in Refugee Funding


UN Agencies, Gov't Appeal for $73m in Refugee Funding

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Refugees & Returnees Service are appealing for 73 million dollars in funding to provide food to over 750,000 refugees in Ethiopia. Funding shortfalls have already forced the WFP to cut rations for refugees residing in 22 camps and five sites in the Afar, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Somali, and Tigray regional states.  The Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State hosts the highest number of camps and refugees, while refugees from South Sudan comprise 46pc of the refugee population. Food rations fell by 16pc in November 2015, by 40pc last November, and by half in June 2022. The lack of funding and prevailing global food strains brought on by the pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine, pose a serious risk to refugees. A study conducted by the UN agencies and the Service found that households in refugee camps are coping by reducing the number of meals they eat, consuming less appealing food, engaging themselves and children in income-generating activities, and borrowing cash.


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Yirgalem Hospital Inaugurates New Oxygen Production Plant

A new oxygen production plant has been inaugurated at Yirgalem Hospital Medical College in Sidama Regional State. The launch was attended by the regional state's chief administrator Desta Ledamo and Health Minister Mekdes Daba (PhD). Desta noted that a new kidney dialysis centre will soon be opened as well. Mekdes stated that the Ministry is working to increase the number of oxygen production facilities from the current 10 to 34 nationwide. The Yirgalem plant cost 86 million Br to build and h...


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Corridor Develops with Parking, Recklessness Concerns, Research Finds

Research involving 400 respondents across four first-round corridor development routes revealed major challenges to the initiative. The study, conducted by Shaka Analytics and ETC Institute in collaboration with the Addis Abeba City Transport Bureau, examined the impact of the program on transportation patterns, transit accessibility, and parking availability. The routes—Arat Kilo to Bole Deldey, Embassy of England to Arat Kilo, Mexico roundabout to Wello Sefer, and Piassa to Arat Kilo—we...


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Digitalisation Spreads to the Court System

Ethio telecom and the Amhara Regional State Supreme Court have agreed to implement a Smart Court project in Bahir Dar to modernize court operations using digital technology. This agreement includes building a modern network infrastructure, implementing cloud services, creating a modular data centre, establishing a network operations control centre, and connecting the region's courts with a secure digital network. The project is designed to facilitate secure digital information exchange betwee...