USAID Launches $70m Fight Against Malnutrition

Feb 10 , 2024


A 70 million-dollar project to fight against malnutrition in Ethiopia was launched by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) last week. Dubbed "Feed the Future", the project will be implemented by Family Health International 360(FHI 360), a non-profit human development organization for women and children in 155 Woredas in Afar, Amhara, Oromiya, Sidama, Somalia, and the Southern Regional States. Lia Tadesse(MD), on her last day as a minister of Health, inaugurated the project alongside USAID's mission director, Scott Hocklander, at the Sky Light Hotel on Airport Rd. The minister revealed six months ago that pervasive thefts of therapeutic foods and nutritional supplements intended for malnourished children are critically undermining efforts to provide life-saving assistance to millions nationwide. With Malnutrition becoming a widespread issue, Scott hailed the project's ambitious goal to break the intergenerational malnutrition plight in Ethiopia. A report published by the United Nations last year revealed 34pc of Ethiopian children under five suffer from stunting, while 6.2pc are victims of wasting. A staggering  28pc of child deaths in the country are associated with under-nutrition, while 21pc are underweight.


Radar

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...


Radar

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...


Radar

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...